A Library of Many Colors
September 4, 2026
Photo Courtesy/Harold Grinspoon Foundation
Legendary singer-songwriter Dolly Parton believed deeply in the power of putting a book into a child’s hands.
Inspired by her father, who could not read or write, she created the Imagination Library. Philanthropist Harold Grinspoon saw what Dolly had built and imagined what a similar idea could mean for Jewish children.
In 2005, that idea became PJ Library.
Today, every PJ Library envelope arriving at an Atlanta home begins another Jewish story. But the book is only the first page.
“The book might be a family’s first connection to Jewish community,” said Pam Cohen, Federation’s Director of Family Engagement. “We want it to be just the beginning.”
What comes next is a welcoming blast, like a shofar blowing, “Well, howdy, neighbor! Welcome, friend!”
A family receives a book. They try a JBaby gathering. They meet another family. Soon, they’re celebrating Shabbat together, building friendships and, here they come again, returning for more.
Eventually, the family looking for community becomes the family saying, “Come on in!”
That’s what happened for Hannah Hennessy. She started receiving PJ Library books when her daughter was a baby, then began attending gatherings. Today, she opens her own home to host.
“I truly do think that it started with the book,” Hannah said. “You never lose that connection, and there’s always someone you can reach out to.”
That journey from receiving to participating to creating is what Federation has been intentionally building.
And Atlanta’s PJ Library community is growing like wildflowers.
Subscriptions grew by 243 this year, with many new subscribers reached through JBaby. More than 3,800 families participated in PJ Library and JBaby programming across metro Atlanta, finding Jewish community sometimes just two doors down.
Federation’s family engagement team has grown from two people in 2023 to 11 today, including eight connectors helping families across metro Atlanta find their own cozy mountain home in Atlanta’s Jewish community.
And there is no one way a family has to look, practice, or participate to belong.
Dolly once said, “Find out who you are and do it on purpose.”
In Hannah’s interfaith family, that feels especially familiar.
“We’ve been very purposeful,” she said, from reading the books to “making challah, lighting candles, just being more intentional about what we’re doing and who we are.”
Federation donors make that welcome possible. The Harold Grinspoon Foundation helps support the books and professional development, while Federation invests in subscriptions, programming, and connectors that take families beyond them.
It’s an investment in roots and wings, traditions to carry and a Jewish community to come home to.
And Atlanta is still just getting started, growing alongside families through JBaby, PJ Library, PJ Our Way and continuing on.
Because the real measure of PJ Library isn’t how many books sit on Atlanta bookshelves. It’s the stories that grow from them.
A bedtime story becomes a tradition. A gathering becomes a friendship. A family looking for Jewish community becomes a family creating it.
One little book can make a big difference.
Dolly showed what can happen when you put a book into a child’s hands. Here in Atlanta, that belief is helping thousands of Jewish families put down roots of their own.
So look ahead, not behind you. There are still families to find, stories to share and Jewish connections waiting to grow.
As long as there are stories to tell, there’ll always be books, gatherings and new Jewish connections to make.
Subscribe to PJ Library here and share with a family.
Note from the author: Did you catch all 10 Dolly Parton references in the article?