Patricia Polacco

Patricia Barber Polacco (born July 11, 1944) is an American author and illustrator. Throughout her school years, Polacco struggled to learn to read but found relief by expressing herself through art. Polacco endured teasing and hid her disability until a school teacher recognized she could not read and began to help her. Her book Thank You, Mr. Falker is Polacco's retelling of this encounter and its outcome. She also wrote such books as Mr. Lincoln's Way and The Lemonade Club.

Biography Polacco was born Patricia Barber on July 11, 1944 in Lansing, Michigan, the daughter of a teacher and a salesman turned talk show host. She lived in Williamston, Michigan until the age of three, when her parents divorced and she moved with her mother and brother to her maternal grandmother's farm in Union City, Michigan. Many of Polacco's stories are influenced by this farm and the folklore she heard from her Russian grandmother (referred to as "Babushka" in her books), who died in 1949 when Polacco was five years old. The family did not have a television and Polacco said on NPR, "our evenings were spent listening to glorious tales being told by the grandparents." The book Pink and Say comes from the life of a great-great-grandfather on her father's side, Sheldon Russell Curtis, who fought in the American Civil War and developed a moving friendship with a Black soldier named Pinkus Aylee. where she became friends with Frank Oz. At institutions in the United States and Australia, she earned a Master's and PhD in Art History.

Publications Lillian Two Blossom (1988) The Keeping Quilt (1988) Rechenka's Eggs (1988) Meteor! (1987) Uncle Vova's Tree (1989) Babushka's Doll (1990) Just Plain Fancy (1990) Thunder Cake (1990) Appelemando's Dreams (1991) Dream Keeper (1991) Some Birthday! (1991) Chicken Sunday (1992) Mrs. Katz and Tush (1992) Picnic at Mudsock Meadow (1992) Babushka Baba Yaga (1993) The Bee Tree (1993) Firetalking (1994) My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother (1994) Pink and Say (1994) Tikvah Means Hope (1994) Babushka's Mother Goose (1995) My Ol' Man (1995) Aunt Chip And The Great Triple Creek Dam Affair (1996) I Can Hear The Sun: A Modern Myth (1996) The Trees of the Dancing Goats (1996) Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888 (1997) ; Author: Ernest Lawrence Thayer, Illustrator: Patricia Polacco In Enzo's Splendid Gardens (1997) Mrs. Mack (1998) Thank You, Mr. Falker (1998) Luba And The Wren (1999) Welcome Comfort (1999) The Butterfly (2000) Betty Doll (2001) Gracias, Sr. Falker (2001) , with Teresa Mlawer Mr. Lincoln's Way (2001) Christmas Tapestry (2002) When Lightning Comes In A Jar (2002) G is for Goat (2003) The Graves Family (2003) John Philip Duck (2004) Oh, Look! (2004) An Orange for Frankie (2004) Emma Kate (2005) The Graves Family Goes Camping (2005) Mommies Say Shhh (2005) Rotten Richie and the Ultimate Dare (2006) Ginger and Petunia (2006) Something About Hensley's (2006) The Lemonade Club (2007) For the Love of Autumn (2008) Someone for Mr. Sussman (2008) In Our Mothers' House (2009) January's Sparrow (2009) Junkyard Wonders (2010) Just in Time, Abraham Lincoln (2011) Bun Bun Button (2011) The Art of Miss Chew (2012) Bully (2012) Gifts of the Heart (2013) The Blessing Cup (2013) Clara and Davie (2014) Mr. Wayne's Masterpiece (2014) Tucky Jo and Little Heart (2015) An A From Miss Keller (2015) Fiona's Lace (2014) The Mermaid's Purse (2016) Because of Thursday (2016) Remembering Vera (2017) Holes in the Sky (2018) The Bravest Man in the World (2019) Sticks and Stones (2020) Go Ask Ozzie (2021) Palace of Books (2023) Sea of Gold (2024) Literary awards 1988 Sydney Taylor Book Award for The Keeping Quilt 1989 International Reading Association Award for Rechenka's Eggs March 10, 1990 Santa Clara Reading Council Author's Hall of Fame Commonwealth Club of California Recognition of Excellence for 1990 Babushka's Doll 1992 Chicken Sunday (Nov. 14th 1992 declared Chicken Sunday) 1992 Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Golden Kite Award for Illustration for Chicken Sunday 1992 Boston Area Educators for Social Responsibility Children's Literature and Social Responsibility Award Nov. 9th 1993 Jane Adams Peace Assoc. and Women's Intl. League for Peace and Freedom Awards Honor Award for Mrs. Katz and Tush for its effective contribution to peace and social justice. Parent's Choice Honors 1991 Some Birthday 1997 Video/Dream Keeper 1998 Thank You, Mr. Falker 1996 North Dakota Library Association Children's Book Award for My Rotten Red Headed Older Brother 1996 Jo Osborne Award for Humor in Children's Literature 1997 Missouri Association of School Librarians Show Me Readers Award for My Rotten Red Headed Older Brother 1997 West Virginia Children's Book Award for Pink and Say 1998 Mid-South Independent Booksellers for Children Humpty Dumpty Award 2014 Sydney Taylor Book Award for The Blessing Cup

Articles written about Polacco Vandergrift, Kay E. "Peacocks, Dreams, Quilts, and Honey: Patricia Polacco, A Woman's Voice of Remembrance," In Ways of Knowing: Literature and the Intellectual Life of Children. Ed. By Kay E. Vandergrift. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1996, pp. 259–288. Vandergrift, Kay E. "Patricia Polacco," in Twentieth-Century Children's Writers. ed. by Laura Berger. 4th ed. Detroit: St. James, 1995. 759–760. Profile, childrenslit.com; accessed on July 8, 2015. Interview, TimeforKids.com; accessed on July 8, 2015.