Dan Yaccarino, All the Way to America

1. ALLTHEWAYTO AMERICA:
THE STORY OF A BIG ITALIAN FAMILY AND A LITTLE SHOVEL
BY DANYACCARINO
BOOK OF THE MONTH
FEBRUARY 2016

2. Can you imagine leaving your house to start a new life
in another country thousands of miles away?
Many families did just that and chose to come to America for better opportunities.
In this book, the author-illustrator, DanYaccarino, traces his family history back to Italy.
Let’s find out how it all started with some good advice, tomato sauce, and a little shovel.
ALLTHEWAYTO AMERICA:
THE STORYOF A BIG ITALIAN FAMILY AND A LITTLESHOVEL

3. WHAT DO YOU HOPE READERS COME
AWAY FROM THE BOOK UNDERSTANDING
ABOUT FAMILY?
I want them to start thinking about
their family histories, and if they
haven’t started asking those
questions, to ask their parents,
grandparents, uncles, and cousins.
America has its own culture, but it is
comprised of other cultures, and we
need to hang onto that. The values in
the story are about working hard and
valuing family. That’s the message I
hope will come across, whatever
culture someone is from. Every family
has stories, and a lot of families’
stories start in another country.

4. HOW MUCH FAMILY RESEARCH WAS INVOLVED?
A lot. I went through lots of photo albums, found ship
manifests...
I didn’t know when my great-grandfather came here, but I knew
where he was. I went to the New York Public Library and found
the ship manifest. And lots of talking: the best source of
information was my grandmother.

5. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO ASPIRING
AUTHORS?
Two things: write and read EVERY DAY. Even if you don’t feel like
reading and even if you write NOTHING. Do it every day!!!

6. WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED
BY
DANYACCARINO

7. ILLUSTRATED BY
DANYACCARINO

8. QUOTES AND PICTURES FROMTHESE
SOURCES:
 http://www.danyaccarino.com/index.html
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/46001-q-a-
with-dan-yaccarino.html
 https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/ilfonline.site-
ym.com/resource/resmgr/all_the_way_to_america_-_cop.pdf
 https://henryherz.wordpress.com/2013/12/31/interview-with-doug-unplugged-
picture-book-authorillustrator-dan-yaccarino/
