Happy 80th Birthday Patricia Polacco!

                                 
[Image Description: The book called "Thank You, Mr. Falker" written by Patricia Polacco is laying on a red, yellow, blue, and purple quilt. "PATRICIA POLACCO" is in center-aligned black text at the top of the book cover. "Thank You, Mr. Falker" is in left-aligned maroon text under "PATRICIA POLACCO." At the bottom of the page, there is a big picture of Trisha (left) wearing a dress and sitting at a table looking at the inside of a book with Mr. Falker (right) standing next to her and wearing a green jacket and red collar and smiling with his fingers on his chin. There are hands of another child holding a book and pointing to the bottom pages in the bottom right corner of the book cover. The rest of the background of the book cover is white.]



I am uploading this blog post in honor of Patricia Polacco's 80th Birthday being today! 🥳❤️🎂🎁🪅🎉🎊🎈 Patricia Polacco has always been one of my favorite children's books authors since my early childhood. A cool fun fact is that my second grade teacher actually met Patricia Polacco in person many years ago!!! 📚



Overview and Information About Patricia Polacco's Childhood:
    Patricia Polacco (she/her/hers) is a very notable American children's book author and illustrator who was born in Lansing, Michigan. She spent the beginning of her childhood living on a farm followed by moving to California. Patricia Polacco began to struggle with her ability to read when she was in Kindergarten; eventually, this led to Patricia Polacco being diagnosed with dyslexia when she was fourteen years old. She faced prolonged bullying from her peers due to her learning disability and overcame her struggles, especially with the help of one of her teachers that she later wrote a memoir book about called Thank You, Mr. Falker.


Related Links:

Why I Like This Author:
    I am a fan of Patricia Polacco's writing because I read many of her books at school as a child, which were some of my favorite books. In addition, getting to read her book, Thank You, Mr. Falker, is one of my favorite childhood memories because I can really relate to the story. Thank You, Mr. Falker is about Patricia's disability journey through her childhood. My teachers read Thank You, Mr. Falker to my classmates and I when I was in fifth and sixth grade. I instantly found Thank You, Mr. Falker relatable because of my own struggles with reading as a child and experiencing bullying; one of Patricia Polacco's bullying experiences were especially relatable when her peers were amazed by her artistic talent but continued to bully her. I also had strong artistic abilities as a child, which my peers praised me for while continuing to bully me for being different along with coming a long way by strongly improving.


Related Links:

Which books written by Patricia Polacco have you read?
  • Thank You Mr. Falker
  • Thunder Cake
  • Chicken Sunday
  • Babushka's Doll
  • Christmas Tapestry
  • The Butterfly
  • When Lightning Comes in a Jar
  • I also read Patricia Polacco's book called Bully in the beginning of my career.

Related Links:

Genre:
    The genres of Patricia Polacco's books include fiction, nonfiction, and autobiographies.


Age That Patricia Polacco's Books Are Targeted For:
    Patricia Polacco's books are written as children's books while enjoyed by all ages.


Interesting Fun Facts About Patricia Polacco:
  1. Patricia Polacco has two grown adult children and currently resides on a farm in Union City, Michigan.
  2. Patricia Polacco has a Bachelor's Degree and Master's Degree in Art and a Ph.D. in Art History. She attended college in the United States, Australia, England, France, and Russia.
  3. Patricia Polacco is also a guest speaker at multiple schools in the United States and "has a distinguished record as an international advocate for the rights of children" (Polacco 2022).

Awards That Patricia Polacco Has Won:
  1. 1998 Sydney Taylor Award, Association of Jewish Libraries for Keeping Quilt

  2. 1989 International Reading Association: Best Picture Book of the Year for Rechenka’s Eggs

  3. 1990 Commonwealth Club of California Award for Babushka's Doll

  4. 1990-1996 Author's Hall of Fame, California Council of Teachers for Body of Work

  5. 1991 Parents Choice Honor for Some Birthday

  6. 1992 Golden Kite Award - Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Best Picture Book for Chicken Sunday

  7. 1992 Commonwealth Club of California Award for Chicken Sunday

  8. 1992 Sacramento Capital Video Award - Best Video for Keeping Quilt

  9. 1992 Educators for Social Responsibility in Children's Literature Responsible Author's Award for Body of Work

  10. 1993 Jane Honor Award - Women's League International League for Peace and Freedom for Mrs. Katz and Tush

  11. 1993 Parents Choice Audio Award for Mrs. Katz and Tush

  12. 1994 President's Commendation Medal for Chicken Sunday and Pink and Say

  13. 1994 Parents Choice Award for Best Book for Pink and Say

  14. 1995 Bank Street College of Education, The Irma and James H. Black Book Award for Pink and Say

