The Davis Education Foundation wants to finish what Dolly Parton started.
Hours after Parton died Tuesday, Aug. 25, at age 80, the foundation and Davis County School District spotlighted a local push to enroll 850 children in her Imagination Library, the program Parton launched in 1995 that mails a free book every month to kids from birth to age five.
The 850 children targeted include Head Start students, children experiencing homelessness and families building a reading habit before kindergarten. The cost: $36 per child per year.
"Dolly Parton understood something a lot of people miss: a child who owns books becomes a child who reads," Kara Toone of the Davis Education Foundation told Fox 13. "There are children in Davis County who have a shelf at home because of her, and there are hundreds more we haven't reached yet. Our job now is to finish what she started here."
Some Davis County children already receive a free book each month through the program. The foundation is fundraising to reach 850 children; the district has separately said it aims to enroll 2,000 students total this year.
The foundation posted a tribute on Facebook on Tuesday, noting Parton started mailing free books because her own father never learned to read. The tribute said more than 300 million books have been distributed worldwide since the program's founding. The Imagination Library's own website puts the figure at more than 200 million as of 2023.
Parton's family asked that donations be made to her Imagination Library in lieu of flowers.
Statewide momentum
The Davis County effort is part of a broader push across Utah. Operation Literacy, a Utah-based nonprofit, entered a formal agreement with the Imagination Library to serve as its official state partner and launched the Raising Utah Readers initiative, which calls on lawmakers to allocate funding for the program, according to KUTV. The nonprofit has started a campaign to provide 15,000 Utah children with books.
The need is real. Approximately 69% of Utah children read below grade level by third grade.
Rep. Ariel Defay, R-Davis County, said bringing the Imagination Library to Utah is "one of the most meaningful ways we can honor that legacy."
Gov. Spencer Cox reacted to Parton's death on X on Tuesday:
@SpencerJCox: "60 books. For every kid. Many to homes with zero books on the shelves. No one has done more for literacy in this country than Dolly."
Nationally, the Imagination Library sends more than three million books per month to children around the world. One in six U.S. children under age 5 now receives books from the program.
Residents who want to support the Davis County effort can donate through the Davis Education Foundation. Three dollars covers one child for one month.
