Jolene's, a bookstore and cafe in Newark, Ohio, will host a grand opening on Saturday, August 29. Located at 5 S. 3rd St., Jolene's carries titles for all ages along with jewelry, toys, apparel, candles, and other gifts, while its cafe serves a variety of hot and iced beverages. There is a dedicated children's area and space for customers to sit, read, and work.

Owner Megan Basinger was inspired to open Jolene's after a visit to a "beautiful little shop" combining books, drinks, and a space for children to hang out and play. "I remember thinking, I wish we had something like this closer to home," she wrote. "Then that thought turned into, I wish I could spend my days in a place like this. And that's how Jolene's began."

The grand opening on August 29 will feature a ribbon cutting and signing with author Shelli Netko, who grew up in Newark. The festivities will begin at 10 a.m. and continue until 6 p.m.

"I want Jolene's to feel like everyone's store," Basinger said. "Featuring hometown authors is important because local authors represent our voices, inspire future writers, and strengthen the sense of community that makes Newark so special."

Appalachian Pages, an all-ages, general-interest bookstore, opened August 7 in Pikeville, Ky., Mountain Top News reported.

Located at 107 Weddington Branch Rd., in the Crossroads Plaza in Coal Run, Appalachian Pages carries "all genres" and a "little bit of everything," said owner Austin Green. The store features a children's section and a reading room, and stocks nonbook items like candles, toys, and journals. Green plans to start hosting author signings, book clubs, and other events once things settle down and he gets past the "learning curve." Two events already on the books include a storytelling workshop with a local children's author and a Gilmore Girls re-watch party.

Green told Mountain Top News that he's been an avid reader since childhood and has spent "an ungodly amount of money on books over the years." He decided to open a bookstore because it was "something our area really needed," with the nearest major bookstore being two hours away. He owned a different business prior to starting his career as a bookseller, and selling that allowed him to make Appalachian Pages a reality.

"As an avid reader myself, this has long been a dream for me to own a bookstore and bring the love of holding a book and actually turning pages to both youth and adults alike," Green told the Appalachian News-Express.

The store's opening day was a success, Green said, with more than 200 books sold.

Fern & Fable Books in Ormond Beach, Fla., is merging operations and space with its sister store, Ormond Collective, which is located in the building across the street at 58 W. Granada Blvd. The Observer reported that the stores, owned by Rayna and Sam Dunlop, will become one company in late September, to be called Fern & Fable Books and Collective. 

"We are closing the doors of 51 W. Granada Blvd. after 3 incredible years in that sweet little shop," Fern & Fable wrote in its newsletter. "We will miss the space, it holds so many dear moments for us. But we are excited to expand and spread our wings into a larger venue!"

Ormond Collective hosts more than 25 local small businesses. The vendor market will be located at the right side of the shop, with the bookshop taking over the center and left side. 

"Ultimately the bookshop is simply embracing the room to expand (more bookshelves, more events and a parking lot!) while still providing space for other local small businesses to thrive," Fern & Fable noted. Both stores are closing the week of September 20 to begin the moving process. Doors will reopen at 58 W. Granada Blvd. the following weekend. 

Magnolia & Main Books in Ridgeway, Va., will close on Saturday, August 29. Owner Traci Knight Morton, who opened the bookstore at 810 Main St. in May 2024, announced last January that she would be closing the bricks-and-mortar location and switching to a pop-up model. In February, however, Morton said she would be staying open after being "inundated with offers to help."

In a social media post earlier this month, Morton said the bookstore's closure was on again: "And if you're wondering, 'is she really closing this time.' Yes. I've put my notice in with the mayor's office, which I rent from. They're awesome landlords. Couldn't have asked for better. 

"Brutally honest reasons: I'm just tired y'all. As many of you know, I work another job and help my parents out as much as I can. Between both jobs, I work 7 days a week. It's just stressing me out. If I want a day off, I have to find someone that can work, and make sure I can pay them. I have several that are always willing, if their schedules allow, and I am soo grateful for them. They don't even want to be paid, but I just can't do that. 

