We will always love Dolly for what she gave us, not least the books - Lorna Slater

When we think of Dolly, most of us will picture the rhinestones, the big hair, the unmistakablevoice and songs that have become part of our shared cultural memory. But perhaps her most important legacy will not be heard on the radio at all. It will be found in the sound of children turning the pages of books.

Dolly died last week aged 80, leaving behind an extraordinary body of work. But her Imagination Library may ultimately prove to be one of her greatest gifts to the world.

She founded the programme in 1995, inspired in part by her father, who was unable to read and write. The idea was beautifully simple: give children books, free of charge, from birth to the age of five and help them discover the joy of reading.

Since then, more than 300 million books have been gifted around the world. In the UK alone, the programme has helped put millions of books into children’s homes, including through schemes across Scotland. There is something profoundly democratic about that.

A child’s access to books should not depend on the size of their parents’ wage, the postcode they grow up in, or whether there happens to be a good library nearby. Every child deserves the opportunity to discover a story, develop their imagination and find themselves reflected in the pages of a book.

The impact of Dolly’s generosity will therefore stretch far beyond the children receiving those books today.

Some of those children will become teachers, writers, scientists, artists, nurses or politicians.Some will simply grow up with a lifelong love of reading. Their children may inherit that love too. That is the remarkable thing about literacy. It passes from one generation to another.

Dolly Parton understood that giving a child a book is not simply giving them something to read. It is giving them a door into another world.

Generations of children will continue opening those doors because of her. What a legacy.