Dolly Parton Lends Support to D.C. Library Books From Birth Program

Country music legend Dolly Parton recorded a video today to lend support to the D.C. Public Library’s Books From Birth program, which officially launched today.

The program, proposed last year by Ward 6 Councilman Charles Allen, provides a free book every month to enrolled kids from birth until age five. To provide the books, the D.C. Public Library is partnering with Parton’s Imagination Library, an organization the singer started in 1995 in Tennessee.

The District’s Books From Birth program was inspired by Imagination Library, which provides free books to over 900,000 children from birth to age five in the U.S. and Canada.

In a video released by the D.C. Library, Parton thanked Allen specifically for proposing the program.

“It is an honor for us to join hands with the D.C. Public Library,” Parton said in the video. “Together we inspire all of our children to read more, learn more, care more and be more.”

Parents can sign their children up for the program online.