Dan Yaccarino (born May 20, 1965) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

, and television producer, who is famous for his

animated series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have either ...

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

s and award-winning imagery.

Biography

Born in Montclair, NJ, Yaccarino was influenced by a combination of advertising, comic books, vintage animation, toys, and old films, spending his childhood immersed in drawing, writing, and making movies. Yaccarino attended

Otis College of Art and Design Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aerospace headquarte ...

in Los Angeles, CA, as well as Parson School of Design in NYC, where he earned a BFA in illustration in 1987. "I'm inspired by other children’s book authors and illustrators," Yaccarino was quoted in saying, "as well as people from other fields like the director

Henry Selick Charles Henry Selick Jr. (; born November 30, 1952) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, production designer, and animator who is best known for directing the stop-motion animation films ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...

and singer-songwriter

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...

." Very soon after graduation, he began a commercial illustration career, starting with the New York Times Book Review, quickly moving on to national newspapers and magazines, as well as advertising campaigns.

Children's literature

Yaccarino wrote and illustrated his first picture book ''Big Brother Mike'' in 1993 and has created dozens of books for children since, most notably ''Every Friday'', ''The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau'', ''Unlovable'' and the autobiographical, ''All the Way To America: The Story of A Big Italian Family and A Little Shovel. ''He has also illustrated stories written by some of the most prestigious names in children's literature, including

Margaret Wise Brown Margaret Wise Brown (May 23, 1910 – November 13, 1952) was an American writer of children's books, including ''Goodnight Moon'' and ''The Runaway Bunny'', both illustrated by Clement Hurd. She has been called "the laureate of the nursery" for ...

Jack Prelutsky Jack Prelutsky (born September 8, 1940) is an American writer of children's poetry who has published over 50 poetry collections. He served as the first U.S. Children's Poet Laureate (now called the Young People's Poet Laureate) from 2006–08 ...

, and

Kevin Henkes Kevin Henkes (born November 27, 1960) is an American writer and illustrator of children's books. As an illustrator he won the Caldecott Medal for ''Kitten's First Full Moon'' (2004). Two of his books were Newbery Medal Honor Books, ''Olive's Ocea ...

. Yaccarino's work in children's literature has garnered many glowing reviews and a worldwide following. He has been invited to the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

to share his books and participate in the annual Easter festivities. He has also presented his work at Pixar studio and has keynoted several children's literature conferences.

Series

He is the creator and executive producer of Apple TV's ''Doug Unplugs'', the

Nick Jr. Channel The Nick Jr. Channel is an American pay television channel spun off from Nickelodeon's long-running Nick Jr. programming block. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. The channel launched on Sept ...

series ''

Oswald Oswald may refer to: People * Oswald (given name), including a list of people with the name *Oswald (surname), including a list of people with the name Fictional characters *Oswald the Reeve, who tells a tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbu ...

'', and ''

Willa's Wild Life ''Willa's Wild Life'' is an animated television series based on Dan Yaccarino's book '' An Octopus Followed Me Home.'' The series originally aired on Qubo in the United States (and has been put back on Qubo's schedule from 2019 to 2020), YTV i ...

'' (with Canada-based Nelvana), as well as the character designer behind Nick Jr.'s ''

The Backyardigans ''The Backyardigans'' is a computer-animated musical children's television series created by Janice Burgess. The series was written and recorded at Nickelodeon Animation Studio. It centers on five animal neighbors who imagine themselves on fantas ...

''. ''

Animation Magazine ''Animation Magazine'' is an American print magazine and website covering the animation industry and education, as well as visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outsi ...

'' hails him as "an American original".

Illustration

Yaccarino's illustrations have adorned the pages of such publications as ''

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'', ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', ''

Travel & Leisure ''Travel + Leisure'' is a travel magazine based in New York City, New York. Published 12 times a year, it has 4.8 million readers, according to its corporate media kit. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC, with trademark rig ...

'',

Business Week ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

Network World International Data Group (IDG, Inc.) is a market intelligence and demand generation company focused on the technology industry. IDG, Inc.’s mission is centered around supporting the technology industry through research, data, marketing technol ...

Psychology Today ''Psychology Today'' is an American media organization with a focus on psychology and human behavior. It began as a bimonthly magazine, which first appeared in 1967. The ''Psychology Today'' website features therapy and health professionals direct ...

, and ''

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...

''. He has created images for a wide variety of corporate projects and advertising campaigns as well, including Cotton Inc,

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and Gardenburger. His work is widely received in Japan, and he has worked extensively for clients such as

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

and Nikkei.

Partial bibliography

*''Big Brother Mike'' *''Bam Bam Bam'' *''One Hole in the Road'' *''If I Had a Robot'' *''Zoom Zoom Zoom! I’m Off to the Moon!'' *''Good Night, Mr. Night'' *''

An Octopus Followed Me Home ''An Octopus Followed Me Home'' is a 1997 American children's picture book by American writer and illustrator, Dan Yaccarino. The book has been adapted by Yaccarino into an animated television series called, ''Willa's Wild Life''. It is direct ...

'' *''Five Little Pumpkins'' *''Five Little Ducks'' *''Little White Dog'' *'' Circle Dogs'' *''Trashy Town'' *''Deep in the Jungle'' *''Blast Off Boy and Blorp: First Day on a Strange New Planet'' *''Blast Off Boy and Blorp: New Pet'' *''Blast Off Boy and Blorp: The Big Science Fair'' *''Come With Me'' *''Surviving Brick Johnson'' *''

'' *''Unlovable'' *''The Good Little Bad Little Pig'' *''The Lima Bean Monster'' *''Dan Yaccarino’s Mother Goose'' *''Where the Four Winds Blow'' *''Bittle'' *''The Birthday Fish'' *''Every Friday'' *''Who Will Sing a Lullaby?'' *''Go Go America'' *''Little Boy With a Big Horn'' *''The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau'' *''Lawn to Lawn'' *''Cooking With Henry and Ellibelly'' *''All the Way To America: The Story of A Big Italian Family and A Little Shovel'' *''The Belly Book'' *''Boy & Bot'' *''Kate and Nate Are Running Late'' *''Doug Unplugged'' *''Zorgoochi Intergalactic Pizza'' *''Billy & Goat at the State Fair'' *''The Happyland series'' *''Class Pet Squad: Journey to the Center of Town'' *''I am a Story'' *''Morris Mole'' *''Giant Tess'' *''Smashy Town'' *''The Longest Storm'' *''City Under the City''

References

External links

Official Website
* 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast Interview with Dan Yaccarino: http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=1628
Dan Yaccarino on IMDB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yaccarino, Dan American children's writers Parsons School of Design alumni Living people 1965 births People from Montclair, New Jersey