Tributes for Dolly Parton are pouring in across the internet. Alex Perlman (pearlmania500) just made an emotional video that focuses on how her legacy is her intentional decision to prioritize community over personal wealth. He uploaded the video on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, accumulating over 18 million views in just one day. In it, he pointed out the impact of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which provides free books to children regardless of their background.
In the post, Perlman said, “We should never forget that Dolly Parton chose to not be a billionaire. Cause she could have. Dolly Parton made so much money. She could have let her money make money. But instead, she chose to reinvest in people and her community. And today, when I went to my mailbox on the day she died, there was proof of that sitting right there, waiting for me. It was this book right here. Forts, from the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.”
As he held up the book, he noted, “Since the day my son has been born, once a month, The Dolly Parton Imagination Library, in partnership with local nonprofits, has mailed my son, like millions of American kids across America, a book for his parents to read to him to foster a love of reading and literacy and dreams and wonder.”
An impactful comparison
Perlman remarked, “Dolly Parton spent millions of dollars making sure the kids were not illiterate. She wanted to make sure the kids knew how to read, how they could understand the world around them, and that they could understand how to process their Emotions.”
Then he compared the books sent to what other wealthy figures have done. “This is what she spent her money on. Instead of buying Twitter, she sent The Animal Song to my son.” He added, “She said How We Say I love you instead of making us hate each other. She said Let’s Explore the Seashore instead of buying Flock cameras.” Sadly, the CEO of Flock just asked Americans to ‘compromise’ their privacy.
The comments section came together to show how the library made an impact on them. Globally. One person noted, “Not just America; my Australian daughter gets books from the Dolly library.” Another individual shared, “My son is blind… she also mails out Braille books.” Another user added, “And it’s a bilingual Spanish book, BECAUSE SHE CARES for ALL KIDS.”
According to USA TODAY, Parton died August 25 at 80 after privately battling cancer. While the world knew her as a musical icon, she wanted to be remembered differently. In 2019, she told the Today Show’s Jenna Bush Hager that she would prefer the accolade “book lady” over “Queen of Country Music.”
Her commitment to literacy was reportedly rooted in her own family history. She launched the Imagination Library in 1995 as an ode to her illiterate father. Before he died, he told Parton it was “probably the most important thing (she) had ever done.”
Per USA Today, Parton once wrote in a letter to fans, “He was the smartest man I have ever known but I know in my heart his inability to read probably kept him from fulfilling all of his dreams. Inspiring kids to love to read became my mission.”
“That’s a very warm, loving, emotional thing for me to think that I’m the book lady and that I’ve done something for the little kids because, being from a big family, I have a special love for children,” Parton told USA TODAY last year at Dollywood.
She reportedly noted, “They’re the future. They’re the ones that’s going to be going on after us, and so I think if you can give them a head start, a little chance of any kind in their early years and their most impressionable years, that’s a good thing.”
USA Today reported that the program had now gifted more than 332,000,000 books. The first book ever distributed was The Little Engine That Could, a childhood favorite. Parton told Marie Claire in 2020, “I often tell people there’s a lot of wisdom in this little book, and I always say that I am a little engine that did.”
Beyond her philanthropy, Parton was a prolific author in her own right. She wrote children’s books, cookbooks, memoirs, and even a 2022 novel titled Run, Rose, Run with James Patterson. Her work often aimed to help children process their feelings, such as in her 2009 book “I Am a Rainbow.”
As Perlman concluded in his video, “That pile is proof of why Dolly Parton will be remembered and loved. Not because her name’s on the side of a building, not because of anything else, but because she reinvested in people, in hope, in love, and in the future.”
Published: Aug 28, 2026 09:36 am