Dolly Parton Buys Books for Kids in UK

December 7, 2007

Dolly Parton is expanding her Imagination Library program to the city of Rotherham, which is near Sheffield in Northern England. Parton's project started with her hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee and provides a new book for each registered child from birth to age 5. There are currently 15,000 eligible children in Rotherham. Penguin Group UK will provide the books with the first book in the 60-volume collection being Beatrix Potter's Tales of Peter Rabbit. The Imagination Library also works with more than 700 communities in the US and Canada. Parton has been recognized by the Association of American Publishers and the Smithsonian Institution's Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars for her work with connecting children with a steady stream of books.