For children, learning to live together is essential and can be fun. Moreover, being part of a community allows us to learn new skills. Bill Bailey, Please Come Home: The Shotgun Shack Kitties by A.N. Stewart highlights the importance of socialization and communication. Bill Bailey is an adorable kitty who loves to go for walks and learn everything he can about the world. He greets his neighbors when walking down the street. People can't understand him, and that makes him sad. However, some older cats reveal a secret to him: music can help humans understand them as it is a universal language. Bill is excited about discovering this and gathers his feline friends to learn together and discover the power of music.

I liked Bill Bailey, Please Come Home because of the values it teaches, such as caring for others, harmony, and collaboration when working as a team. The narrative is entertaining and ideal for teaching young readers a love of animals and music. The descriptions are clear, emphasizing pleasant environments and aspects such as the scent of flowers. The images are wonderful, showing a variety of felines and musical instruments. The colors are cheerful, and the settings have many details, such as houses, flowers, and animals, giving a vivid perspective of New Orleans. I loved how A.N. Stewart combined the story with a song, making the reading more interactive. In addition, Bill Bailey is a kind and friendly character and a great role model. Children will learn the value of music and how wonderful it is to share moments with friends.

In the quaint city of New Orleans, many kitties live in a beautiful shotgun house with a dear girl named Eartha. Eartha feeds them every morning before leaving for work, and the kitties spend their day doing whatever they want. Some kitties play, some bask in the sunlight, and some walk around town, like Bill Bailey. Out on his daily walk one day, Bill Bailey realized that his human neighbors couldn’t understand him when he tried saying hello to them. This made him sad. As he continued on his walk, two older cats who had witnessed his experience called out to him and told him they knew a secret way to make humans understand cats. Oh, how Bill Bailey’s eyes glowed as he waited impatiently to hear the secret! Read Bill Bailey, Please Come Home by A.N. Stewart to learn this secret.

Bill Bailey, Please Come Home is a colorful blend of cats, colors, and music. The story is simple and interesting. However, the highlights for me were the lovely descriptions and illustrations of New Orleans. The narrative by A.N. Stewart and drawings by Virginia de Mahy painted a vivid picture of the city. Another highlight was the theme song, an adaptation of the classic song “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home,” written by Hughie Cannon in 1902. The song was fitting and entertaining, and I enjoyed discovering such an old song. There are several values to be learned from this book, and I recommend it to young readers who love cats.