Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Comes to Poughkeepsie

Dolly Parton holding an infant at the Kahala Hilton Hotel, in May 1984. Photo by Photo by Alan Light on Flickr

American singer and songwriter Dolly Parton passed away on Aug. 25 after being hospitalized during a brief battle with cancer. While Parton was informally known as “The Queen of Country,” it is not just her beautiful voice and cheerful demeanor that she leaves behind, but also her years as a dedicated philanthropist. Parton spent much of her life giving back to many marginalized communities, especially children. 

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library will aid in getting quality, age-appropriate books into the hands of Poughkeepsie children. This program sends a book once a month to every child who is registered, even if there are multiple children registered under one household. The process to register is as simple as visiting their website, putting in your ZIP code and filling out a couple of prompts. As soon as you are finished, the first book should be on its way. 

The first book in the lineup is “The Little Engine That Could,” an inspiring story of resilience, optimism and self-confidence. The books will continue to arrive until the child’s fifth birthday, with their final book being “Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come!” by Nancy Carlson, in an effort to prepare them for their first day of school. 

This stems from Parton’s upbringing as the fourth of 12 children in a low-income household.

“My father could not read and write, and I saw how crippling that could be,” Parton said. 

In an age where technology and AI are more accessible than ever before, reading is falling to the wayside. Literacy rates are dropping as a result, causing a growing issue in local school districts as well as nationwide. 

According to WAMC, citing the latest New York State Education Department data, English Language Arts proficiency among Poughkeepsie students in grades 3 through 8 ranged from 33% to 16% during the 2024-2025 school year, declining as students got older. 

The Poughkeepsie Library District has been given an $11,700 grant in state funding that will be distributed through the Public Library System, adding to last year's grant of $7,500. This money will help the 655 children already enrolled in the program improve their literacy and engage in the imaginative world of children’s literature. This number is expected to grow as more parents find out about this opportunity for learning. 

With the Imagination Library program now serving the Poughkeepsie area, literacy will be introduced in an accessible, cost-free way, with the long-term goal of fixing the current crisis among local public schools.