Celebrate big dreams, country music, mountain stories, and the power of putting books into children's hands.
Give Like Dolly Day celebrates Dolly Parton's legacy of music, storytelling, generosity, and helping children discover a love of reading. Held each September 25, the day especially supports Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, the book-gifting program she began in her East Tennessee home county in 1995.
๐ฌ Dolly Parton's Imagination Library mails free books to children from birth to age five in five countries!
by Dolly Parton
A simple handmade coat becomes the heart of a story about family, love, and seeing value where others might not. Based on Dolly Parton’s famous song, this picture book is a wonderful example of how a meaningful memory and an ordinary object can become a story worth sharing.
It might be a favorite stuffed animal, an old baseball glove, a recipe card, a piece of jewelry, a book you’ve read a hundred times, or something completely different.
Tell the story behind it. Where did it come from? What happened that made it important? Why would you never want to lose it?
Don’t worry about choosing something valuable. Sometimes the best stories belong to things that wouldn’t mean much to anyone else. Think about something that reminds you of a person, place, adventure, celebration, or funny family memory. Start with the moment that made the object special.
Celebrate Give Like Dolly Day by sharing the joy of a good story with someone else!
Choose a way that works for your family. You might donate a favorite book you’ve outgrown, read aloud to a younger sibling, share a story with a grandparent or nursing home resident, leave a book in a Little Free Library, or even curl up and read to a pet.
The goal is simple: pass a story along.
For an extra-special touch, tell the person you’re with why you chose that particular story!
Every adventure has another path to follow. Choose a trail and see where your curiosity leads!
Country music is known for telling stories, and Dolly Parton is one of its most famous storytellers. Her song Coat of Many Colors turns a childhood memory about a handmade coat into a story told through words and music. Listen to Dolly sing Coat of Many Colors and follow the story as it unfolds.
Wonder Challenge:
Listen closely! Can you hear a line or group of lines that returns during the song? This repeating part is called a refrain. What instruments can you hear accompanying Dolly’s voice?
Dolly Parton was born in Sevier County, Tennessee, and grew up near the Great Smoky Mountains. The mountains, music, stories, and people of East Tennessee became an important part of the songs she would later write. Explore Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Wonder Challenge:
Find Tennessee on a map, then locate Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The park stretches across Tennessee and one other state. Can you discover which one?
Dolly Parton started the Imagination Library in her home county in East Tennessee in 1995. Inspired in part by her father’s inability to read and write, Dolly wanted children to grow up surrounded by books. Today, the program mails free books to young children in communities across five countries. Discover the story of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
Wonder Challenge:
The Imagination Library now reaches children in the ๐บ๐ธ United States, ๐จ๐ฆ Canada, ๐ฌ๐ง United Kingdom, ๐ฆ๐บ Australia, and ๐ฎ๐ช Republic of Ireland. Find all five on our World Explorer map. Which one is farthest from Tennessee?
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Every National Day is a starting point for curiosity! Read, write, play, and explore together as ordinary days lead to unexpected discoveries.
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