Dan Yaccarino is an American

American literature

American literature is the written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies. For more specific discussions of poetry and theater, see Poetry of the United States and Theater in the United States. During its early history, America was a series of British...

 author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

, illustrator

Illustrator

An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

 and television producer

Television producer

The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...

 known for his animated television series, children’s books and award-winning imagery.

Growing up with no children’s books in his home in Montclair, NJ, Yaccarino was influenced by a combination of advertising, package design, comic books, vintage animation, toys and old films.
“I’m not really inspired by other children’s book authors and illustrators,” Yaccarino was quoted in saying. “But rather people from other fields. I’d much rather meet the director Henry Selick, Tim Delaughter of The Polyphonic Spree, the science fiction author William Tenn, or the Dalai Lama.”

Children’s literature

Yaccarino has written and illustrated dozens of books for children, 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 worked with some of the most prestigious names in children’s literature, including Margaret Wise Brown

Margaret Wise Brown

Margaret Wise Brown was a prolific American author of children's literature, including the books Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny, both illustrated by Clement Hurd.-Biography:...

, Jack Prelutsky

Jack Prelutsky

Jack Prelutsky is an American writer of children's poetry. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife, Carolynn.-Early life:...

, Kevin Henkes

Kevin Henkes

Kevin Henkes is a successful children's book illustrator and author known for winning both the Caldecott Medal for illustration and the Newbery Honor for writing...

, and Naomi Shabib Nye. Yaccarino’s work in children’s literature has garnered many glowing reviews and a worldwide following. He has been invited to the White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

 to share his books and participate in the annual Easter festivities.

Television

Yaccarino is the creator and producer of the Nick Jr animated series Oswald

Oswald (TV series)

Oswald is an American children's cartoon series on Nick Jr. about a blue octopus and his friends, that first aired August 20, 2001 and officially ended in early 2004. The show was created by Dan Yaccarino and was co-produced by HiT Entertainment. It was also shown on Noggin in reruns. The show...

, notable for its gentle stories and surreal universe. Oswald, a gentle blue octopus, lives in a whimsical world with his best friends, a hot dog named Weenie, a fussy penguin named Henry and an energetic flower named Daisy. The series received the Cartoons On the Bay Pulcinella Award as well as the Parent's Choice Award. Time magazine chose Oswald as one of the top 6 shows to watch on cable.

Yaccarino served as writer, director and producer of Disney Channel

Disney Channel

Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...

's Mr. Pig and Mr. Duck, as well as designed the characters for the hit animated Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon (TV channel)

Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...

 series The Backyardigans

The Backyardigans

The Backyardigans is a Canadian/American 3-D CGI-animated children's TV series, created by Janice Burgess. It features five animal children, who imagine that their backyard becomes an adventure place. It is a coproduction of Treehouse TV, and the Canadian animation studio Nelvana. Debuting on...

.

Yaccarino's Emmy-winning animated series, Willa's Wild Life

Willa's Wild Life

Willa's Wild Life is an animated television series that first aired on ABC2 in 2008, then on Qubo and Nickelodeon Canada in 2009. The show is based on Dan Yaccarino's book An Octopus Followed Me Home. It is about a 9 year old girl named Willa who has some very unusual pets...

, based on his popular children’s book An Octopus Followed Me Home

An Octopus Followed Me Home

An Octopus Followed Me Home is a 1997 children's picture book by American writer and illustrator Dan Yaccarino. The book has been adapted by Yaccarino into an animated TV series called Willa's Wild Life. It is directed by Steve Sullivan.-Plot:...

, chronicles the adventures of an impetuous little girl who lives with her long-suffering father and all manner of exotic wildlife. The series is currently airing on NBC and Qubo.

Animation Magazine hails him as "an American original."

Illustration

Yaccarino’s illustrations have graced the pages of such publications as The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, Rolling Stone and New York Magazine. He has created images for a wide variety of corporate projects and advertising campaigns as well, including Cotton Inc, AT&T

AT&T

AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...

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

Sony

, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

 and Nikkei

Nihon Keizai Shimbun

is one of the largest media corporations in Japan. Nikkei specializes in publishing financial, business and industry news. Its main news publications include:* Nihon Keizai Shimbun , a leading economic newspaper....

.

Future Projects

In addition to his steady output of picture books, Yaccarino is developing apps, several animated television projects, and a “goofy sci-fi based chapter book series”.
Yaccarino stated in his keynote speech at the SCBWI Conference in Los Angeles in 2009 that he was developing a feature film based on one of his books with a major studio.

Partial bibliography

• 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
• Five Little Pumpkins
• 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
• Oswald
• 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

External links

• Official Website

7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast Interview with Dan Yaccarino: http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=1628