Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Celebrity | August 26, 2026
It’s rare to see the passing of a celebrity be met with universal commemoration, but Dolly Parton was a rare kind of celebrity. Her death at the age of 80 has truly sent a shockwave through the Earth’s crust and left us all shaken. We’ve been thinking of her legendary career and achievements all dang day, remembering the songs, the films, the quips, and the wigs. But her true legacy lies in her incredible philanthropic work.
As the founder of the Imagination Library, she provided hundreds of millions of books to kids In her home county of Sevier County, Tennessee, her non-profit Dollywood Foundation helped to drastically decrease high school dropout numbers and increased support for educational outreach. There are countless kids across the planet who have a library of wonderful books because of Dolly. So, why not take this moment to sit down and have Dolly read you a bedtime story?
Parton joined the CBeebies bedtime story special, a programme on British kids’ TV where the most inexplicable variety of celebrities read a book to pre-schoolers. Everyone’s done it, from Tom Hardy to Black Francis from The Pixies to Jack Black. And of course Dolly joined the team, reading Stuck in the Mud in her oft-imitated twang.
She also read dog Loves Books, because one story is never enough, as Dolly taught us all.
Go read a good book today, and buy one for someone you love. It’s what Dolly would have wanted.
