In February, Dolly Parton presented the librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, with the 100,000,000th book from Parton’s Imagination Library. Founded in 1995, the Imagination Library focuses on literacy and each month sends books to pre-kindergarten children to “inspire them to dream.”

One of 12 children, Dolly Parton grew up in a one-room cabin in Locust Ridge, Tennessee. Motivated by the illiteracy of her sharecropper father, she always credited reading as the force that inspired her own dreams and success. Her generosity of spirit is what led her to found her book-giveaway project, and that same spirit permeates Dollywood, the Smoky Mountain theme park she created in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Graham Hoppe’s intention in Gone Dollywood is to describe how the theme park is a manifestation of Parton’s embracing personality.