Dolly Parton, one of America’s most honored female country singers, will be releasing a children’s picture book, titled Coat of Many Colors, on sale Oct. 18, as a tribute to her beloved classic song, her upbringing in rural Tennessee Smoky Mountains and her longtime pursuit of advocating for childhood literacy.
The book, published by Penguin Young Readers, features lyrics from “Coat of Many Colors” and illustrations by Brooke Boynton-Hughes, is a story of a young girl who suffers from humiliation by her classmates because her mother uses patches to fix up her winter coat. However, the girl realizes that her coat was made with love “in every stitch,” and only those that choose to be poor are poor, but there is nothing more valuable than family or a mother’s love.
This beautiful message is sure to make Coat of Many Colors an instant classic for American families. In fact, Dolly Parton has been supporting childhood literacy for a long time. In 1988, the Dollywood Foundation was formed in an effort to inspire children “to dream more, learn more, care more, and be more.”
The Dolly Parton Imagination Library, the foundation’s signature program, works with local sponsors to make sure that every preschool child has a new book every month until they start kindergarten, and has to date donated over 80 million books in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia.
Following the publication of Coat of Many Colors, NBC will air a sequel to last year’s TV movie, “Coat of Many Colors.” This year’s movie, “Christmas of Many Colors,” shares a story of how, in the midst of humble Tennessee life, a Christmas miracle draws the Partons closer together.
An exclusive original song by Parton, “Making Fun Ain’t Funny,” will be available for download with purchase. Each illustration was done exclusively for the book by artist and illustrator Boyton-Hughes, an MFA graduate from the New York Academy of Art.
For more information on the book, visit Parton’s website.
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