Lucky child locates the magical bookmark and gets to meet Dolly

A TALLAGHT child will meet country music legend Dolly Parton after being the lucky recipient of a special bookmark from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

The Imagination Library is a scheme spearheaded by Dolly Parton that aims to improve literacy by providing free books to children, and it has been active in Dublin 24 for several years.

To celebrate 200 million books being gifted to children globally since the establishment of the library in 1995, seven Dolly bookmarks were hidden in books posted to children in five countries.

One of the lucky recipients – whose identity is being kept under wraps – is a child from Tallaght who will now get to meet the superstar after winning the magical Dolly bookmark.

The child will receive a personal video chat with Dolly, a personalized signed letter from Dolly, an autographed photo of Dolly and four Dollywood Theme Park tickets.

The Dollywood Foundation will also donate €2,000 on behalf of the child to the Fettercairn-based Childhood Development Initiative (CDI). Clare Bohan, a literacy coordinator for the CDI, which is the Dolly Parton Imagination Library partner in Dublin 24, expressed her excitement at having a magical bookmark winner locally.

“We were delighted and so excited across the whole organisation because Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is one of our farthest-reaching programmes,” she said.

“To know one of the children who was quite literally chosen, one in more than two million, is incredible and we weren’t expecting to have a recipient here.”

She added: “To know we played a role in the 200 million books delivered worldwide is a really positive thing we’re really excited about.

“It gives us the feeling we are part of something bigger than us and part of something special and we know our families feel the same.”

The €2,000 donation will go straight back into serving more families in the area by funding these high-quality books for more than a thousand local children.

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