Patricia Polacco
Author, Storyteller, Illustrator
Patricia Polacco grew up in a storytelling family with rich cultural traditions derived from her Russian, Ukranian, and Irish heritage. She shares this heritage in her many books which are often based on real-life experiences and family history. During her childhood, she lived in Michigan in the summer, and in Oakland, California during the school year. She has drawn upon the ethnic diversity of her heritage and that found within her Oakland, California childhood neighborhood to craft her stories for present and future generations. Ms. Polacco's stories often reflect upon the issues of multiculturalism, intergenerational relationships, friendship, and the universal qualities of humanity.
Patricia Polacco developed
her talent for storytelling and illustrating during her childhood. She often created "fat cards" for friends: small books
with friends drawn as the main character and a story created around it. She struggled with the learning disabilities of dyslexia,
dysnumeria, and dysgraphia throughout her school life, and could not read
well until the age of 14. She found solace, however,
in her drawing talent which people greatly admired. She
wrote an autobiographical book about her struggle to learn in school called
Thank you, Mr. Falker . At the age
of 14, she received expert help for her disabilities and went on to attend
college. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in
1974, and Master of Arts and Ph.D. degrees in art history in 1978.
At the age of forty-one,
Ms. Polacco published her first book, Meteor! She
has since written and illustrated over 50 books. Ms. Polacco's contributions to children's literature have
been recognized with awards from the American Library Association, the Association
of Jewish Libraries, and the Children's Book Council. Some
of my favorites include: Pink &
Say, a story set during the Civil War, Tivkah Means Hope, a story about the Los Angeles wildfires,
Thunder Cake, a story about a young girl overcoming her
fear of thunderstorms, Welcome Comfort, Ms. Polacco's tale
about Santa Claus, and Rechenka's Eggs, the story of a special
goose who lays beautifully decorated Easter eggs.
Patricia Polacco reads
her work in author appearances at schools and libraries, and is a speaker
at reading conferences. Ms. Polacco often visits
schools, shares her books, and feelings and opinions
about her life, learning disabilities, and reading and writing. She offers students the advice to READ, READ, READ along
with many interesting details of her life and work at http://www.ldonline.org/first_person/patricia_polacco.html .
The importance
of Patricia Polacco's work:
Patricia Polacco is
a distinguished author and illustrator of children's books. Her books possess a unique distinction, however, from
other children's books. They are not merely childlike
stories created around children as central characters.
Rather, they artfully integrate story structure and visual images
to present a story in which the reader can involve him/herself as a member
within the human community of the story, and identify with others different
from him/herself. This allows new meaning to take
place in each child's developing sense of the world. Ms.
Polacco's stories allow young and adolescent readers to learn to care about
and to respect those much older than themselves. Her stories allow readers
to identify with and experience the cares and concerns of those who lived
in different times and places which are different from what they could ever
experience. The multiculturalism of Ms. Polacco's
stories relate characters of different racial, ethnic, religious and national
backgrounds. These differences are presented respectfully and allow young readers to participate,
not just in the characters' stories, but in the larger stories of what it
means to be human. (excerpted from a chapter entitled "Peacocks, Dreams,
Quilts, and Honey: Patricia Polacco, a Woman's Voice
of Remembrance," in Ways of Knowing: Literature
and the Intellectual Life of Children by Kay E. Vandergrift).
Please visit the following websites for more information about the author and her books:
Educational
Paperback Association – Patricia Polacco
Time for Kids Online – Patricia Polacco
Houghton Mifflin
Reading – Patricia Polacco
Houghton Mifflin
Lectura – Patricia Polacco
Kay
Vandergrift's Patricia Polacco
Yahooligans!
Language Arts/Authors
