08/26/2026
Like so many of you, I don’t remember a world without Dolly Parton in it. And as of yesterday, the world feels a little different.
Dolly has influenced me since I was a child in the 1980s. I loved her music, her movies, her sass and irreverence. I have quoted Steel Magnolias and 9 to 5 innumerable times and still work them into my near-daily life. Two Doors Down, Islands in the Stream, Jolene… there are too many favorite songs to name.
I even remember stuffing my bra as a pr***en and pretending to be her. 😂
Several of my own children were part of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library when they were little, and I remember the excitement of those books arriving at our house.
My late mother loved Dollywood and Pigeon Forge, and just a couple of years before she passed away, she took my youngest four children there.
Dolly was an icon. A legend. The best of the best.
But one of the things I have always loved most about Dolly was that underneath all the rhinestones and big hair was an incredibly generous human being who genuinely wanted to make people’s lives better.
🌸📚🌺
Dolly’s family has asked that, in lieu of flowers, those wishing to honor her make a donation to the Imagination Library.
So today, we’re sending our flowers in the form of books.
Leaf & Petal will donate 20% of ALL sales today to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
And if you stop by the shop today, consider picking up a book for a little person in your own life, too. Our children’s book wall feels like an especially appropriate place to celebrate a woman who understood just how much a book can mean to a child.
Thank you, Dolly, for the music, the movies, the laughter, the books, the generosity, and for showing the world that you could be sparkly and silly and smart and strong and kind all at the same time.
There will never be another Dolly. 💗
Feel free to share your own Dolly stories in the comments! 🦋
xo-
Petra
If you’d like to send some flowers of your own, you can donate directly to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library here:
https://donate.imaginationlibrary.com/
📸 Photos borrowed from Imagination Library