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Patricia Polacco, née Barber, was born in Lansing, Michigan on July 11, 1944. She attended the California College of Arts and Crafts and received a Ph.D. from the University of Melbourne. She married Enzo Mario Polacco in 1979; they have two children. Polacco currently lives in Union City, Michigan.
There are three main forces that continue to influence Patricia Polacco as an author and illustrator. First is her Ukrainian and her Irish heritages. Patricia’s mother was Jewish; her father was Irish. Her Jewish ancestors came from the Ukraine. Patricia spent a great deal of time with her Bubby, her Jewish grandmother, who lived on a farm in Michigan and loved to tell stories. (Babushka’s Doll, The Keeping Quilt, Rechenka’s Eggs, Uncle Voya’s Tree, Picnic at Mudsock Meadow, Some Birthday!) Says Polacco: “So I got a sense of history from my father’s side and a sense of magic from my mother’s.”
The second influence is Patricia own childhood experiences. Polacco’s parents were divorced so she traveled back and forth to be with her two very culturally different and creative families. Her father was a television talk show host and her mother was a school teacher. She had an older brother.(Thundercake, My Ol’ Man, My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother, The Bee Tree, Thank You, Mr. Falker) Polacco was a quiet young child and spent a good deal of her time drawing. In high school to overcome her shyness, she became the class comedian. Her dream was to become a veterinarian, but she married and raised her children before she attended college. Although drawing was a continuous source of pleasure in her life, Polacco didn’t begin writing until she was 41. Her first book, Meteor!, was published in 1987.
The final and most all-pervasive influence on Polacco’s work is the fact that we are all living in a multicultural world. Patricia believes that literature can help teach children tolerance and the beauty of diversity. She writes and illustrates stories that show how people who are different from one another can build friendships and create a caring community. (Mrs. Katz and Tush, Chicken Sunday, Just Plain Fancy)
Patricia Polacco creates multicultural characters living in a multicultural world. She thinks of her work as a prayer for a better world. In the video interview with her called Dream Keeper, Polacco quotes an old Ukrainian saying: “If you dream it, it will be.”
Grandpa makes the point that reading is hard but sweet work when he takes his granddaughter and most everyone in the neighborhood on a bee tree hunt. They follow a bee to its tree, smoke out the bees, and enjoy their sweet honey. The bright illustrations capture the movement and excitement of the chase through the Michigan countryside.” The challenge of pursuing learning and the sweetness of finding it combine to define the theme of this story. (Autobiographical Picture Book) Curriculum Connections: reading, communities
The Keeping Quilt. Simon and Schuster. 1988. ISBN: 0-671-64963-9
This is the story of a quilt that is passed along in a New York City immigrant Russian Jewish family, from mother to daughter from generation to generation for almost a century. The quilt serves as a Sabbath tablecloth, a huppa or wedding canopy, and as a baby’s first blanket. Black and white illustrations frame the bright colors of the quilt. The theme is: Family traditions sustain people throughout their lives and make connections across the generations. (Autobiographical Picture Book) Curriculum Connections: families, heirlooms, storytelling prompt, Jewish culture
Mrs. Katz and Tush. Bantam Doubelday Dell. 1992. ISBN: 0-440-40936-5
Mrs. Katz has been lonely since her husband, Myron, died. A young neighbor, Larnel, brings her a scrawny, tail-less kitten to help ease her loneliness. She names it “Tush.” Larnel visits Mrs. Katz and Tush daily. He learns about her life in Poland, her marriage, and her Jewish heritage, one that includes a time of slavery just like Larnel’s African American heritage. Together they celebrate the seder and build a friendship. When Tush has kittens, Mrs. Katz becomes a “bubee.” When he has a family of his own, Larnel welcomes Mrs. Katz into the honored role of “bubee” to his children. The illustrations celebrate and dramatize the story’s theme: Differences between two people can be the starting place from which to build a lifelong friendship. (Realistic Fiction Picture Book) Curriculum Connections: non-traditional families, Jewish culture, friendship
Babushka is painting eggs for the Easter Festival in Moskva (Russia). She adopts an injured goose and names it Rechenka. Babushka helps the goose heal, and it repays her with an egg a day. One day the goose accidentally breaks Babushka’s painted eggs. For the next twelve days the eggs Rechenka lays are painted. Babushka releases the goose to rejoin her flock and takes Rechenka’s eggs to the festival where they win first prize. When she returns home, Rechenka has left a gift, a painted egg that hatches, a lifelong goose friend for Babushka. Polacco’s Russian women’s skirts are as beautiful as the Ukrainian eggs they paint. The theme is: There’s magic in the world if we are willing to care for and protect others. (Fairytale. Picture Book) Curriculum Connections: cycles, circle stories, Russian traditions, friendship
Thank You, Mr. Falker. Philomel. 1998. ISBN: 0-399-23166-8
This is an autobiographical account of Polacco’s elementary school experience. When she enters a new school, Trisha, a dyslexic student who has suffered from being teased by her classmates for her struggles with reading, finds support from her fifth-grade teacher, Mr. Falker. Not only does he teach her to read but to love school as well. The illustrations clearly convey book’s theme: interpersonal relationships have the power to either destroy self-esteem or to build it. The note at the end says Polacco saw Mr. Falker at a wedding 30 years later and had the opportunity to tell him thanks to his efforts, she’s a children’s book author and illustrator. The theme is: With help and encouragement, we can reach our potential. (Autobiography . Picture Book) Curriculum Connections: literacy, interpersonal relationships
A little girl (Polacco) is afraid of thunderstorms. When a storm begins to roll across the Michigan countryside, Babushka (grandma) helps the child overcome her terror by gathering the ingredients for a “thunder cake.” From the hen house, to the barn, to the dry shed, to the tomato vine trellis, the girl succeeds in acting in spite of her fear of the thunder. When the rain arrives, the two eat their cake and the child never “feared the voice of thunder again.” The width of Babushka’s wisdom is conveyed with her great size, particularly in one image where she fills the page. The recipe is included. The theme: Wise elders can help young children overcome their fears by helping them recognize their courage when they face those fears. (Autobiographical Picture Book) Curriculum Connections: courage, families, childhood fears
The Bee Tree.
Mrs. Katz and Tush.
Rechenka’s Eggs.
Thunder Cake.
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