"Sales have been down this summer. I've known from the beginning I was in a terrible location, and I am thankful y'all made the trip to Ridgeway just to come to the bookstore. But it's a rare month that I can take even a small check, and I stay stressed out about paying the bills.... I'm not leaving y'all stranded though. We have the new Chapter & Hearth Booksellers, and coming soon is Haven Hollow Bookstore. Plus we have some great bookstores in the adjoining counties. MHC is no longer a book desert!! Love you all!"

The American Booksellers Association has released the names of 62 booksellers who will receive scholarships to attend the 2027 Winter Institute in Minneapolis, Minn., Bookselling This Week reported. The scholarships cover the registration fee, hotel stay, and up to $600 in travel expenses to Wi2027, to be held at the Minneapolis Convention Center, February 10–14.

Individual scholarship recipients are not matched with individual sponsors; instead, a portion of total fees raised by Wi2027 sponsorships is dedicated to funding as many bookseller scholarships for as many new and different stores as possible. The full list of scholarship winners can be found here.

Last week, Shelf Awareness Presents offered "WOW Books: Window and Floor Merchandising for the Fall," the latest in our series of webinars for booksellers, featuring two amazing guests: Jess Fuentes from Wild Rumpus Books in Minneapolis, Minn., and Allie Pontrello from Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, Wash. 

Hundreds of registrants were treated to merchandising advice and best practices from both of these veteran booksellers. Their actionable advice covered many considerations and ranged from how to divide the work load to trusting gut instinct. Watch a recording of the session here.

Would you like to be involved in a future webinar as a bookseller? Would you like to sponsor your own webinar as a publisher? Please reach out to sales@shelf-awareness.com and we'll work together to create a useful and powerful presentation.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia stopped by Newtonville Books, Newton Centre, Mass., to sign copies of her new novel, The Intrigue (Del Rey), along with a deep selection of her backlist. General manager Nick Petrulakis noted, "It's a title that my noir-loving heart immediately fell in love with.... It's always a treat when fantastic authors come through our doors here at Newtonville Books!"

Congratulations to Orinda Books in Orinda, Calif., which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary with an event that featured a special guest, Janet Boreta, who founded the bookstore in 1976.

Janet Boreta with current owner Pat Rudebusch and her husband, Glenn.

"For nearly three decades, she steered the store through numerous highs and lows, including the proliferation of discount book stores, the closing of a local college that looked to Orinda Books to carry their course books, and a giant online retailer," current owner Pat Rudebusch noted. "Throughout it all, Orinda Books has remained a valued part of the community, hosting author events, book clubs, and local artists; facilitating school book fairs; and providing space for education-related community groups to meet."

Bookshop birthday festivities included prizes, cupcakes, and treats, an in-store discount on books, and a special appearance by the mayor of Orinda, who presented a proclamation from the city.

Orinda Books noted that a "steady stream of customers and well wishers kept things hopping. When people ask how we have managed to keep the store going in the face of online competition, the answer is simple: 'We're fortunate to live in a community that loves to read and values having a bookstore in town. It's the community support that has kept us going for 50 years and we now look toward 51.' "

Click here to see the latest Independent Press Top 40, the weekly bestseller list celebrating the bestselling 40 fiction and 40 nonfiction titles from independent publishers, as sold by independent bookstores across the country. The list is sponsored by the Independent Publishers Caucus and the American Booksellers Association.

This week's debut fiction titles:

3. The Poison Daughter by Sheila Masterson (Slowburn)
21. Stitched by Eli McCann (Torrey House Press)
29. The Unstoppables by David Biro (Regalo Press)
38. Freyja by Margrét Ann Thors (Spiegel & Grau) 

This week's debut nonfiction titles:

5. No Prophets: The Fight to Save Democracy from Christian Nationalism by Jared Huffman (W. W. Norton)
7. The Success Lie: Reframing Your Reality to Thrive Personally and Professionally by Chantell Preston (Resolve Editions)
21. The Scenic Route: Following My Inner Compass Across 12 Countries in 12 Months by Sarah Aviram (Amplify Publishing)
38. Three Six Five: Prompts, Acts, Divinations (an Inexhaustible Compendium for Writing) by Lucy Ives, illus. by Nick Mauss (Siglio Press)
40. What Tech Calls Governing by Adrian Daub (Stanford University Press)

Bookseller cat Copper at Analog Books in Lethbridge, Alb., Canada, had a message for the boss: "Contrary to their claims, Treat Giver, I did not bully that customer into giving me their brand new empty shoebox. Why would I ever do that?"

