Patricia Polacco | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 11, 1944 Lansing, Michigan, U.S. |
| Occupation | Author, 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.
She 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[1] 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 Russian folklore she her from her grandmother (referred to as "Babushka" in her books),[2] who died in 1949 when Polacco was five years old.[1] During the summers, Polacco lived with her father and his Irish parents. "In both households I had these amazing storytellers," she said.[3] 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."[3] Polacco did not learn to read until she was nearly fourteen and struggled greatly in school. Finally, in junior high school, one of her teachers finally realized that she had dyslexia.[4] 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.[2]
In 1949, following the death of Polacco's maternal grandmother, her family moved to Coral Gables for three years and then the Rockridge district of Oakland, California.[1] She attended Oakland Technical High School,[5] where she became friends with Frank Oz.[citation needed] At institutions in the United States and Australia, she earned a Master's and PhD in Art History.[6][1] Upon graduating, she worked as a restoration specialist in art museums.[6] At the age of 41, Polacco began working on her first children's book. Polacco's mother was so confident in the books that she gave Polacco money to travel to Manhattan and set up meetings with publishers. During a week-long trip to New York, Polacco attended sixteen meetings where she showed seven or eight of her books. By the end of the week, all her books had sold.[4]
Polacco resides in Union City, Michigan.[1] Polacco has two children, Traci and Steven.[1] Her marriage to Graeme L Blackman ended in divorce and she married chef and cooking instructor Enzo Mario Polacco on August 18, 1979. Polacco has been an outspoken critic of the No Child Left Behind Act due to its reliance on high-stakes testing.[7]
