"I Am A Rainbow" by Dolly Parton

Written by: Dolly Parton | Illustrated by: Heather Sheffield

Guest Blogger: Dolly Parton

Several years ago my friend Heather Sheffield approached me about an idea of a children’s book that focused on feelings. She had some wonderful illustrations and some great ideas – not surprising to me because her father Buddy is an accomplished writer who wrote for me on my television series back in the 80’s. You know the old saying -- the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

While most people see the world in color, I feel the world in color, so I was eager to tackle this challenge. I wrote it like I write a song. I had a melody in my head as I wrote the words to the book. It made the rhyming easy so in about a day I had the book written. Heather continued to work her magic with the illustrations once I had the words down, and eventually I think we created a pretty nice book.

Even better, the book inspired us to create short musicals based on the Imagination Library books and perform them at Dollywood every summer. They have been a big hit, and now all of the songs will soon be available on my new children's album, “I Believe in You.’’ I think that is a pretty strong legacy for a little book.

So keep chasing your rainbow cause you never know, you just might catch it!

Love,