Clive Owen (Children of Men, Croupier) has joined Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen's Gambit, Lucky) in How to Kill Your Family, the British Netflix drama based on Bella Mackie's bestselling novel, with Emma Moran creating for TV, Deadline reported. The cast also includes Orlando Norman and David Shields.

Taylor-Joy plays the murderous Grace Bernard, the protagonist of Mackie's book. The synopsis: "Grace is the forgotten child of Simon Artemis, a merciless billionaire. After a heartbreaking rejection, Grace decides to exact revenge. But will this deadly scheme take even more from Grace than she's already lost?"

Sid Gentle (Killing Eve) is producing the series, with journalist and author Mackie exec producing alongside Moran, Sally Woodward Gentle, Lizzie Rusbridger, Lee Morris, and Taylor-Joy through her LadyKiller label.

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 this weekend from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's website.

Saturday, August 29
2:05 p.m. Francis J. Gorman, author of Confronting Bad History: How a Lost Cause and Fraudulent Book Caused the John Wilkes Booth Exhumation Trial (Gateway Park Publishing, $24, 9798218516420). 

Sunday, August 30
8 a.m. Evaggelos Vallianatos, author of Earth on Fire: Brewing Plagues and Climate Chaos in Our Backyards (WSPC, $36, 9789819801510).

11 a.m. Annie Jacobsen, author of Biological War: A Scenario (Dutton, $33, 9798217046034), at Books & Books in Coral Gables, Fla. (Re-airs Sunday at 10:35 p.m.)

12:40 p.m. Geoffrey Cain, author of Steve Jobs in Exile: The Untold Story of NeXT and the Remaking of an American Visionary (Portfolio, $35, 9780593716694). 

1:50 p.m. Joanna Stern, author of I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything (Harper, $32, 9780063446618). 

2:50 p.m. Robert Wright, author of The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning (Simon & Schuster, $30, 9781668061657), at Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C.

5:47 p.m. Cory Doctorow, author of The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI: How to Think About Artificial Intelligence--Before It's Too Late (MCD, $18, 9780374621568).

Shortlists for the 2026 Ned Kelly Awards have been released. Sponsored by the Australian Crime Writers Association, the awards honor works in the categories of best crime fiction, true crime, and international crime fiction, as well as debut crime fiction. Winners will be named in September. 

The judging panel said this year's entries "offered a large range of sub-genre within the crime fiction category, including spy thrillers, noir, historical, outback crime as well as political and community corruption and social crime. It was a true reflection on the broad range of crime writing throughout Australia and internationally."

Selected titles appearing next Tuesday, September 1:

The Disappearers: A Novel by Marlon James (Riverhead, $32, 9780593717202) takes place in 1988 Kingston, Jamaica, where eight gay men rehearsing for a play are victims of a violent crime.

The Most Dangerous Games by MrBeast and James Patterson (Morrow, $35, 9780063488762) pits 100 contestants against nature and each other to win a billion dollars.

American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn's Dark Journey from Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump by Kai Bird and Susan Goldmark (Scribner, $32, 9781668031575) is the biography of an infamous political fixer who worked with the Mafia and Republican politicians. 

Situated: Find the People and Places That Bring Out Your Best by Angela Duckworth (Scribner, $30, 9781668005941) is a self-help book by the author of Grit.

Profits, Prophets, Coaches, and Kings: (When) Do Leaders Matter? by Jared Diamond (Mariner, $32, 9780063517660) looks at whether historical events are shaped by influential individuals or wider social conditions. From the author of Guns, Germs and Steel. 

The Castle: Adventures in a World of Unraveling Men by Jon Ronson (Riverhead, $32, 9781594634208) explores a "masculinity crisis" in which unmoored men are falling into extremist ideology rabbit holes.

Under Story by Chloe Benjamin (Putnam, $32, 9780593545218) follows a scientist at McMurdo Station in Antarctica when strange lights appear on the ice.

The Knave and the Moon by Rachel Gillig (Orbit, $30, 9780316601849) is book two in the Stonewater Kingdom romantasy series.

