Sterling child finds Dolly Parton golden ticket

SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. – Seven families around the world, including one from Sterling, are recipients of a golden ticket as part of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library 200 Millionth Book Celebration surprise.

As the Imagination Library celebrates a major milestone – 200 million books gifted globally since its inception in 1995 – recipient families have received a bookmark in Portland, Victoria, Australia; South Lanarkshire, Scotland; Dublin, Ireland; Ontario, Canada; Beaver, Oklahoma; and Clay, New York; and Sterling.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has not released the name of the local family.

The early childhood book-gifting program mails a high-quality, free book each month to children from birth to age 5. In September, which is International Literacy Month, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library celebrated by randomly hiding enchanting Dolly bookmarks inside the Imagination Library books of seven families from five countries.

The children’s celebration includes an opportunity to video chat with Parton and receive a personalized signed letter from Dolly, an autographed photo from Dolly and four Dollywood Theme Park tickets. The Dollywood Foundation also donated $2,000 on behalf of the child to the local Imagination Library partner in their community as a thank you.

Inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, Parton started the Imagination Library in 1995 to serve the children of her hometown in Sevier County, Tennessee. Today, her program spans five countries and gives more than 2.6 million free, high-quality, age-appropriate books each month to children around the world.

There is never a charge to families who participate in the program, and it is open to all children younger than 5 in geographic areas with operating programs.

“I know there are children in communities around the world with big dreams, and the seeds of these dreams are often found in books,” Parton said. “It’s been one of my greatest gifts in life to help instill a love of reading through my Imagination Library.

“Reaching 200 million books worldwide is a major milestone that I’m so very proud of, and I want to thank all of our local program partners, funders and supporters from the bottom of my heart. But we’re just getting warmed up. We have so much more to do! Together, we can inspire even more children to dream more, learn more, care more and be more.”

To learn more about Parton’s Imagination Library, visit imaginationlibrary.com.