  15. 1995 Jefferson Cup Award for Pink and Say

  16. 1995 Best Book of the Year New York State Association of Educators and Librarians for Pink and Say

  17. 1995 American Book of the Year Award - American Booksellers for Pink and Say

  18. 1995 BABRA Award 10 Best Books of the Year for Pink and Say

  19. 1995 New York Times Pick of the Best of the Year for Pink and Say

  20. 1996 California's Children's Book Award for Pink and Say

  21. 1996 David McCord Children's Literature Citation and Award, IRA for Body of Work

  22. 1996 Pink and Say picked as Best Children's Book of the Year in the following states: California, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Utah, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Arkansas, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan, Colorado, Alaska, Hawaii, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Florida, New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Minnesota, Montana, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maine, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Missouri, Arizona, Iowa, Delaware, Maryland, and District of Columbia

  23. 1996 Colorado Association of Reading Award for Pink and Say

  24. 1996 North Dakota Library Association Award for My Rotten Red Headed Older Brother

  25. 1996 Flicker Tale Children's Book Award for My Rotten Red Headed Older Brother

  26. 1996 Jo Osbourne Award for Humor in Children's Literature for Body of Work

  27. 1996 - The Marquis Who's Who Publication Board Award for Pink and Say

  28. 1997 - West Virginia Children's Book Award for Pink and Say

  29. 1997 - Parents Choice, Video Award for The Dream Keeper

  30. 1997 - Show Me Award - Missouri for My Rotten Red Headed Older Brother

  31. 1998 - Humpty Dumpty Award - Mid South Independent Booksellers for Children for Body of Work

  32. 1998 - Story Book Award for Thank You Mr. Falker

  33. 1999 - Gold Award for Thank You Mr. Falker

  34. 1999 - Association of Educators of Dyslexic and Learning Disabled Readers, Best Book for Thank You Mr. Falker

  35. 1999 - Educators for Social Responsibility Award for Thank You Mr. Falker

  36. 2000 - Honor - Storytelling World Awards - Tellable Stories - ages 13-17 for Welcome Comfort

  37. 2001 - Parents Choice Award Luba and the Wren 2003 - Pennsylvania Young Readers Medal - best book for The Butterfly

  38. 2003 - Murphy School Award - Best Book for Mr. Lincoln's Way

  39. 2003 - Young Readers Award for Christmas Tapestry

  40. 2003 - Best Book of the Year Award - top 10 list Detroit Free Press for Christmas Tapestry

  41. 2003 - Best Illustrated List - Detroit Free Press for G. is for Goat

  42. 2003 - New York Times Best Seller - Parents Choice Award for The Graves Family

  43. 2004 - Author of the Year Award from the Michigan Reading Association

  44. 2005 - California Young Readers Medal for Mr. Lincoln's Way

  45. 2005 - Michigan Reading Association - Year's notable book list for An Orange for Frankie

  46. 2005 - RIF Selection - The Art of Reading - Citation award

  47. 2007 - New York Times Best Seller for Ginger and Petunia

  48. 2007 - Parents Choice Citation - American Cancer Society for The Lemonade Club

  49. 2008 - New York Times - Readable books Citation for For the Love of Autumn

  50. 2009 - Notable Books Award - National Coalition for the Rights of Gays and Lesbians for In Our Mother's House

  51. 2010 - Notable Books Award - Michigan Reading Association for January's Sparrow

  52. 2011 - Notable Books Award and Citation - Association of Librarians, Washington D.C. for Just in Time, Abraham Lincoln

  53. 2012 - The Lab School - Washington D.C. - awarded by the President of the United States for Body of Work

  54. 2012 - The Regina Medal - National Association of Catholic Librarians for Continued Contribution of Children's Literature

  55. 2013 - The Library of Congress and the President of the US awarded Pink and Say as one of the best books written for children in the past 100 years

  56. 2014 - Sydney Taylor Award for The Keeping Quilt (20th Anniversary Edition)

  57. 2015 - Sydney Taylor Award for The Blessing Cup

  58. 2015 - The Blessing Cup awarded Author's Medal by Midland Authors

  59. 2015 - New York Times Best Seller List for The Blessing Cup

  60. 2016 - Tucky Jo and Little Heart was selected as the 2016 Comstock Read Aloud Honor Book






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                                                                    Citations

1. Britannica Kids. 2022. (10 February 2022). https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Patricia-Polacco/628347#

2. Patricia Polacco. 2022. (10 February 2022). https://www.patriciapolacco.com/

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