Dolly Parton to Read Children's Books in New Series 'Goodnight With Dolly'

Dolly Parton has announced a new video series entitled “Goodnight With Dolly,” featuring the country superstar reading aloud from children’s books on Thursday evenings. The series will launch April 2nd at 7:00 p.m. EST, on the YouTube channel for Parton’s Imagination Library, and will run for 10 weeks.

The books Parton will read from have been “carefully chosen for their appropriate content at this moment in time,” according to a press release referencing the coronavirus pandemic. The footage from the series will include both Parton and the interior illustrations of the books.

“This is something I have been wanting to do for quite a while, but the timing never felt quite right,” Parton said. “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 stories will 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 and Coat of Many Colors 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 The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper.

Parton also announced that The Library That Dolly Built, a documentary on the founding of the Imagination Library, has been postponed from its original theatrical release date on April 2nd. The film will now premiere the week of September 21st, to commemorate the 25th release of the Imagination Library’s founding.

“Although it was the right thing to do, postponing the screening of our documentary was a disappointment,” Parton noted. “So many of our Imagination Library affiliates had organized events around the nationwide screenings, however things do have a way of working out so the documentary will still have its day.”