Dolly Parton appeared on Good Morning America to promote her new children’s book—and she was accompanied by a four-legged friend.
The country music legend appeared on the show to promote Dolly Parton’s Billy the Kid Makes It Big, co-written with Erica S. Perl and illustrated by MacKenzie Haley. The picture book, published Tuesday by Penguin Workshop, follows a French bulldog with dreams of being a country singer; his songs include “Jowlene” and “I Will Pawlways Love You.” A critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, “Music takes center stage and bullies get properly pun-ished in this hearty and wholesome howl.”
Parton appeared on the show remotely from Nashville. Sitting beside her was the inspiration for the book, her “god-dog,” Billy the Kid.
“It’s a cute little story about confidence and about bullying…and about dreams,” she said. “And I think he loves reading it. We read it to him all the time.”
GMA host Michael Strahan asked Parton what she hopes kids will take away from the book.
“It’s really about accepting people as they are,” she said. “Other people are different from you, or other puppies, in this case. And just keeping on with your dreams until you see them come through, because they can if you work hard enough. And Billy the Kid kind of proved that, didn’t you, Bill?”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
