Dolly Parton Is Going to Start Reading Bedtime Stories to Kids Each Week on YouTube
National treasure Dolly Parton has found her own special way to give back during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The singer and philanthropist announced a new 10-week YouTube series called Goodnight with Dolly in which she will read bedtime stories to kids each week. Parton is a longtime literacy advocate, and this latest endeavor is an extension of her Imagination Library initiative, which has delivered over 130 million books to children over the years. “This 10-week series will focus on comforting and reassuring children during the shelter-in-place mandates,” the library said in a blog post on its website. “Dolly hopes these videos will provide a welcomed distraction during a time of unrest and also inspire a love of reading and books in the hearts of the children who see them.”
“This is something I have been wanting to do for quite a while, but the timing never felt quite right,” Parton said in the blog post. “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 series will feature a number of books from the Imagination Library and will kick off with The Little Engine That Could, which is also the “welcome book” children in the U.S. and Canada receive when they sign up for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Additional books Parton will read include 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, and Coat of Many Colors by Dolly Parton.
Parton announced on Twitter that she’s making a $1 million donation to Vanderbilt University that will go towards coronavirus research.
Her reading series will launch on April 2 at 7 p.m. ET on the [Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0MpwxxTbrBOz1g1X-BynUA).
Originally Appeared on Glamour
