Oklahoma girl finds ‘treasure’ in book from Dolly Parton

BEAVER, Okla. (KFOR) – Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is celebrating a huge milestone. More than 200 million books have now been donated to kids across the globe. The organization celebrated that milestone with a unique, global treasure hunt of sorts – and an Oklahoma girl was one of the winners.

Dolly’s Imagination Library ships free monthly books to children from birth to age 5. Local community partners help with funding, alongside Dolly Parton, and ship free, monthly books to children in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Republic of Ireland.

Metro Library to host ‘Dolly Day’ for Parton’s Imagination Library

To celebrate that 200 millionth book milestone, “golden bookmarks” were sent out in just seven of the books shipped worldwide.

And one of the kids lucky enough to find one is a little girl from Beaver, Oklahoma.

Four-year-old Austyn Ordonez was shocked to find one of the seven bookmarks in her monthly book.

Austyn and a few other lucky winners were treated to a virtual meet-and-greet with Dolly herself.

“I love to read and I bet you do too. I saw one of you, I think it might have been Austyn. Are you the one that checks out books all the time at the library?” Dolly asked Austyn during the call.

“Yes,” Austyn replied. “You’re a good reader, I read about you checking out all those books to read, I think that’s wonderful,” Dolly said.

In fact, Austyn checks out 10 library books each week and is always thrilled to receive one of Dolly’s free books in the mail each month.

Dolly asked Austyn the title of her favorite book.

“Molly Lou Melon,” Austyn said.

Oklahoma teen may be first person to beat original Tetris

Dolly started her Imagination Library in 1995 in honor of her father, who couldn’t read or write.

“And he felt very embarrassed and crippled by that, but he was so smart. And so he got to live long enough to see the Imagination Library do so well, and got such a kick out of the kids calling me ‘The Book Lady,'” Dolly said in an interview with NBC News.

And now Dolly is the one getting a kick out of seeing the smiles on small faces, including those sharing the video call with Austyn, as seen in the video at the top of this story.

Each child, from several different countries, found one of the coveted bookmarks.

“I know the time is really crazy for some of you. It’s too early in the morning or too late at night for some of you,” Dolly said. “I just want you to know how proud I am of all of you and I hope all of you continue to read.”

📧 Have fresh headlines sent to your inbox! Subscribe to KFOR’s Morning Headline Newsletter →

Along with the virtual call, the bookmark winners also received a personalized letter from Dolly, an autographed photo, and four Dollywood Theme Park tickets in Tennessee.

According to the Beaver County Pioneer Library, the library will also receive a $2,000 donation.

Nearly three million children are registered for the free monthly books from Dolly’s Imagination library. If you would like to sign up a young reader you love, click here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.