September 2026 Newsletter
OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO... WITH A BOOK
A Family Travel Tribute to Dolly Parton & the Power of Reading
Dolly Parton spent her life showing us just how far a big dream can take you. But one of her greatest legacies started much smaller—with a book arriving in a child's mailbox.
Dolly created the Imagination Library in 1995 in honor of her father, who couldn't read or write. What began in her Tennessee hometown has grown into a worldwide literacy movement that has gifted hundreds of millions of books to children.
So this month, we're honoring Dolly the JGOOT way:
We're going somewhere.
Pack a favorite book, grab the kids and come with us to one of the greatest literary cities in the world.
📍 SEPTEMBER FAMILY TRAVEL BLUEPRINT
STORYBOOK NEW YORK
4 Days of Books, Beloved Characters & Big-City Adventure
New York has starred in thousands of books—but on this trip, the books are the stars.
Meet the REAL Winnie-the-Pooh. Follow two runaway kids through The Met. Climb on Alice's giant mushroom. Visit Eloise at The Plaza. Get lost in one of America's most legendary bookstores.
And before you leave?
Put another book into the hands of a stranger.
TRIP LENGTH: 3 nights / 4 days
BEST FOR: Ages 5+ through teens—and book-loving adults
CAR NEEDED: Absolutely not!
AIRPORTS: LGA, JFK or EWR
BEST PART: Several of our literary headliners are completely FREE.
✈️ GETTING THERE
THREE AIRPORTS = THREE CHANCES TO FIND THE DEAL
New York is one of those destinations where you should never search just one airport.
Search:
LGA — LaGuardia
Usually our favorite for a Manhattan trip because of its proximity.
JFK — John F. Kennedy
Tons of domestic and international service.
EWR — Newark
Don't ignore New Jersey! If the fare wins, the fare wins.
JGOOT TIP: SEARCH “NYC”
Many airline search engines allow NYC as the destination, which searches all three airports simultaneously.
New York is also served by virtually every major U.S. airline, so this is exactly where we want families comparing cash fares before assuming points are the answer.
DON'T FORGET: Compare the total cost. A $30 airfare savings isn't much of a deal if getting your family from that airport to your hotel costs substantially more.
🛏️ WHERE TO STAY
SPLURGE ON LOCATION: HYATT CENTRIC TIMES SQUARE
Two queen-bed rooms make this a practical Hyatt option for families, and you're right in Midtown—walking distance to our first literary stop at the New York Public Library.
WHY WE LIKE IT: Two actual queen beds, mini fridge, central location and easy subway access, and sometimes a great deal on points transferred from Bilt or Chase! (always calculate your redemption value…pivot to cash if points don’t make sense.)
CHECK HYATT CENTRIC TIMES SQUARE →
SAVE + GET BREAKFAST: HYATT PLACE NEW YORK/CHELSEA
Move a little farther downtown and you'll often find a more budget-friendly option.
Breakfast is complimentary, rooms have mini fridges, and the hotel is centrally positioned for exploring Manhattan by subway.
FAMILY MATH: Free breakfast for four people in Manhattan is worth factoring into the room rate.
CHECK HYATT PLACE NEW YORK/CHELSEA →
🚇 GETTING AROUND
TAP. RIDE. REPEAT.
Skip the rental car completely.
NYC's subway and buses use OMNY contactless payment. Tap the same credit card, phone or device each time you ride.
And there's no need to pre-purchase an unlimited pass—the OMNY system automatically caps qualifying subway/local bus fares once you've reached the weekly threshold.
📚 DAY 1
MEET THE REAL WINNIE-THE-POOH
Start at the magnificent New York Public Library Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on Fifth Avenue.
And when we say Winnie-the-Pooh is here, we don't mean a statue.
WE MEAN THE REAL POOH.
The actual stuffed bear owned by Christopher Robin Milne—the toy that inspired A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh—is here.
So are the original Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga and Tigger.
They're part of the library's FREE Polonsky Exhibition of its treasures.
