Before Dolly Parton’s father, Lee Parton, died several years ago, he told her of all her entertainment accomplishments the past five decades, he was most proud of her initiating a reading program for children.

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library, inspired by her own father’s lifelong illiteracy, started in Sevier, Tenn., and now partners with thousands of local organizations in more than 1,600 communities throughout the United States, Canada, U.K. and Australia. Those partnerships have delivered more than 45 million books to children, including more than 57,000 to children in Middletown, Monroe, Madison Twp. and the Trenton area.

David Dotson, president of the Dollywood Foundation for the last 14 years, was the keynote speaker Tuesday night at the Middletown Community Foundation’s inaugural Knowledge Series. Before his speech, Dotson talked about Parton and her impact on children and their reading habits.

Parton, who turned 67 last week, always joked that she looked “good for her age,” Dotson said. But now, because of her involvement in the reading program, some are referring to her as “the Book Lady,” a title she embraces, he said.

“She looks at life differently, from a different perspective now,” said Dotson, who called Parton an avid reader. “What is important when you’re 30 isn’t what’s important later in life.”

He called the Imagination Library “her living legacy” and said 100 years from now, it will be, more than the hit records and movies, why she’s remembered.

The program aims to give children in a participating community the same pre-school experience of having received the same set of expert-selected books — one a month from birth to age 5 at no cost to the parents — to help instill the basic literacy skills necessary to be successful in school, said T. Duane Gordon, executive director of the MCF. Parton’s foundation covers the administrative costs, and local partners pay the actual cost of book purchase and postage for their local children, he said.

The Dollywood Foundation partnered with the MCF in January 2009 to launch the initiative locally. It has grown to be the largest of the 28 chapters of the program throughout Ohio, serving 2,100 children each month and having “graduated” more than 1,100 over the past four years, Gordon said.

He said children who participated in the program score significantly higher on their entering literacy tests than those who didn’t receive the books.

Gordon announced the latest data on Imagination Library. For the Middletown students entering 2012-2013 school year, children in the Imagination Library scored on average 18.36 on their KRA-L (kindergarten readiness assessment literacy) test versus 17.15 for students not in Imagination Library.

The second installment of the Middletown Community Foundation Knowledge Series will take place in May and feature keynote speaker Marvin Lewis, head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.