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FAIRMONT - Fostering literacy and critical thinking isn't a 9-to-5 job.
That's why Tygart Valley United Way is signing on with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.
Parton, the Nashville entertainer, activist and entrepreneur who died last month, founded the program in 1995.
The Imagination Library puts books in the hands of youngsters (free to them and their families) who may not receive them otherwise.
Braille and audio editions are included among the titles, regularly mailed to children across the nation from newborn to age 5.
A kid can be part of the Imagination Library no matter the household income.
Call that a page-turner for outreach spanning generations, Tygart Valley CEO Brett White said.
"A book arriving in a child's mailbox every month may seem simple, but it creates an opportunity to learn, to spend time together as a family and to develop a love of reading that can last a lifetime," he said.
White said the organization is "incredibly excited" to bring Parton's vision forth to the region it serves.
"Youth opportunity begins long before a child enters the classroom," the CEO said. "This is exactly the kind of work our community told us that matters."
Tygart Valley United Way's in-house Women United group will work with boards of education across Marion, Randolph and Tucker counties to get the library going, White said.
It's a story, he said, that will ideally keep writing itself.
For Parton, it couldn't have been more personal.
While she was motivated by the power of words and stories to start the library, she was also honoring her father, who was illiterate.
That was both ironic and poignant, the singer said.
Robert Lee Parton valued education - but the patriarch was born into poverty and left school early to help provide for his parents.
That cycle continued in Sevier County, Tenn., in the house where Dolly grew up.
"Daddy couldn't read or write," she said. "And that was crippling to him."