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TAHLEQUAH, OK - Members of the Cherokee National Youth Choir will soon head to the hills of Tennessee to perform alongside Dolly Parton at her music theme park, Dollywood. The choir will be performing at a ceremony to launch a joint venture between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Dolly Parton’s “Imagination Library.”

“We are just thrilled to be able to perform with Dolly,” said Jamie Geneva, director of the Cherokee National Youth Choir. “It is such an honor to perform on this level.”

“I think it’s a wonderful experience for the kids,” said Jacqueline Cook of Owasso, mother of Rebecca Cook, 14, who is a member of the Cherokee National Youth Choir. “It’s something that they will remember for a lifetime. I think it’s great that they get to meet someone of Dolly’s caliber with everything that she has accomplished in her lifetime.”

The Bureau of Indian Affairs will soon launch a reading program in 92 Native American communities based on the model of Dolly Parton’s “Imagination Library” to encourage reading in young children.

“Imagination Library” was launched in 1996 for preschoolers in Sevier County, Tennessee, as a gift of encouragement for the children of Parton’s Smoky Mountain homeland. From the day they are born, children who register for the program receive a book every month until their fifth birthday. Preschoolers currently living in the community may enter the program at any time and begin receiving an age-appropriate book every month until their fifth birthday. Families with preschool children who move into the community are eligible to register and become part of the program.

The kick-off ceremony will be held December 13 on stage at Dollywood. The Cherokee National Youth Choir will begin their journey to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee on Thursday, December 12.