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Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton Remembered as the Inspiration Behind PJ Library's Jewish Children's Books

Dolly Parton, the singer who died on Tuesday, August 25, at age 80 after a brief bout with cancer, was mourned around the world as a stellar songwriter, consummate country hitmaker, savvy entrepreneur, and generous philanthropist. In Jewish circles, she was also remembered as the inspiration for PJ Library, a program that sends free children's books to Jewish families in order to foster Jewish values and traditions.

When philanthropist Harold Grinspoon launched PJ Library, he took a page from Parton, who had earlier started Imagination Library, a literacy program that mails free children's books to families across the US. After hearing Parton interviewed about the program, Grinspoon - a philanthropist both in and out of the Jewish community - signed on as a sponsor of the Imagination Library in Western Massachusetts, where he lives.

"We should create a Jewish version of Imagination Library," Grinspoon said, in a 2023 recollection shared by his daughter-in-law, Winnie Sandler Grinspoon, who serves as president of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. The Jewish adaptation he envisioned became PJ Library, which continues Parton’s legacy of placing books in children’s hands while passing on the stories and traditions of Jewish life.

(TOI/VFI News)