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Patricia Polacco

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Patricia Polacco
Born (1944-07-11) July 11, 1944 (age 80)
Lansing, Michigan, U.S.
OccupationAuthor, illustrator

Patricia Barber Polacco (born July 11, 1944) is an American author and illustrator. Throughout her school years, Polacco struggled with reading but found relief by expressing herself through art. Polacco endured teasing and hid her disability until a school teacher recognized that 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.

Personal life

Patricia was born in 1944 in Lansing, Michigan, the daughter of a teacher and a salesman turned talk show host. Her parents divorced when she was three years old. She, her mother, and her brother went to live at her maternal grandmother's farm in Union City, Michigan, the setting of many of her stories. Polacco was discouraged in school and did not learn to read until she was nearly fourteen. In junior high school, one of her teachers finally realized that she had dyslexia.[1] Many of Palocco's stories are influenced by her family. Some books are inspired by folklore she heard as a child from her maternal Russian grandmother,[2] who died in 1949 when Polacco was five years old.[3] When Lightning Comes in a Jar as a tribute to her grandmother (referred to as "Babushka" in her books), and a cousin. The book Pink and Say comes from the life of a great-great-grand father on her father's side of the family who fought in the American Civil War and developed a moving friendship with a Black soldier.[2]

At Oakland Technical High School,[4] Polacco became friends with Frank Oz.[citation needed]

She did not start writing and illustrating her first children's book until she was 41 years old.

Polacco resides in Union City, Michigan on a property she purchased which was originally known as "The Plantation".[3] Polacco has two children, Traci and Steven, with her first husband. Her second marriage, to Graeme L Blackman, ended in a divorce. Her third husband, Enzo Mario Polacco, whom she married on August 18, 1979, is a chef and cooking instructor.

Publications

Other media

  • Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair. Video, Color, 23 minutes (New Rochelle, NY: Spoken Arts, 1996)
  • Babushka's Doll. Audio Cassette (New York: Scholastic, 1995)
  • The Butterfly. Audio Cassette (New Rochelle, NY: Spoken Arts, 1996)
  • The Butterfly. Video, Color, 30 minutes (New Rochelle, NY: Spoken Arts, 1996)
  • Chicken Sunday. Audio Cassette (New Rochelle, NY: Spoken Arts, 1992)
  • Chicken Sunday. Video, Color, 14 minutes (New Rochelle, NY: Spoken Arts, 1992)
  • The Keeping Quilt. Video, Color, 13 minutes (New Rochelle, NY: Spoken Arts, 1993)
  • Meteor! Audio Cassette (New Rochelle, NY: Spoken Arts, 1999)
  • Meteor! Video, Color, 13 minutes (New Rochelle, NY: Spoken Arts, 1999)
  • Mrs. Katz and Tush. Video, Color, 29 minutes (Lincoln, NB: Great Plains National, 1993)
  • Patricia Polacco: Dream Keeper. Video, Color, 23 Minutes (New York: Philomel, 1996)
  • Parents, Kids & Books: The Joys of Reading Together. Video, Color, 30 Minutes (Dallas, TX: Kera Productions, 1993)
  • Pink and Say. Audio Cassette (New Rochelle, NY: Spoken Arts, 1996)
  • Pink and Say. Video, Color, 28 minutes (New Rochelle, NY: Spoken Arts, 1996)
  • Rechenka's Eggs. Audio Cassette (New Rochelle, NY: Spoken Arts, 1991)
  • Rechenka's Eggs. Video, Color, 11 minutes (New Rochelle, NY: Spoken Arts, 1991)
  • Thank You, Mr. Falker. Audio Cassette (St. Petersburg, FL: Spoken Arts, 1999)
  • Thank You, Mr. Falker. Video, Color, 23 minutes (New Rochelle, NY: Spoken Arts, 1999)
  • Thunder Cake. Video, Color, 13 minutes (New Rochelle, NY: Spoken Arts, 1990)

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[5]

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.

References

  1. ^ The Polacco Farm Archived March 16, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. patriciapolacco.com; accessed July 7, 2015.
  2. ^ a b Mayer, Henry (November 13, 1994). "A Hand That Touched A Hand That Touched Lincoln". The New York Times. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
  3. ^ a b Who Am I? Archived 2006-06-14 at the Wayback Machine, patriciapolacco.com; accessed July 7, 2015.
  4. ^ "School Historical Archive". Patricia Barber Polacco ’62. April 9, 2015. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  5. ^ 2014 Sydney Taylor Book Awards Announced by AJL, January 21, 2014
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