Awhile back, Dolly Parton started a charity called the Imagination Library, which mails a book a month to all children from birth to 5 years of age in Sevier County, TN, regardless of income. The program is spreading. Dolly sez:
"They call me the Book Lady. That’s what the little kids say when they get their books in the mail. They think I bring them and put them in the mailbox myself, like Peter Rabbit or something," she said, laughing.
Where she grew up in tiny Locust Ridge, children’s books and education were luxuries. "My mother was married when she was in the seventh grade, so a lot of my people didn’t get a chance to get an education," she said. "Imagination Library was really born out of my need to try to help people knowing what a handicap it was with a lot of my relatives."
Great idea and very commendable!