Dolly Parton was beautiful, big-hearted, and full of talent and grace. Her passing was definitely felt in our little library this summer, especially by Katie, who visited Dollywood in 2024. So we decided to pay tribute with a special exhibit honoring her tremendous Imagination Library!

Imagination Library was founded by Dolly in 1995. It ships free books directly to the hands of children newborn to age five. Over the past three decades, Imagination Library has gifted over 300 million books to children globally! It’s a testament to Dolly’s kind and generous spirit, and her belief in community.

Our exhibit features a number of books from Imagination Library’s wonderful book lists, including The Little Engine that Could (the first book sent to children) to Look Out Kindergarten Here I Come (the last book a child receives)!

And of course, we had to include two of Dolly’s own picture books, Billy the Kid Makes it Big…

And I Am a Rainbow, which features a lovely afterword from Dolly:

When I was just a young child, I wanted to see a rainbow every single day. No matter how I was feeling, seeing a rainbow always made me happy. Then one day, I figured out how I could see a rainbow every day – all I had to do was reach up and pull that rainbow right out of the sky and place it in my heart.

May you all carry a rainbow in your heart so whenever you need a moment of joy, you just let that rainbow out of your heart and watch it jump back into the sky!

I love you,
Dolly

And we packed the exhibit cases full of butterflies. LOTS of butterflies!

Best of all, when the exhibit wraps, all books will officially join our library shelves to be enjoyed by local children!. We love you Dolly!