- A number of celebrities are entertaining children online who are home from school due to the coronavirus pandemic.
- Country star icon Dolly Parton is one of them and she’ll be reading bedtime stories to children every Thursday for 10 weeks.
- The videos will be available on Imagination Library’s YouTube channel starting April 2 at 7 p.m. EST.
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Dolly Parton may be known as “The Queen of Country,” but to many children, she’s “The Book Lady,” whose charity – Imagination Library – sends free books to children all over the world.
Parton is living up to that name with a new initiative called, “Goodnight with Dolly.” Starting April 2 at 7 p.m. EST, the “Jolene” singer will be reading bedtime stories online to children who are stuck at home due to the coronavirus pandemic. The series will run for 10 weeks and the videos will be available on Imagination Library’s YouTube channel.
Dolly Parton hopes her reading series will help children cope during the pandemic
The star hopes to give children and families “a welcomed distraction during a time of unrest and also inspire a love of reading and books in the hearts of the children who see them,” Parton said in a statement. The singer will read a number of classics, including “The Little Engine That Could” and “Llama Llama Red Pajama.”
Parton founded Imagination Library in 1995 in honor of her father, who was not able to read or write, and she had been planning on launching a reading initiative for some time.
"This is something I have been wanting to do for quite a while, but the timing never felt quite right," Parton said in a statement on the program's website. "I think it is pretty clear that now is the time to share a story and to share some love."
Parton's charity has distributed more than 130 million books to kids
Imagination Library has given away more than 130 million books to children, and it earned recognition from the Library of Congress in 2018. The nonprofit supports children in the US, Australia, Ireland, and the UK. Parton is also doing her part to help find a coronavirus cure. She donated $1 million towards coronavirus research at Vanderbilt University.
Parton told NPR in 2018 that she established her charity to help improve children's futures.
"If you can read, even if you can't afford education, you can go on and learn about anything you want to know. There's a book on everything," Parton told the news outlet. "So I just think thatit's important for kids to be encouraged to read, to dream and to plan for a better life and better future."
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