Polacco, Patricia (1944-…), is a popular American author and illustrator of children’s books . Polacco has been praised for her skill as a storyteller. She often writes about the folklore and customs of her mixed Jewish, Russian, Ukrainian, and Irish heritage. Many of Polacco’s books are based on childhood memories and family stories handed down over many years. She also has written about African Americans , American Indians , and the Amish.
Several of Polacco’s stories are inspired by memories of her Ukrainian-Jewish grandmother, called Babushka. They include Rechenka’s Eggs (1988), Babushka’s Doll (1990), Babushka Baba Yaga (1993), and Babushka’s Mother Goose (1995). In The Keeping Quilt (1988), the author tells the story of a quilt that has been a family treasure for generations. Polacco deals with interracial friendship in Chicken Sunday (1992) and its sequel, Holes in the Sky (2018), and in Pink and Say (1994). Thank You, Mr. Falker (1998), The Art of Miss Chew (2012), Mr. Wayne’s Masterpiece (2014), and An A from Miss Keller (2015) are autobiographical stories about teachers that inspired Polacco as a child. Remembering Vera (2017) is based on the true story of a stray dog that was adopted in 1962 by a United States Coast Guard base near San Francisco, California.
Polacco’s other picture books include My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother (1994), I Can Hear the Sun (1996), Mr. Lincoln’s Way (2001), Rotten Richie and the Ultimate Dare (2006), The Junkyard Wonders (2010), and Bully (2012). She also wrote Tucky Jo and Little Heart (2015), Because of Thursdays and The Mermaid’s Purse (both 2016), and The Bravest Man in the World (2019).
Patricia Barber was born on July 11, 1944, in Lansing, Michigan. She married Enzo Polacco, a chef, in 1979. It was her second marriage. Polacco did not learn to read until she was 14 years old, when she was finally diagnosed with dyslexia , a learning disability . She graduated from college in Australia, receiving a B.F.A degree in painting from Monash University in Melbourne in 1974 and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in art history from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1978. Polacco wrote her first children’s book, Meteor (1987), when she was 41 years old. In 2012, the Catholic Library Association awarded Polacco the Regina Medal for her lifetime contribution to children’s literature.
