The one true Queen of Country Music, Dolly Parton will begin streaming storytime on Youtube starting Thursday at 7 p.m. ET. Through the Imagination Library Project, she will be launching the weekly series as an online resource for parents and kids as we cope with COVID 19. 

In a press release, the Imagination Library stated, “Dolly hopes this series of stories will provide comfort and reassurance to coping kids and families during the shelter-in-place madness.”

As one of her personal favorites, she will begin the series with The Little Engine That Could, as the book celebrates its 90th anniversary. It is also the welcome book that the Imagination Library sends to all newly registered children in the program. 

The program is scheduled to run for 10 weeks and will feature stories such as Anna Dewdney’s Llama, Llama Red Pajama, Matt De la Pena’s Last Stop on Market Street, and Dolly’s very own books, The Coat of Many Colors and I am a Rainbow.

There is also an activity sheet that can be downloaded and printed 

As a reading enthusiast, Dolly began The Imagination Library in 1995 by giving away free books to the children of her hometown in Sevierville, TN. By the year 2000, the program went national and has now provided over 130 million books to children all over the world. 

“This is something that I have been wanting to do for a long time, but the timing never felt quite right,” Parton said in a statement. “I think it is pretty clear that now is the time to share a story and to share some love. It’s an honor for me to share this incredible talent of these authors and illustrators. They make us smile, they make us laugh, and they make us think.”

Well, Miss Dolly, it’s an honor to have you read to our children.