The Birthing Tree: A Novel by Amanda Peters (Catapult, $28, 9781646223695) follows a Mi'kmaq woman contending with generational trauma and a changing community.

Blightfall by Brandon Sanderson, illus. by Janci Patterson (Delacorte, $22.99, 9780593707050) is the first in the YA science fiction Riftwake series featuring the Skyward Flight pilot team undertaking a dangerous interstellar mission.

Dance Team Drama by Meg Cabot, illus. by Amelia Allore (HarperAlley, $13.99, 9780063254961) is the first title in the middle-grade graphic novel series Detective Baby featuring a superpowered babysitter who can understand baby talk and a genius baby. 

Homemaking with Babs: Tips and Tricks for Making a House a Home by Barbara Costello (Clarkson Potter, $38, 9780593797921) includes 150 photographs.

Paperbacks:
Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature by Emily Wilson (Liveright, $19.99, 9781324099406). 

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Flatiron, $18.99, 9781250828019).

From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next Great Reads:

Hardcover
Sunrise: A Novel by Téa Obreht (Random House, $29, 9781984855534). "A clever, horror-adjacent thriller about a plane crash in the wilderness, a quest for survival, a ghost town, and the shared myths that make America. The small nightmarish details ratchet up the tension in this highly enjoyable tour-de force." --Timothy Benz, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Cincinnati, Ohio

Hardcover: Indies Introduce
All That's Unseen: An Appalachian Memoir by Emilee Hackney (Penguin Press, $32, 9780593831403). "Hackney digs into the real grit of her upbringing with a loving thoughtfulness no outsider could ever hope to capture. As someone with a similar background, this kind of honest reckoning is necessary for us to ever move forward." --Brooke Barber, The Country Bookshop, Southern Pines, N.C.

Paperback
The Flayed Man: A Novel by Chloe Lauter (Soft Skull, $16.95, 9781593768256). "The Flayed Man is a compelling piece of queer, folkloric horror set in the Las Vegas desert, featuring the dual nightmares of caring for an ailing mother and trying to outrun a family curse that threatens to turn you into a literal monster." --Chloe Kirkpatrick, BookPeople, Austin, Tex.

Ages 4-8
Mr Crump, the Heartless Grump by Pog, illus. by Stephanie Leon, trans. by Katy Lockwood-Holmes (Floris Books, $18.99, 9781782509523). "Mr Crump has my heart, grump or not! A fall time Grinch with cozy sweaters and cute costumed kids? Why yes, I do need that. Thanks! Everyone will love the sweet message: kindness is better than candy." --Heather Weirich-Roy, Gibson's Bookstore, Concord, N.H.

Ages 8-12: Indies Introduce
The Ginghams by T.C. Kemper (Holt, $18.99, 9781250404152). "This is a fantastic, fast-paced middle grade mystery. I love the creepy vibe and great story about friendship. I loved this book and I can't wait to share it with my fellow mystery fans." --Amy Buren, Maggie Mae's Kids Bookshop, Gresham, Ore.

Ages 13+
Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay: A Novel by Lex Croucher (Wednesday Books, $20, 9781250404794). "Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay is a story of learning to live and love while an often cruel world continues to turn despite how much its main characters need it to stop for a while and give them a break. Heartwarming, fun, and tender. Croucher never fails to deliver beautiful and impactful queer stories." --Marlee Salas, Slow Burn Bookshop, Nashville, Tenn.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium--the "NPK" on every fertilizer bag--are as responsible for the shape of human civilization as any invention, war, or ideology. Science journalist and filmmaker Kerstin Hoppenhaus's The Elements of Life is determined to make readers feel the importance of these elements in their bones, where, as she reminds them with precision, they have always been present.

The Elements of Life, translated admirably from the German by Sarah Pybus, begins on the Pacific island of Banaba, once a carefully cultivated community whose soil happened to sit atop some of the richest phosphate deposits on Earth. Within decades of colonial discovery, those deposits were excavated and shipped away to fertilize distant farmland, while the island's people were forcibly displaced and a living ecosystem was converted into an industrial ruin. Hoppenhaus's context renders these elements as far more than abstractions on a periodic table. They have victims and beneficiaries; their flows throughout the world parallel currents of power.