MEET THE REAL WINNIE-THE-POOH →
LOOK UP!
The famous Rose Main Reading Room stretches almost the length of two city blocks beneath 52-foot ceilings painted with clouds.
Visitors can see it during the free visiting hour from 10–11 AM Monday–Saturday or try for one of the library's free short tours.
SAY HELLO TO PATIENCE & FORTITUDE
Before you leave, meet the two marble lions guarding Fifth Avenue.
Their names?
Patience and Fortitude.
During the Great Depression, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia said those were the qualities New Yorkers needed to survive difficult times—and the nicknames stuck.
FAMILY CHALLENGE: Which lion is Patience and which is Fortitude? No Googling until everyone votes!
📖 DAY 2
RUN AWAY TO THE MET
Before the trip, read From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg.
In the book, 12-year-old Claudia Kincaid decides to run away from home—and chooses somewhere suitably elegant to hide:
THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART.
She and her brother Jamie secretly live inside the museum while trying to solve a mystery surrounding a statue.
Now follow their trail.
The Met has even created a Mixed-Up Files scavenger hunt based on objects and locations from the story.
Find:
✓ The Temple of Dendur
✓ An ancient Egyptian cat
✓ A Roman sarcophagus
✓ The Tomb of Perneb
✓ The Engelhard Court fountain
DO THE MET'S MIXED-UP FILES SCAVENGER HUNT →
🐇 THEN FOLLOW THE WHITE RABBIT
Walk into Central Park and head toward Conservatory Water.
There you'll find Alice in Wonderland sitting atop an enormous mushroom with the Mad Hatter, White Rabbit, Cheshire Cat and other Wonderland friends.
And unlike most museum art:
KIDS ARE SUPPOSED TO CLIMB ON THIS ONE.
DON'T MISS THE STORYTELLER NEXT DOOR
Just steps away sits another familiar literary figure: Hans Christian Andersen.
The author of The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling and The Emperor's New Clothes sits with a book open on his lap and a duckling at his feet.
In warmer months, children have gathered here for live storytelling since 1957.
VISIT HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN →
🎀 DAY 3
SHE IS ELOISE. SHE IS SIX.
And she lives at The Plaza.
Fans of Kay Thompson's Eloise can walk right into the hotel that inspired her fictional home.
Find Eloise's portrait, drop her a letter in her special mailbox and browse Eloise books and gifts in The Plaza Boutique.
Want to go ALL IN?
Book afternoon tea at The Palm Court.
📚 GET LOST IN 18 MILES OF BOOKS
Next stop: The Strand.
This legendary independent bookstore has been selling books in New York since 1927 and is famous for its “18 Miles of Books.”
Give everyone a budget.
Then split up.
$15 BOOKSTORE CHALLENGE
Each family member has $15 to find:
📕 One book for themselves
🎁 OR one book for someone else
🤔 OR the strangest book they can find
Meet back and defend your choices.
📚 DAY 4
LEAVE NEW YORK WITH FEWER BOOKS THAN YOU BROUGHT
Yes. We said fewer.
Before leaving home, ask every family member to pack one gently loved book they're ready to give away.
Then open the Little Free Library map.
FIND A LITTLE FREE LIBRARY IN NYC THAT NEEDS BOOKS.
Little Free Library's map includes a “Needs Books” filter, so you can specifically seek out a neighborhood library asking for donations.
Walk there together.
Open the door.
And leave your books behind.
No ceremony. No tax deduction. No Instagram post required.
Just one family leaving something useful behind in a city they visited.
THEN TAKE ONE—IF YOU FIND ONE YOU'LL ACTUALLY READ.
Write inside the cover:
Found in New York City — _____, 20
Suddenly your souvenir isn't something that says NEW YORK on it.
It's a book that came home from New York with you.
💗 WHY WE'RE DOING THIS
DOLLY'S LIBRARY
Dolly Parton's father, Robert Lee Parton, was one of the smartest people she knew.
