Dolly Parton at Harrah’s Casino in 1980. Getty Image, photo by George Rose.

It’s Dolly Parton’s Birthday (January 19), and we’re here to tell you the lovely lady with the amazing voice and country charm deserves all the best wishes she can get!

Dolly Rebecca Parton is best known for her work in country music. Before she was 20, Dolly was a songwriter for other artists and made her album debut in 1967 with “Hello, I’m Dolly.”

Since that time, Parton has amassed 25 RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) certified gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards. 25 of her songs have reached No. 1 on Billboard’s country music charts and has 41 top-10 country albums. Over the past 40 years, she has received 47 Grammy nominations.

Alright, you get it, she’s a country music superstar. And, she’s invested her time and money in successful business ventures like The Dollywood Company, which she co-owns. Its most prominent business is the theme park Dollywood.

But It’s About Books

However, she ties into our conscientiousness here due to her work with children and her Imagination Library. According to Dolly, her father never learned to read and she wanted all children to fall in love with reading.

To that end, she started her little library in Sevier County, Tennessee where she was raised, in 1995. Her dream was to get books to children in her county; age-appropriate, free books preschool kids would want to read.

But something happened! The message she had for children spread across the globe. Today, the Imagination Library sends books to hundreds of places thousands of miles from Sevier County.

In fact, the Imagination Library sends more than 1 million free books to children in the US, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom every month! To date, more than 112,500,000 free books have been mailed to children hungry to read.

I know her music is amazing, soothing, and sometimes heartbreaking. But really, 112 million books for children? How can you beat that?

Thank you and cheers to Dolly on her birthday! She’s sure earned the accolades!