by Carol-Lyn McKelvey, FAUSA, AIWC Cologne
This autobiography/song book by Dolly Parton spans a career of over six decades. Covering her life (from childhood to love to her dad to religion to pets and more) through 175 of her songs, the text reads as if you are having a direct conversation with the legend herself. You don
't have to be a country music fan to admire her rags to riches story and the lessons she has learned along the way. Her influence has been felt far and wide in the music community at large; she has composed over three thousand songs for herself and others. Although I highly recommend this book, the one drawback is that the hardback edition is big and a bit unwieldy; it does, however, make an excellent gift or coffee table book. Happily, it is now available as an audiobook!
Another reason to highlight Dolly is the Education Team’s pivot to Literacy for the next few months. Dolly is an untiring ambassador for literacy, springing from the realization that her dad’s inability to read may have kept him from fulfillng his dreams. In 1995, she created Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library for the children in her home county in Tennessee. Since then, it has become a worldwide endeavor to gift children birth to age 5 with the magic of books.
“When I was growing up in the hills of East Tennessee, I knew my dreams would come true. I know there are children in your community with their own dreams. They dream of becoming a doctor or an inventor or a minister. Who knows, maybe there is a little girl whose dream is to be a writer and singer.
The seeds of these dreams are often found in books and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world.” – Dolly Parton
Click HERE to learn how you can gift books to the children in your life or how to give the gift of literacy to children around the world.
Photo credit: C.L. McKelvey
