For 3-year-old Simon Dockery and his 11-month-old brother Samuel in Cleveland, Georgia, a monthly trip to the mailbox brings a new literary adventure. Through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, both boys receive free, age-appropriate books mailed directly to their home—a ritual their mother, Olivia Dockery, credits with sparking a early passion for reading within their family. The global initiative, which distributes free monthly books to enrolled children from birth through age five, has mailed over 300 million books worldwide since its inception.

Country music icon and philanthropist Dolly Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1995, inspired by her father’s struggles with illiteracy. What started as a local effort in Sevier County, Tennessee, has expanded into an international literacy program spanning five countries. Partners like the D.C. Public Library have helped extend its reach to urban centers, enrolling over 100,000 children in Washington, D.C. alone. For parents like Shami Chimonyo, who enrolled her 7-month-old daughter, the program provides high-quality early learning materials that foster critical foundation skills during early childhood development.

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