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DyAnne DiSalvo is an American artist and children's book author. She has published more than 50 children's books, including City Green (HarperCollins, 1994) and Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen (HarperCollins, 1991).
DiSalvo was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. [1] She attended Fontbonne Hall Academy for Girls in Brooklyn and studied art at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Before illustrating children's books, she worked as an artist for Hallmark Cards. In 1982, she met Jane Feder, [2] then-Senior Editor at Harper and Row (now HarperCollins). Feder later founded the Jane Feder Agency, which represents children's book illustrators, and she was the agency's first client.
She has given presentations at schools, targeting K-8 students, on the writing process and the life of a working artist. [3] In the fall of 2010, she presented at the United Nations International School of Hanoi in Vietnam. [4]
DiSalvo wrote and illustrated Uncle Willie and The Soup Kitchen (1991), which was inspired by her volunteer work at Chips Soup Kitchen [43] in Brooklyn. [44] The book received the 1991 Children's Book of the Year award from the Child Study Association of America Book Committee. It was also named Notable 1991 Children's Book by the National Council for the Social Studies and Children's Book Council United. The book was featured on the television show Reading Rainbow in 1996 and adapted into a children's play at the Puttin' on The Ritz Theatre in Oaklyn, New Jersey in 2000. [45]
City Green (1994) [46] tells the story of a young girl who helps transform a vacant city lot into a garden. Illustrations from the book served as inspiration for a children's playground at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden during the Storybook competition in 2009. [47] [48] Stagebridge Theater Company in Berkeley, California produced a musical adaptation. [49] A 25th anniversary edition was published by HarperCollins in 2019.
The Sloppy Copy Slipup, [10] (Holiday House), 2006:
A Castle on Viola Street, [8] (HarperCollins, 2001):
Grandpa's Corner Store, [7] (HarperCollins, 2001):
A Dog Like Jack, [6] (Holiday House, 2000):
City Green, [46] (William Morrow and Company, 1994):
Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen, [44] (William Morrow and Company, 1991):
The American Wei, [50] (Albert Whitman & Co., 1998):
Now We Can Have A Wedding, [36] (Holiday House, 1998):
You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton?, [32] (Putnam Publishing Group, 1995):
Olivia and the Real Live Pet, [33] (Macmillan Publishers (United States) for Young Readers, 1995):
The Christmas Knight, [31] (Margaret K. McElderry, 1993):
George Washington's Mother, [29] (Putnam Publishing Group, 1992):
From 1999 to 2012, DiSalvo played rhythm guitar and sang harmonies for the power-pop rock and roll band Smash Palace. Signed by Zip Records [52] in 1999, the band toured the US and the UK and was listed among BBC Liverpool's Best Top Ten Live Acts in 2006. [53]
DiSalvo lives in Princeton, New Jersey, and is the mother of two adult children: educator and entrepreneur John E. Zangari-Ryan and screenwriter Marja-Lewis Ryan. [54] [55]
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