Coat of Many Colors

Winter is coming to Tennessee and there's no money to buy a new coat, so a little girl's mama sews one for her out of rags. The little girl wears it to school proudly, and when the other children laugh, she gives them a quick lesson about what it means to be rich. Judith Sutton's beautiful paintings bring one of Dolly Parton's best-loved songs to life. "The heartfelt verses are imbued with the same genuine, infectiously likeable spirit Parton herself projects."'Publishers Weekly.

A poor girl delights in her coat of many colors, made by her mother from rags, because despite the ridicule of the other children she knows the coat was made with love.

Winter is coming to Tennessee and there's no money to buy a new coat, so a little girl's mama sews one for her out of rags. The little girl wears it to school proudly, and when the other children laugh, she gives them a quick lesson about what it means to be rich. Judith Sutton's beautiful paintings bring one of Dolly Parton's best-loved songs to life. "The heartfelt verses are imbued with the same genuine, infectiously likeable spirit Parton herself projects."'Publishers Weekly.

Children's Literature

Dolly Parton recalls how her mama tried to make her feel special in her little ragged coat. She told me, "I was poor only if I chose to be." This is the genesis of Dolly's song and now her picture book. The child in the story has no coat to wear to school so her mama makes her one from the rags in her rag box. The kids tease her but the girl tells them how rich she feels because of the love her mama sewed in every stitch. The pictures set the scene in the hills of Tennessee while the lyrics tell the story. Alas, the music is not included.

In the 30 years since setting out alone for Nashville at the age of 18 with the hope of making a career for herself as a country singer, Dolly Parton has released 62 albums, many of which have gone gold and/or platinum, selling more than 50 million copies worldwide.

Admired as much for her song writing ability as for her singing, Parton composed such classics as "I Will Always Love You," "Coat of Many Colors," and "9 to 5," and has earned some 30 awards including 4 Grammys. She has also starred in several films, including "Steel Magnolias," "9 to 5," "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," and "Straight Talk." Her theme park, Dollywood, built in 1986 in her native eastern Tennessee attracts hundreds of thousands of fans each year. About to release her own cosmetics line, Parton is one of the smartest businesswomen in the entertainment industry.

Parton also is as much a humanitarian as an entertainer. She is the founder of the Dollywood Foundation, a nonprofit organization established to support education and reduce the large high school dropout rate in her native Sevier County, Tennessee. In addition, she is the national honorary chairperson for the Dr. Robert F. Thomas Foundation, which supports the Dolly Parton Wellness and Rehabilitation Center of Sevier County Medical Center.