In the 20th century, the world's soils were depleting as the human population was beginning to exceed the food supply. The Haber-Bosch process made it possible for roughly half the nitrogen required for food to come not from the natural cycle but from factories. A dramatic expansion of crop yields through synthetic fertilizers saved hundreds of millions of people from starvation. It also flooded rivers and coastal waters with excess nitrogen and phosphorus, triggering algal blooms that consumed dissolved oxygen and left vast marine dead zones in their wake. Spain's Mar Menor lagoon, once a thriving coastal ecosystem, has spent years teetering on the edge of biological collapse from agricultural runoff.

Hoppenhaus's scope combines geochemistry, colonial history, marine ecology, agricultural science, and environmental law. She explains why the three elements are so irreplaceable: nitrogen is the backbone of every protein and strand of DNA; phosphorus sits at the core of ATP, the molecule that transfers energy within every living cell, and forms the structural architecture of the double helix itself; potassium regulates the electrical gradients across cell membranes that allow nerves to fire and muscles to contract. Remove any one of the three from the equation and life, as currently constituted, stops.

The Elements of Life's final section takes an optimistic turn, however, to the possibilities being explored within conventional agriculture, even if currently not very widespread. These include networks of fungi that move phosphorus between plant roots with extraordinary efficiency. Precision farming technologies deliver nutrients where they are needed instead of blanketing entire fields. And reassuringly, there are emerging legal frameworks that attempt to extend protection to ecosystems and not just regulate the industries that threaten them. --Elizabeth DeNoma, executive editor, DeNoma Literary Services, Seattle, Wash.

Shelf Talker: The Elements of Life takes on the three irreplaceable elements of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in a rigorous and readable scientific work about the building blocks of life itself.

We inadvertently didn't include the following titles in Monday's edition of Shelf Awareness Extra!, about Halloween. Our apologies:

HarperCollins

Happy Spooky Halloween! by Lebron James, illus. by Ariel Landy ($12.99, 9780063306653, 7/21/26) is a super-sweet picture book from the NBA superstar and Halloween fanatic.

The Skeleton and the Cat by Brandon James Scott ($19.99, 9780063455887, 7/7/26) is a humorous and touching picture book tale of the unexpected friendship that blossoms between a peaceful skeleton and a persistent cat.

The Ghost Who Saved Halloween by Jen Anyong, illust. by Kaly Quarles ($12.99, 9780063478008, 7/21/26) is the first picture book in the hilarious Who Saved the Holidays series. Here a ghost attempts to save Halloween from all the treats with a good 'ole haunt.

Tiddly and Winks: Don't Be Scared by R.L. Stine, illus. by Marc Brown ($18.99, 9780063482951, 9/1/26). From R.L. Stine, bestselling author of Goosebumps, and Marc Brown, bestselling creator of the Arthur series, comes a spooky-silly My First I Can Read series starring two monsters!

Bump in the Night: Countdown to Halloween by Diane Wright Landolf (Clarion Books, $12.99, 9780063494671, 7/21/26), for middle grade readers, features 13 chilling tales to tingle kids' spines without keeping them up all night. Perfect for reading in the lead-up to Halloween.

Everywhere I go, the kids call me 'the book lady.' The older I get, the more appreciative I seem to be of the 'book lady' title. It makes me feel more like a legitimate person, not just a singer or an entertainer. But it makes me feel like I've done something good with my life and with my success.

--Dolly Parton (via the Bookstore at Fitger's, Duluth, Minn.)

Dolly Parton died on Tuesday. She was 80. The Associated Press described her as a "country music icon whose soaring vibrato vocals, poignant songwriting and sparkling costumes defined her rise from a log cabin in the Tennessee mountains to the height of stardom and acclaim." 

That's true, but she was so much more. The AP also noted that Dolly was a "charismatic humanitarian, whose good humor and straightforward generosity lifted the well-being of communities in her home state and beyond. Fans across generations and geographies say it will remain part of Parton's legacy."

I wasn't surprised by the book world's emotional response to her passing. Dolly was one of us. In addition to being an accomplished author, her legacy is permanently enshrined in the Imagination Library, which to date has donated more than 330 million books to children across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, and Australia. The project was inspired by her father, whom Parton described as a "very smart man," adding that she "often wondered what he could have done had he been able to read and write." 

