Dolly Parton’s heartfelt letter to Imagination Library graduates surfaces days after her death

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: Dolly Parton’s words to children graduating from her Imagination Library are receiving renewed attention following the country music icon’s death at age 80 on August 25, as she left a message for children who received books through her childhood literacy program.

The letter is included with the final Imagination Library book children receive when they turn 5, marking the end of their time in the program and offering them encouragement as they begin the next stage of their reading journey.

Dolly Parton’s message to Imagination Library graduates

The letter, shared by Hannah Sampson, a staff writer for The Washington Post, begins, “Dear Imagination Library Graduate.” Parton reflects on how quickly the children have grown, recalling when their families first read to them as babies.

She encourages them to continue reading after receiving their final Imagination Library book and points them toward their local public libraries for more stories. “Every book is a treasure and every time you open one up you will meet new friends and take wonderful journeys to magical places,” she writes in the letter.

Parton also encourages children as they begin school, reminding them they can pursue their ambitions. A video shared in 2022 features Parton delivering the same message herself.

The letter remains part of the Imagination Library's legacy, the childhood literacy program Parton founded in 1995 through her Dollywood Foundation. According to the organization, the program sends free, age-appropriate books to enrolled children from birth through age 5, regardless of their family’s income.

Parton previously told PEOPLE that the program was inspired by her father, Robert Lee, who was unable to read and write because he had to leave school as a child to work.

“That always made me feel bad about my dad, so I started it based on that, just for our county,” she told PEOPLE in 2022 adding, “It’s just grown in leaps and bounds ever since then, but it came from a place in my heart to try to help children in their young years, their most impressionable years, to learn how to read and write.”

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library legacy and Taylor Swift’s donation

By 2025, the Imagination Library was distributing more than 3.4 million books each month to children in the US and abroad and had provided more than 300 million books since its launch. Parton also spoke about the personal importance of the program when she received the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2022.

“I’m proud of the Imagination Library as much as anything I’ve ever done in my life,” she told PEOPLE at the time. After Parton’s death, her family encouraged fans to honor her legacy by supporting the Imagination Library.

The text also notes that Parton was “overjoyed” by Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s $2 million donation to her charity.

On Friday, July 3, Parton shared an Instagram Reel thanking Swift and Kelce ahead of their wedding. “Taylor and Travis, it’s Dolly, and I was just told that you two were making a donation of $2 million to my Imagination Library,” she said in the video, adding, “I’m blown away and overjoyed with that gratitude.”

She then quipped, “Now, it’s evident that you have made giving back a key part of your lives, so hey, when you have your firstborn, can I have it? Because that is gonna be one special baby!”