Dolly Parton has always felt a little bigger than life to me.
Beautiful, funny, wildly talented, unapologetically Southern — and somehow, through all of it, completely herself. I adored her for it.
I first met Dolly the way a lot of ‘90s kids did: as a guest star on Hannah Montana. I was hooked almost instantly. Then I found out she made country music, and since country has always been my thing, that was it — I fell straight down the Dolly rabbit hole and never climbed back out.
I loved her music. Her humor. The way she just was herself, no apologies. As a shy, introverted kid, I think that’s exactly why she fascinated me so much. I’ll never be as outspoken as Dolly — but watching someone be that unapologetically themselves? That stuck with me.
Then I became a mom. And I found a whole new reason to love her
The Imagination Library Became Part of Our Family
If you don’t know it, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a free book-gifting program that mails books to kids from birth through age five. She started it back in 1995 in her home county in East Tennessee — inspired, in part, by her own father never learning to read. What began as a small local effort grew into a program that’s gifted hundreds of millions of books to kids around the world.
As a mom who hasn’t always had extra money to spend, getting a book in the mail every single month meant more than I can really explain. My kids love it just as much as I do — there’s something magic about pulling a book out of the mailbox with your own name on it.
These aren’t books that just sit pretty on a shelf. We read these. We laugh at these. We read them again and again. They’ve become part of our family’s story.
So when I heard Dolly had passed, I knew I wanted to do something here on Honey & Hymns to honor her. And since book lists always do well around here anyway — why not share our family’s favorites?
Our 5 Favorite Imagination Library Books
Picking five was hard. Ranking them was harder. But after some fierce (mostly internal) debate, here’s what made the cut.
1. Corduroy by Don Freeman
This one had to be number one. It’s a sweet, simple classic — a lovable bear, a little adventure, nothing complicated required. Turns out that’s really all you need.
2. Buffalo Fluffalo by Bess Kalb
Pure silliness, and an instant hit in our house. This is the kind of funny that makes kids beg for a re-read — and honestly, those are my favorite books to read out loud, the ones where I can tell they’re not just humoring me.
3. Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
A classic for a reason. There’s something so satisfying about a book so familiar your kids start finishing the lines with you — that’s when reading stops being a chore and just becomes life.
4. Dandelion Magic by Darren Farrell
This one is a little invitation to slow down and notice the world. As a homeschool family, that’s kind of our whole thing — pausing to wonder at the small stuff. A book about a dandelion fits right in.
5. The Animal Song by Jonty Howley
Rounding out the list — another one that earned its spot the old-fashioned way, through months of “read it again.”
Narrowing it down to five felt almost unfair. The Imagination Library has given us so much more than that.
More Than Just a Book in the Mail
It’s easy to think of this as just a program that sends free books. But when you’re the mom standing at the mailbox with a kid bouncing on their toes to see what came — it’s more than that. It’s a little spark of anticipation. A new bedtime story. A book they’ll beg you to read again tomorrow. A memory in the making.
Dolly built something that reached way beyond her music, beyond her own family — something that ended up on our bookshelf, and then, night after night, in our kids’ hands.
That’s a legacy.
A Little Way to Honor Dolly
I know I’m far from the only one who loved her. She was an icon for so many reasons, to so many people. For me, she was the singer I found as a kid, the woman I admired for being so fully herself, and eventually, the woman whose generosity became woven into my own children’s childhood.
Dolly’s family has asked that anyone wanting to honor her consider donating to the Imagination Library. If you’ve got little ones who aren’t enrolled yet, check whether the program is available in your area— it’s run through local partners, so availability varies. And if you’re able, you can donate directly here to help keep the books going out.
I can’t think of a better way to remember a woman whose legacy was so wrapped up in children, books, music, and generosity.
Thank you for the music, Dolly. Thank you for the laughter. Thank you for being so completely yourself.
And thank you, most of all, for putting books in the hands of kids like mine.
Rest in peace, Dolly.