When Dolly Parton Turned Up at a Rotherham Hospital and Changed Everything

In December 2007, Shane Jarman was up a ladder hanging decorations on a Christmas tree at his school when his phone rang. He was the deputy headteacher, but that day he had bigger things on his mind. His wife Claire had given birth just the day before to their first child, a baby girl named Emma. So when the call came telling him to get to Rotherham hospital immediately, his heart jumped.

But everything was fine, he was told. Just get there. ‘Everything would become clear’ when he arrived.

What he walked into was not what any new dad expects on day two of fatherhood. His wife looked at him and told him, calmly, that they were about to meet Dolly Parton.

‘Within what felt like five minutes,’ Jarman later recalled, ‘there were great camera flashes, lots of noise, lots of clicking, and in walked this real big bundle of energy.’

The country music legend had come to Rotherham, of all places, for the UK launch of her Imagination Library, a book donation programme she first started in her home county of Sevier, Tennessee, back in 1995. The scheme sends free books every month to children from birth until they start school, with the aim of getting kids reading early and giving every child access to books regardless of their family’s income.

Rotherham was chosen as the launchpad for the UK rollout, and Parton made the trip to South Yorkshire herself to mark the occasion. She visited the hospital’s maternity ward, meeting newborns and their families, including the very shell-shocked but delighted Jarman family.

Baby Emma, just one day old, became one of the first children in England to be enrolled in the programme. Not a bad start to life.

The Imagination Library has since grown into one of the most significant children’s literacy initiatives in the world. In the UK alone, it has gifted millions of books to young children, and the Rotherham launch is now seen as a landmark moment in that story. The programme works by partnering with local organisations and communities, who help fund and distribute the books while Parton’s foundation provides the framework and support.

For Rotherham, a town that has faced its share of difficult headlines over the years, the visit was a rare moment of warmth and positive attention. A global superstar choosing your town, showing up in person, sitting on a maternity ward and handing books to newborns is not something that happens every day.

Parton has always been open about why the Imagination Library matters so much to her. She grew up poor in rural Tennessee, one of twelve children, and her own father could not read or write. She has spoken many times about how books and storytelling shaped her life, and the programme is widely seen as one of her most personal and lasting contributions beyond music.

Since the UK launch in Rotherham, the programme has expanded significantly across England and the rest of the country. Thousands of children are enrolled each year, receiving a new age-appropriate book every single month, from birth to school age. Research into the scheme has consistently shown that children who take part arrive at school better prepared to read and more engaged with learning.

For Shane Jarman, the memory has stayed with him. His daughter Emma, born into that unexpected moment of celebrity and cameras and flashing lights, grew up as a small footnote in the story of one of the most successful literacy programmes the UK has ever seen.

Not every child gets Dolly Parton turning up the day after they are born. But thanks to the Imagination Library, plenty of children across England do get something arguably just as valuable: a book of their own, every month, right from the very start.