Dolly Parton has a new children’s book out called Billy the Kid Makes It Big. The hero of the story, Billy the Kid, is based on her manager’s dog, the same dog that inspired her marketing campaign for her Doggy Parton pet wear line. Dolly just adores this mutt. Doll adores those around her so much, it drives her to make the world a better place, which is the message of her new book. The story is about a dog musician who has a hard time making it in the beginning. But through hard work, determination and putting faith in the right people, Billy makes a career for himself. It’s cute, kids will love it. As always, the larger message Dolly is spreading is just as wonderful. She’s looking to stand up to bullies and let kids be just exactly who they are going to be.

What the book is about: [The book] is about confidence, about standing up to bullies. So it’s really got a lot of meaningful things, I think, for children from four to seven. It’s a story about him coming to Nashville, trying to make it in the business and being discouraged by some others and feeling sad. And finally meeting some friends that gave him confidence.

On being bullied as a kid: I have a song and a book called, Coat of Many Colors. My mama had made me a little coat out of rags, because she didn’t have enough of the same material to make me a coat and it was getting winter time. So, while she made that coat she told me the story about Joseph in the Bible. And boy, I thought I just really looked like Joseph, and I was so proud of it, and wore it to school. And the kids laughed and said it was just rags, and I didn’t look like Joseph, and that we were poor and all that. I remember crying so hard. And kids always remember things like that, your first deep hurt.

So that followed me and years later, I didn’t really know it was so in there, I wrote a song about it. So since then, I’ve written lots of songs that I know are things that children deal with, whether it be the bullying, or just being hurt, or having no confidence, and being able to stay strong and believe in who you are.

Be who you are: I believe that we all should have the chance to be exactly who we are. And I even wrote a song [Be That] about how whatever you are, be that. Whatever you do, do that. Anything else is just an act. You can’t be something different than you are. And when you try, it’s just a fake, and you’re never complete as a human being.

What inspired her Imagination Library: My dad didn’t get a chance to read or write. And that bothered him. And that bothered me that it bothered him. So, I got this idea to start the [Imagination Library] program where we give books to children from the time they were born, once a month, till they started school. We were just thinking about our home county, and it grew so fast. And then it went all over Tennessee. And then went into Canada. And now we’re all over the world.

My dad took great pride in that. He got to live long enough to see it doing really well. He just told me he was very proud of me. And that he felt like I was doing something special. I was proud that he got to be part of something great. And he could feel better about himself.

[From NPR]

That last bit about her dad hit me. My grandfather ran away from home when he was 14. He never learned to properly read or write either. This was never made public to us, I think he was ashamed of it. He had a photographic memory, though, and was a marvelous storyteller, but he was really intimidated by book-smart people. I felt bad for him because he was an intellectually capable man, a lovely addition to any conversation, he was simply illiterate. And most of my grandma’s family looked down on him. We shame people for the wrong things. Of course Dolly would turn her father’s challenges into this beautiful opportunity for children to have access to books so they don’t face the same feelings her dad did. And she made him proud by doing so. Now I’m all weepy.

It also speaks to Dolly’s point about being allowed to be who we are. Sometimes who we are is by circumstance. As she said, “anything else is just an act,” and that act is exhausting. I wish we were doing more in this country presently to tell kids they were safe being who they are. But for now, we have Momma Dolly saying it. I know I’d rather listen to her than most state governments anyway.

Speaking of Dolly books, she has another one coming out in October called Dolly Parton Behind the Seams, her story as told through her hair and costumes.

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