Greece resident and author, Tricia DellAnno, released her first book on May 1, 2022. A children’s book entitled “No Dog in my Yard,” tells the true story of DellAnno’s 11 year old son Jonathan’s quest to add a dog to their family. “Our son is a real animal lover, he begged and begged for a dog for ten years. This story is about how he enlisted nine neighborhood dogs to achieve his goal of having a dog of his own,” DellAnno said.
Tricia, and husband John, resisted adding a dog to their family because they both work full time and felt it would be selfish to own a dog that would be home alone all day long, and for the fact that they loved to travel. They also felt that Jonathan needed to be mature enough to know the responsibilities of dog ownership. Then the pandemic hit, and Tricia found herself working from home. Like many other families, it seemed the perfect time to grant Jonathan’s wish for a dog. In October of 2020 Millie, a precious Goldendoodle puppy, was added to the family. The DellAnnos were told Millie would grow to be a medium size dog, the truth is that Millie has grown into a large dog, over 50 pounds of relentless energy.
In January of 2022 Tricia DellAnno left her job at Wegmans after 25 years of working in various positions that included Division Human Resource Manager, Leadership and Talent Development Manager and Talent Sourcing Manager. She holds undergraduate degrees in both Communications and Journalism. “Writing has always been a part of my life and a part of my work at Wegmans, so I have been writing all along, in one form or another. I have always been drawn to children’s literature, and reading books to my son,” she said. DellAnno is now living her life as a full-time author.
“When we added Millie to our family we had no idea the sheer insanity of owning a puppy. Even when I had doubts about the challenges of dog ownership, Jonathan was always pointing out the benefits of Millie. Jonathan is loyal and devoted to her, with unconditional love, and she feels the same about him. Millie sits at the window each day watching for Jonathan to come home, and jumps like a bunny when she sees him,” DellAnno said.
DellAnno’s idea to write the book, “No Dog in my Yard,” came from the enthusiastic reactions of friends and family when she related the adventures of Jonathan and the neighborhood dogs. The characters in the book are all real. The nine dogs; Sig, Lola Lu, Archie, Teddy, Rocco, Reo, Grovie, Codie and Beau are neighborhood dogs living in view outside of the DellAnno’s window. The humans in the book are son Jonathan, Tricia and John, DellAnno’s parents Paul and Valerie Hendricks of Gates, and in-laws Cosmo and Maria DellAnno of Chili. Everyone plays a role in the rhyming story that is written to engage both children and adults in the adventures Jonathan encounters on his quest to convince his parents that a dog is the perfect fit for their family.
DellAnno graduated from Greece Olympia High School. When thinking about an illustrator for her book she called a High School friend, Mike Krummhoefener. “After college, Mike went to work at Pixar Animation Studios. When I called him to ask if he would do the illustrations he said his schedule was full, but he knew someone that would be perfect,” DellAnno said. That someone was Jim Pearson.
Pearson has worked as an Illustrator for Advertising and Editorial clients, as a Concept Artist, and an Art Director/Production Designer for animated films and games. Pearson was the Art Director/Production Designer for the animated feature Toy Story 2 and worked as a concept artist on Finding Nemo and The Ant Bully. “Mike introduced us and we immediately clicked. Jim did some sketches and he nailed my vision. His color pallette and his way of portraying the seasons are beautiful. I couldn’t be happier with his work. After talking with Mike, and working with Jim, it reminded me of just how kind people are, they both really extended themselves to help me.”
“No Dog in my Yard” received a warm literary welcome including a 5 star review from Readers’ Favorite. Readers’ Favorite is one of the largest book review and award contest sites on the Internet. They have earned the respect of renowned publishers like Random House, Simon & Schuster, and Harper Collins, and have received the “Best Websites for Authors” and “Honoring Excellence” awards from the Association of Independent Authors. They are also fully accredited by the BBB (A+ rating), which is a rarity among Book Review and Book Award Contest companies.
DellAnno is currently working on her second book in, what is planned to be, a series of books based on the antics of Millie the Goldendoodle. The book will be entitled “A Dog in my Yard,” which is scheduled to be released in November of 2022.
“No Dog in my Yard” is available for purchase from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
For more information on “No Dog in my Yard,” including an introduction to the cast of characters with photos, a book trailer, a free download of coloring pages, a bookmark for kids, and Tricia’s Blog go to www.goldendoodlerules.com
The cast of characters…
