{"id":261908,"date":"2025-07-13T15:35:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T15:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/261908\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T15:35:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T15:35:13","slug":"dolly-partons-god-dog-billy-returns-in-new-picture-book-billy-the-kid-dances-his-heart-out-featuring-new-song-bella","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/261908\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolly Parton\u2019s God-Dog Billy Returns in New Picture Book Billy the Kid Dances His Heart Out, Featuring New Song “Bella”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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On December 2, 2025, Penguin Workshop, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers will publish DOLLY PARTON\u2019S BILLY THE KID DANCES HIS HEART OUT<\/strong>, the third standalone children\u2019s picture book in Parton\u2019s New York Times bestselling series featuring French bulldog, her god-dog, Billy the Kid. In this follow up to Billy the Kid Makes It Big and Billy the Kid Comes Home for Christmas, French bulldog and musical superstar Billy the Kid faces one of his biggest fears: dancing in front of an audience. To prepare for his exciting gig opening for Dolly Parton\u2019s Doggy Dance Pawty, Billy enrolls in dance lessons and is paw-struck by his teacher, Bella, who is as graceful as she is beautiful. But trying to win Bella\u2019s attention causes Billy to stumble even more\u2014can he nail the dance routine and catch Bella\u2019s eye, all before the big dance pawty? Dolly Parton has written an original song \u201cBella\u201d specifically for this book, available on December 2nd in tandem with the book release. The book will be available both in hardcover and as an audiobook narrated by Dolly herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am excited to introduce Bella into Billy\u2019s life in our new book!\u201d exclaims Parton. \u201cCreating stories that are fun, real, and carry life lessons hopefully makes it meaningful for children and their parents to experience the joy of reading together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parton\u2019s previous children\u2019s books include Coat Of Many Colors (1994) and I Am A Rainbow (2009). In 2023, Parton introduced the beloved new character Billy the Kid, inspired by her favorite god-dog, in Billy the Kid Makes It Big. The book was an instant New York Times bestseller and dubbed a \u201cwholesome howl\u201d by Kirkus Reviews. Her festive 2024 follow-up, Billy the Kid Comes Home for Christmas, was called \u201cheartfelt\u201d and \u201cadorable\u201d by School Library Journal.<\/p>\n

Francesco Sedita, President & Publisher, Penguin Workshop, said, \u201cThere is no greater joy than working with Dolly on a book about dogs, dancing, and love!\u00a0 And to get a brand-new song from Dolly in the process has been a dream come true.\u00a0 We\u2019re so excited to give Dolly\u2014and her god-dog Billy\u2014a brand new stage.<\/p>\n

Dolly Parton<\/strong>\u00a0is the most honored and revered female singer-songwriter of all time. She has been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock &\u00a0Roll Hall of Fame, has a record-breaking 28 songs that have reached #1\u00a0on the Billboard charts, and hundreds\u00a0of awards across her career. To date, Parton has donated over 270 million books to children around the world with her Imagination Library and has authored successful books for children and adults. From her \u201cCoat of Many Colors\u201d while working \u201c9 to 5,\u201d no dream is too big and no mountain too high for the country girl who turned the world into her stage.<\/p>\n

Erica S. Perl<\/strong> is the author of more than forty popular and critically acclaimed books for children. She has also collaborated on books with Dolly Parton and R.J. Palacio.\u00a0Erica teaches writing in the Vermont College\u00a0of Fine Arts MFA program and lives in Washington, DC, with her family. \u00a0<\/p>\n

MacKenzie Haley\u00a0<\/strong>is an illustrator whose books include\u00a0The Ninja Club Sleepover,\u00a0Pegasisters Go to Camp, and\u00a0Snitchy Witch, among others. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration from the University of Dayton and currently resides in Louisville, Kentucky.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On December 2, 2025, Penguin Workshop, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers will publish DOLLY PARTON\u2019S BILLY THE…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3938],"tags":[100181,100182,3444,100183,18847,77,100184,100185,100186,100187,100188,100189,100190,100191,100192,95543,16,15,100193,100194],"class_list":{"0":"post-261908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-bella","9":"tag-billy-the-kid","10":"tag-books","11":"tag-country-music-hall-of-fame","12":"tag-dolly-parton","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-erica-s-perl","15":"tag-francesco-sedita","16":"tag-imagination-library","17":"tag-kirkus-reviews","18":"tag-mackenzie-haley","19":"tag-penguin-workshop","20":"tag-penguin-young-readers","21":"tag-r-j-palacio","22":"tag-rock-roll-hall-of-fame","23":"tag-school-library-journal","24":"tag-uk","25":"tag-united-kingdom","26":"tag-university-of-dayton","27":"tag-vermont-college-of-fine-arts"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114846664250440555","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}