Dolly, Penguin Random House, and 336 million Books.

For more than 25 years, Penguin Random House has been the exclusive publishing partner of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, the literacy program she started in 1995 to send free books to children from birth to age five. What began in a few counties in East Tennessee has since sent 336 million books to nearly 3.6 million families around the world. Every month, a new book arrives in the mail addressed to the child by name.

And the very first book every child receives is The Little Engine That Could. It was the first book Dolly chose for the program, and it remained the first book throughout her life. A story about a little engine faced with something that seems impossible, who keeps telling herself I think I can until she does? You couldn't invent a more Dolly Parton book if you tried.

The books that follow are selected each year by the Imagination Library's Blue Ribbon Book Selection Committee, and the 2026 list is a pretty wonderful reading list in its own right: Corduroy, The Rabbit Listened, Good Night, Gorilla, Llama Llama, Red Pajama, Richard Scarry, Eric Carle, plus newer titles you may not know yet. If you buy children's books, it's worth taking a look at the complete list just to see what they're choosing.

👉SEE THE 2026 IMAGINATION LIBRARY BOOK LIST

Penguin Random House said after Dolly’s death that the Imagination Library may be her most enduring legacy. And what a wonderful legacy to have: millions of children opening their mail and finding a book waiting just for them.