Dolly Parton's program provides free books for children in Philly region

Dolly Parton’s literacy program, Imagination Library, has provided nearly 800 children with free monthly books mailed to their homes in West Philadelphia.

In Montgomery County, around 3,500 children have been served in the Norristown and Pottstown areas since 2023, thanks to Parton’s program.

With the news on Tuesday of Parton’s death, there was sadness among the affiliates of her global effort to promote a love of reading among children, but they expected to continue the program and hopefully expand it in Pennsylvania.

“We don’t anticipate any changes to the program,” said Jennifer Leith, executive director of the West Philadelphia Alliance for Children (WePAC).

Imagination Library, which Parton started in 1995 in Tennessee, provides deeply discounted books that are mailed each month to any child in a given zip code whose parent or guardian applies to participate. Governments and nonprofits provide funding to cover the remaining costs of the program, which is available for children from birth to age five.

The Dollywood Foundation said in a recent fact sheet that it has delivered more than 300 million books to children in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Ireland.

WePAC started with one zip code, 19104, in July 2024, then expanded to include four more zip codes in July 2025, Leith said.

“In that time, literally thousands of books have been delivered to West Philadelphia children,” Leith said.

“Anyone from any income level, from any background, can participate,” said Eliza Brumbaugh, executive director of the Literacy Council of Norristown, which helps to run the program, with assistance from the Justamere Foundation, in Montgomery County.

Brumbaugh and others would like to see the program expanded statewide in Pennsylvania, similar to what has been done in Delaware.

Lawmakers have proposed legislation in both the Pennsylvania Senate and House to establish a statewide program similar to the Imagination Library.

Leith said “it would be great” if Mayor Cherelle L. Parker or Gov. Josh Shapiro “decided to do this in honor of Dolly Parton’s legacy.”

Foundations, Inc., a national education nonprofit based in Mount Laurel, ran the first Imagination Library program in Philadelphia for five years, helping to provide books to children in North Philly’s 19133 zip code.

“It was pretty much a book desert,” Casey Jones, executive director of marketing and communications for Foundations, said of the zip code before the program started.

Through Parton’s program, Foundations was able to deliver around 27,000 books to children in that one zip code until the five-year commitment was completed at the end of 2025, said Rhonda H. Lauer, CEO and president of Foundations.

Lauer met Parton when Foundations gave the legendary performer and philanthropist its 2020 “Champion of Children” award.

“We went to Dollywood to present it to her in person,” Lauer recalled, saying she had several in-depth conversations with Parton about life and family and the program.

In the end, Lauer said, “all she cared about was getting books in the hands of children.”