Dolly Parton, the country music icon and philanthropist whose Imagination Library program now mails free books to more than 500 children in Glendale Heights each month, died Tuesday at age 80. Her family announced her death in a statement shared by her nephew, Bryan Seaver, saying she passed peacefully at her home in Nashville.

Locally, Parton's legacy lives on through two area programs modeled on the charity she founded in 1995 in her home county in East Tennessee.

The Glenside Public Library District's Imagination Library affiliate began mailing books to Glendale Heights children in June 2025 and had crossed 501 enrollees by the library board's June 18, 2026 meeting — nearly double the 282 children signed up a year earlier, according to board minutes.

Glen Ellyn has its own version. The D41 Kids Foundation operates an affiliate covering children from birth to age 5 within Glen Ellyn School District 41 boundaries, fully funded through donor support, with the Rotary Club of Glen Ellyn among the contributors.

Both programs follow the model Parton designed: families register once, and an age-appropriate book arrives addressed to the child every month until their fifth birthday, at no cost to parents.

Illinois partnered with the Dollywood Foundation in December 2023, when Gov. JB Pritzker allocated $1.6 million in state funding to expand the program; it now reaches 93 of Illinois' 102 counties. Nationally, Parton's program has gifted more than 318 million books since it began three decades ago.

Local library officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Parton's passing.

How to sign up

No registration drives or program events are currently scheduled for either local program. Families can sign up anytime at the links above.