More than 16,000 Johnson County children receive a free book every month because of Dolly Parton. The country music icon died Aug. 25 at age 80 after a brief battle with cancer at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, People Magazine reported.
Her death leaves a tangible legacy here. As of Aug. 25, 16,367 children age 5 and younger in Johnson County are enrolled in Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, receiving a book in the mail each month at no cost to their families.
To Christopher Kaberline's two young daughters in Prairie Village, Parton wasn't a global music legend. She was "Grandma Dolly," the woman whose program sent them titles like "I Am A Rainbow," "Ice Cream Face" and "Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night?"
"We've spent hours reading books she has sent us," Kaberline wrote on social media on Aug. 25. "If we all lived a life trying to be half as good of a person as Dolly Parton was, the world would be such a wonderful place … We'll read I Am a Rainbow tonight."
Parton's Overland Park visit
Parton appeared in person at White Theatre at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park in August 2023, taking the stage with Gov. Laura Kelly before a crowd of about 500 to announce the Imagination Library's statewide expansion across all 105 Kansas counties. A $1.5 million grant from the Kansas Children's Cabinet and Trust Fund helped fund the effort, according to the Johnson County Post.
"It's just one of those things that has started out for the right reasons, and it's continued for the right reasons," Parton told the Overland Park crowd that day.
She also performed "Coat of Many Colors" and "Try," the Imagination Library's theme song.
The program's roots in Johnson County go back to 2022, when the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation became the first Johnson County organization to partner with the Imagination Library, offering free monthly books to all children 5 and younger in the Shawnee Mission school district.
Local tributes
Rachel Schuck, development director with the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation, said on Aug. 25 that the foundation was "proud to be the first Imagination Library partner in Johnson County, helping bring free books and a love of reading to children across our community."
The Kansas Office of Early Childhood, which administers the program statewide, said more than 78,280 Kansas children are actively enrolled. The office said it will continue Parton's legacy through the Imagination Library of Kansas.
Fairway bookshop Rainy Day Books also posted a tribute on Aug. 25, sharing a quote attributed to Parton: "If I'm remembered 100 years from now, I hope it will be not for looks but for books."
Parton founded the Imagination Library in Sevier County, Tennessee, in 1995. Her father, Robert Lee Parton, could not read or write. That inspired her. A child enrolled as an infant receives 60 free books by age 5. Her nephew, Bryan Seaver, announced her death and said the family asks for donations to the Imagination Library in lieu of flowers.
Johnson County families can enroll children year-round at imaginationlibrary.com.
