Our hearts are broken today, as we join millions around the world in grieving the loss of Dolly Parton.

Dolly understood something we hold at the center of our work: when children own books, everything changes. Through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, she made sure that a child's home address never determined whether books arrived at the door. Tens of millions of children have grown up with a personal library because Dolly decided they should have one, and we have drawn hope and inspiration from that vision for as long as Book Harvest has existed.

The scope of her vision is and will remain staggering: since Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library launched in 1995, more than 330 million new books have found their way to babies, toddlers, and young children.

Adults know Dolly as a singer and an actor. A whole generation of kids know her simply as the reason there are books on their bookshelf. What a legacy.

At Book Harvest, we will honor Dolly by carrying her charge forward, embracing, in her words, that 'you can never get enough books into the hands of enough children.' Books belong to children. Dolly showed the world what that looks like at scale, and we are grateful to keep building on the foundation she laid.

We will miss Dolly fiercely. The world is dimmer today. And we are inspired by all that she did to bring storytimes and beloved books to children and families everywhere.