The Book Lady, A Mom’s Favorite Books

The Book Lady (3:55) Have you ever heard of The Book Lady? The Book Lady is actually someone you already know. She’s quite a celebrity, known the world around. Dolly Parton has dedicated herself to the cause of children’s literacy in an unusual way. And of all her many accomplishments, she frequently says that she’s most proud when people call her The Book Lady. Her organization, Imagination Library, has distributed well over 50 million free books to children. David Dotson is President of the Dollywood Foundation that oversees Dolly’s Imagination Library. The organization’s goal is to foster a love of reading with pre-school children and their families by providing them with a specially selected book every month. Dotson talks with Rachel about the history of the Library, which is now almost two decades old.  A Mom’s Favorite Books (18:24) Next, Rachel welcomes blogger, Amy Johnson, who talks about some of her favorite books. ‘One of the best things we can do as moms,’ she says, 'to get our kids to read, is to be readers ourselves.' Amy is an avid reader and mother of five boys. Her life goal is to make her boys as obsessed with books as she is. (Judging from the dozens of books scattered all over her house, she’s been successful so far.) Amy Johnson blogs at Sunlit Pages about what she’s currently reading to her children.  Poetry (26:36) Finally, a poem by Eugene Field called Wynken, Blynken, and Nod read by Katie Jarvis.