But he couldn't read or write.
In 1995, Dolly launched the Imagination Library in her home county in East Tennessee in his honor.
The idea was wonderfully simple:
MAIL CHILDREN BOOKS.
Every month.
From birth until age five.
For free.
What started in one Tennessee county has grown into an international literacy program distributing books to children around the world.
EXPLORE DOLLY PARTON'S IMAGINATION LIBRARY →
🌎 INDUSTRY TREND
PUT “BOOK IT” ON YOUR BUCKET LIST
We've talked about set-jetting—travel inspired by movies and television.
Now try something even better:
BOOK TOURISM.
Pick a story your family loves.
Then find its place in the real world.
Anne of Green Gables
→ Prince Edward Island, Canada
Harry Potter
→ London + Scotland
Little Women
→ Concord, Massachusetts
Paddington
→ London
Ramona Quimby
→ Portland, Oregon
The Princess Diaries
→ San Francisco
Heidi
→ Switzerland
Percy Jackson
→ New York City
TONIGHT'S FAMILY QUESTION:
If you could step inside ONE book, where would you go?
Don't just write down the book.
Put the destination on your family travel list.
🔬 FAMILY TRAVEL EDUCATION
BETWEEN THE PAGES
Five Ways to Turn Reading Into Family Fun This Month
📄 MAKE YOUR OWN PAPER
Where does a book actually come from?
Tear scrap paper into tiny pieces, soak it in water, blend it into pulp and spread it over a mesh screen.
Press. Dry. Peel.
You just recycled paper.
Now experiment:
Does thicker pulp make stronger paper?
What happens if you add dried flowers?
Can you write on it?
SEARCH TOGETHER: “How paper is made for kids” on YouTube.
🍴 EAT YOUR FAVORITE BOOK
Turn Friday night dinner into a story.
Paddington → Marmalade sandwiches
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs → Spaghetti & meatballs
Green Eggs and Ham → Green eggs
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory → Chocolate fondue
Harry Potter → Pumpkin pasties
Anne of Green Gables → Raspberry cordial
THEN WATCH THE MOVIE.
Everyone votes:
📖 BOOK
or
🎬 MOVIE
✍️ WRITE THE WORST BOOK EVER
Everyone gets a sheet of paper.
Write the first paragraph of a story.
Fold the paper so the next person can see only the final sentence.
Pass it.
The next person continues the story based only on that sentence.
Repeat until everyone has contributed.
Unfold.
Choose your family's most dramatic reader.
PERFORM YOUR MASTERPIECE.
Pulitzer Prize unlikely.
Family memory almost guaranteed.
🔦 BUILD A READING FORT
Blankets and pillows in the living room. Pull out the flashlights and pop some popcorn. Everyone brings a book.
30 MINUTES. NO PHONES.
And yes, grown-ups have to read too.
Especially the grown-ups.
ONE LAST PAGE...
A book is a funny thing to pack for a trip.
It takes up space.
It adds weight.
And somehow it can take you somewhere before the airplane ever leaves the ground.
That's the idea Dolly Parton understood.
Put a book in a child's hands and you don't know where it might lead.
Maybe to New York.
Maybe to Paris.
Maybe to a tiny town they've never heard of.
Maybe simply to the realization that the world is much, much bigger than the place where they started.
So this month: read something. Go somewhere. And leave a book behind for the next traveler.
We think Dolly would like that.
This newsletter is a tribute to Dolly's charity work, but exactly one year ago we did a travel blueprint that included her Dollywood theme park and Pigeon Forge. Refer to our 2025 September newsletter for a complete Dolly themed getaway!
Don't forget - you get to ask us any questions you want on this month's LIVE Q&A session: Sep 18, 10:00am PT/1:00pm ET. Click here to join the livestream.
Julie, Anthony, and Katie
JGOOT Family Experts
Quick links
Newsletter
Subscribe now to get daily updates.
Need Help? Support@JGOOT.com