Since 1995, Dolly Parton has donated more than 100 million books to kids through her Imagination Library program. Now, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, the country music star has found a way to bring the comfort of a good book to children stuck at home. As Nashville Scene reports, Parton will be reading bedtime stories across her social media platforms starting April 2.
Whether you have kids with extra energy from spending the day indoors or you're an adult who needs to relax at night, Parton can help. On Thursday at 7 p.m. EST, she'll stream her reading of The Little Engine That Could to her online followers. "Goodnight With Dolly" will continue every week at the same time for 10 weeks, with Parton reading a different book from her Imagination Library each time.
Parton founded the Imagination Library 25 years ago with the goal of promoting literacy in her home state of Tennessee. The organization mails free books to kids ages 0 through 5, and today it provides over 1 million books a month to young readers in the U.S., UK, Ireland, Australia, and Canada.
To catch Dolly's first bedtime story, tune into the Imagination Library's YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram pages Thursday night. For more ways to entertain yourself and your family at home, check out these classic board games you can play online.