‘Dolly Parton wants to give you a gift’: How the country music icon helped Marylanders learn to read

Sammy Vides, 1, recently received a book in the mail for the first time. It was from Dolly Parton.

His mother, Jisselle Vides, a staff member with Prince George’s County Memorial Library System, signed him up for their local Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library affiliate, which sends free books to children under the age of 5 every month.

Sammy’s 5-year-old brother, Caspian, received the free books before aging out of the program and understood that starting with this book, his little brother’s turn had come. He let their mom know he was eager to read it with Sammy right away.

Sammy and Caspian, of Glenarden, are two of thousands of Maryland children who can thank the country music icon for their first books.

Parton died Tuesday at age 80. Aside from her storied music career, she was a philanthropist whose Imagination Library has provided young kids with more than 300 million free books worldwide since 1995.

The flagship program from The Dollywood Foundation began where she was raised, in rural Sevier County, Tennessee. It now has programs in five countries and every U.S. state, including 21 in Maryland — around Baltimore, Annapolis, the capital region and western counties.

Its mission: Foster an early love of reading by mailing a curated selection of free books to children under the age of 5. A study published last year found that the program has dramatically improved childhood literacy, love of reading and connection with family.

“I think about the lasting impact that her generosity and creating this program will have over generations, because it really builds that family literacy environment and that love of literacy from the start,” said Megan Sutherland, Prince George’s deputy library director.

Across the state, parents, teachers and others who work with Imagination Library affiliates concur.

“The positive impacts on foundational literacy skills, as well as social and emotional skills, are critical for young readers in our community,” said Helen Winder, lead volunteer for the program’s affiliate run by the Wheaton Woods Elementary School PTA in Montgomery County.

Since its establishment six years ago at Wheaton Woods, a Title I school, the program has provided 315 children with free books.

The capital region is also home to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Montgomery County, which has distributed more than 180,000 books to about 8,000 children since 2015, according to program director Carol Da Silva.

In Allegheny County, more than 7,500 children have benefitted from the program, collecting more than 320,000 books since the affiliate’s 2011 founding, according to Michele Walker, executive director of Potomac Highlands United Way.

The addition of a bilingual option in 2023 has helped the international organization further its reach, with picture books in English and Spanish. Da Silva said Montgomery County’s enrollment is up 25% in the last year and expects demand to continue to grow thanks to the dual-language books.

“Imagination Library book titles really reflect the diversity of children today,” Sutherland added.

She said the library recently received feedback from the parent of a child on the autism spectrum who was grateful that the program included stories such as “This Beach Is Loud!” by Samantha Cotterill, which stars a neurodivergent boy whose dad helps him face the unexpected challenges of a new place.

“He was like, ‘This book is about me,’” Sutherland said.

The allure of the Imagination Library program goes beyond the free books, librarians and others who work with it said. Parton’s stamp of approval invites in families who might not otherwise seek out a literacy program.

“If I was to say to people, ‘We’re the Anne Arundel County Children Reading by Age 5 group,’ people would be kind of turned off. A lot of people would not be interested,” said Paula Borinsky Hendry, who runs the Annapolis area’s Imagination Library affiliate.

“But we’ve been able to tell people, ‘Dolly Parton wants to give you a gift.’ ... And people get excited. That makes a huge difference.”

Gov. Wes Moore expressed appreciation for Parton in a statement Tuesday.

“She used her success to show up for others — from providing relief for families impacted by natural disasters and disease to providing books for children to help promote early literacy,” he said. “Dolly embodied the true meaning of public service.”

To sign up for or donate to an Imagination Library affiliate near you, search the organization’s local project partner map.