You’re home. The kids are home. Everyone’s home. And here comes Dolly Parton to make life just a little bit better. The country singer will be reading a bedtime story to our kids (and, let’s be real here, to us) every week for the next 10 weeks.
The “Goodnight With Dolly” weekly series will launch this Thursday at 7 p.m. Eastern. You’ll be able to watch it on YouTube. (Head there now if you want to set a reminder.)
According to the official statement, the goal of Dolly’s storytime videos is to reassure children during shelter-in-place mandates, provide a welcome distraction, and inspire a love of books and reading.
“This is something I have been wanting to do for quite a while, but the timing never felt quite right,” Dolly Parton said in the statement. “I think it is pretty clear that now is the time to share a story and to share some love. It is an honor for me to share the incredible talent of these authors and illustrators. They make us smile, they make us laugh and they make us think.”
The first book she’ll read is “The Little Engine That Could.” Wow. A fitting choice during a time when we’re all just chugging along trying to retain our sanity.
We’ve been longtime fans of Dolly Parton for several reasons that go beyond her music. For starters, we love her generosity and dedication to literacy: Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book-gifting program that mails kids free books. So far the organization has gifted over 133 million books to kids all over the country.
All the books she reads during the upcoming weeks will be straight from her Imagination Library. Tune in this Thursday … and let us know what you think!
Here’s a list of the books she’ll be reading:
“There’s a Hole in the Log on the Bottom of the Lake” by Loren Long
“Llama Llama Red Pajama” by Anna Dewdney
“I Am a Rainbow” by Dolly Parton
“Pass It On” by Sophy Henn
“Stand Tall Molly Lou Mellon” by Patty Lovell
“Violet the Pilot” by Steve Breen
“Max & The Tag-Along Moon” by Floyd Cooper
“Last Stop on Market Street” by Matt de la Peña
“Coat of Many Colors” by Dolly Parton