Parton performing at Parnassus Books, Nashville, Tenn., during her tour with James Patterson for their book Run, Rose, Run.

"When I heard that Dolly Parton had died on Tuesday, my first thought wasn't about her music. It was about a child opening a book," Kristy High, who manages the Imagination Library for Cincinnati, Ohio's Hamilton County, wrote (for CNBC). 

Many independent bookstores honored Dolly with, fittingly, books, including Secret World Books, Highland Park, Ill. ("a free used book to any kid 10 and under who comes in through Saturday"); and the Secret Bookshelf, Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland ("giving away 50 books to families from tomorrow to Saturday"). Plenty of options for donating were posted by booksellers like the Book Box, Draper, Utah ("all sales from our kids section will be donated to Imagination Library through the end of August").

At Subterranean Books, St. Louis, Mo.

Booksellers quickly created sales floor displays--which seemed more like memorials--featuring Dolly's books. You could find them at Vroman's Bookstore, Pasadena, Calif. ("We want to be sad, but honestly, it's hard to think about Dolly and feel sad. She is Joy."); Valley Bookseller, Stillwater, Minn. ("We are heartbroken and speechless."); Powell's Books, Portland, Ore. ("Dolly understood something simple and powerful: give a child a book, and you give them somewhere to go."); and many more.

Indie booksellers also flooded social media with heartfelt tributes to Dolly. Here's a sampling:

The Book & Cover, Chattanooga, Tenn.: "As a bookstore, Dolly Parton has been with us from the day we opened, part of the very first display we agonized over. As Southerners, she's been with us our whole lives, making sure we had books in our childhood libraries, making sure we knew being proud of who you are goes hand in hand with being kind, and making sure we knew one of the most important parts of living is knowing who you are and doing it on purpose."

At Valley Bookseller, Stillwater, Minn.

Rainy Day Books, Fairway, Kan.: "We lost one of the greats today.... We want to take a moment to thank Dolly Parton for her years of work ensuring that kids around the country can have access to books with her Imagination Library. She will be missed more than she could ever know."

Carmichael's Bookstore, Louisville, Ky.: "Dolly saw needs and took concrete actions to help. We would all be better served if we asked ourselves 'What Would Dolly Do?' and do what is in our power to help others. Thank you, Dolly, for everything. We will always love you."

Green Apple Books, San Francisco, Calif.: "Dolly Parton meant a lot to a lot of people. She did work beyond that of an entertainer.... We encourage you to do what you can in her honor now and always--be brave, be kind, shine on, and don't suffer fools!--but we are also putting a link in our bio to the Imagination Library if you feel like donating to their work."

Parton reading at the Library of Congress, which awarded the David M. Rubenstein Prize to her Imagination Library initiative.

Story Hollow Bookstore, Madisonville, Tenn.: "Thank you, Dolly... as a bookstore, there is one piece of Dolly's legacy that feels especially close to our hearts: she believed deeply in putting books into the hands of children.... Our Dolly shelves feel a little different today. They're a reminder that a little girl from the mountains of East Tennessee grew up to make the entire world a little more colorful, a little kinder, and a whole lot more hopeful."

Housing Works, New York City: "Rest in peace Dolly Parton. Beyond her extraordinary music, Dolly used her platform to uplift others through literacy initiatives, healthcare funding and advocacy, and support for LGBTQ+ communities. Her fundraising for HIV/AIDS research made her a champion of progress and cemented her legacy as a true advocate for our community."

Steamboat Books, Steamboat Springs, Colo.: "Dolly Parton's impact on music, literacy, and culture cannot be understated. Her Imagination Library Program inspires a profound love of reading, and we are forever in awe of her. We are absolutely devastated to hear of her passing. Rest well."

Main & Mountain Bookstore, Kernersville, N.C.: "Dolly believed deeply in the power of reading.... As a bookstore, we can't think of a more beautiful legacy. Because somewhere, there is a child who fell in love with reading because a book arrived in the mail with their name on it. A child who asked for one more story before bed. A child whose imagination became a little bigger because Dolly believed books belonged in their hands."