Hello there, I'm Chloe Valtman. Welcome to Friday. Here's Book of the Day. The two books we have on deck today have three fun things in common. They're both written for kids. They're both about learning how to stick up for yourself in tough situations. And they both have the word big in the title. Stick around to hear about superstar artist Dolly Parton's Billy the Kid

makes it big. The book's main character, a guitar strumming red bow tie-wearing dog who stands up

to bullies, is based on a real-life pooch. But first, Vashty Harrison's Big, written and illustrated

in vibrant pastels by the author. Big tells the story

of a young girl's journey towards understanding how the world and words work. In an interview

with Juana Summers on all things considered, Harrison talks about how her book explores

issues black girls in particular often face. There are also universal themes like self-love.

Here's one of Summers.

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On the cover of Vashti Harrison's latest book, a young black girl, her curly hair styled in two puffs,

is wearing a beautiful pastel tutu and pink ballet slippers. Her arms are stretched high over her head as she holds up the

words that make the title of this book, spelled out an oversized imposing black letters.

The book is big, and author, illustrator Vashti Harrison joins us now. Welcome to All Things Considered.

Thank you so much for having me. Thanks for being here. So your book is about a little girl. And when we first meet her, she's just a baby and she's wearing this white onesie with the words dream big on it. And can I ask, do you have a copy of your book with you? I do. I'm wondering if you could

just read the sentence that opens this book for us. So big starts with, once there was a girl

with a big laugh and a big heart and very big dreams.

Mastjee, why did you want to be in this book when this little girl was so young at this earliest stage of childhood?

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