Patricia Polacco

Patricia’s LifePatricia was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1944. She was the daughter of William Barber, a salesman who became a TV talk show host, and Mary Ellen Barber, who was a teacher. Her father was of Irish descent and her mother had a Russian/Ukrainian background.

She lived on the farm with her mom and grandparents until 1949 when her Babushka (grandmother) died. Patricia’s family then decided to move away from Michigan.

At age 3, her parents got a divorce. Both of her parents moved back in with their own parents. Patricia and her brother mainly lived with her mom and grandma in Michigan.

“I must say that living on that little farm with them was the most magical time of my life...and that my Babushka and other grandparents were some of the most inspirational people in my life.” –Patricia Polacco

Patricia’s LifePatricia had problems reading until she was diagnosed at the age of 14 with dyslexia. She suffered from taunts from her classmates due to her lack of progress in reading and math. Sketching and illustrating became her focus which left classmates speechless.

The marriage did not last. After she divorced her 1st husband, she completed her undergraduate studies in California.

At age 18, she received a scholarship to go to college. She attended Ohio University for a few terms before deciding to drop out and get married. She then had two kids.

Patricia’s Life

She then went on to Australia to further her education. She earned a MFA in painting from Monash University in Melbourne.

While studying in Australia, she met her second husband Enzo Polacco who is an Italian Jew from Trieste, Italy. He is a chef and cooking instructor as well as a Holocaust survivor.

Patricia continued her education and received a PhD in Russian and Greek iconographic history from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Patricia’s Life

Patricia worked for museums restoring ancient icons before she became an author/illustrator. Patricia didn't start writing and illustrating children's books until 1987 when she was 41 years old.

“I come from a long line of story tellers, so telling is my stock and trade. Writing it all down, on the other hand, came much later in my life.” ---Patricia Polacco

Writing – The Beginning

She started jotting down the various stories that were “rolling around in her head”. Once the word got out, she was encouraged to join the Society of Children's Book writers and Illustrators.

“It was a major step because it was there that I learned how to put together a dummy and get a story into the form of a children's picture book. Then my mother supported a trip to New York, where she and I visited 16 publishers in one week. I submitted everything I had to more than one house. By the time I got home the following week I had sold just about everything.”---Patricia Polacco

Artwork– The Beginning

Patricia used a room in her house as her studio for some time before realizing she needed more space. She still has her office and writing desk at Meteor Ridge, but she bought an old Victorian house near her own house where she now has her art studio.

“Mind you the "art" has always been there for me most of my life. Apparently one of the symptoms of my disability in academics is the ability to draw very, very well. So drawing, painting and sculpture has always been a part of my life even before I started illustrating my books.”---Patricia Polacco

Writing– Her InspirationsPolacco uses family stories as one of her inspirations for writing.She says that her Babushka, along with other family members, were always telling stories to Patricia and her brother when they were young. Therefore, she says that she comes from a long line of incredible storytellers.“I would say that these relationships with my grandparents have most definitely influenced my life and my work.” –Patricia PolaccoShe also gets inspirations from the people in her neighborhood from when she lived in California as a child.“What I loved the most about this neighborhood is that all of my neighbors came in as many colors, ideas and religions as there are people on the planet. How lucky I was to know so many people that were so different and yet so much alike.” –Patricia Polacco

Writing– Common ThemesPolacco has a variety of themes that show up throughout all of her books.

Family Relationships (We will focus on this one.)Traditions and Heritage (We will also focus on this one.)Everyday HeroesUnderstanding DifferencesClassroom CelebrationsLife LessonsTeaching Sensitive TopicsHistoryFriendship

These themes are easy for Polacco to integrate into her stories since her stories are based on childhood memories, family stories, and her imagination.

Artwork– The MaterialsPolacco uses the same artistic media throughout her books. She uses:

Pentel Acetone MarkersAcrylic PaintNumber 2 PencilsNumber 6B PencilsOil PastelsCharcoalWatercolor PaintsGouache Collages

“SOMETIMES WHEN YOU SEE PHOTOS OF PEOPLE IN MY BOOKS -(LIKE ON A DRESSER IN FRAMES) I ACTUALLY PASTE THE PHOTOS INTO THE ARTWORK SO THAT IT WILL LOOK LIKE IT BELONGS THERE...THE PHOTOS THAT APPEAR IN MY BOOKS ARE USUALLY PICTURES OF THE PEOPLE THAT THE BOOK IS ACTUALLY ABOUT.” –Patricia Polacco

Artwork– The Process At her studio near her house, she has drawing tables and boards where she works out what her books will look like. This is when she draws the “dummy”, which is a blueprint of what the picture book will look like.In her studio, she figures out what she is going to draw on each page of the story.Polacco has three sources where she gets her inspirations and ideas from for her pictures, which are live models, photographs, and her imagination. Once she finishes the dummy, it gets sent to New York for corrections by her art director and then sent back to her for the needed changes if any.Polacco draws her books 25% larger than what they will be in her actual books. She does this by putting the drawings over a light box to make sure that the drawings won’t go into where the text or words are going to be.After she has traced out the final illustrations, she colors them in using her markers, pencils, and paints.

Artwork– Elements of Design Polacco uses a lot of white space in her illustrations to help maintain focus on her characters.She also incorporates animals throughout her stories, especially goats and cats.Polacco is also known for including cultural and/or religious symbols of her characters within the interior scenes of her stories.Another element of design that she is noted for is her choice of Earth tone colors.Patricia also uses Russian folk art patterns throughout her stories, such as the use of the same patterns of fabric for the characters’ clothing from one book to the next and even the faces of the characters from one book to another to show how a character develops over time. Another feature that is distinctive in Polacco’s work is the up close faces of her characters that she draws. She uses lines on the faces to reinforce the age of the characters, which is rare in picture books for children.For her book covers, she likes to use bold colors and images to invite the reader into the story. Patricia often creates different illustrations for her dust jacket and the actual hard cover of the book. The end papers in her books are most often solid colors, but are at times more decorative to help set the mood or to provide interest or information for the story. All of these elements of design make her work distinctive from others.

The Complete ProcessIt starts off with Polacco sitting in one of her 12 rocking chairs on her porch listening to music while the stories just come to her mind. It then takes 1 to 2 months for Polacco to write and rewrite her stories.Then it takes about a month to draw up the “dummy” or blueprint of the art.She sends her dummy to New York where her art director makes corrections on her artwork and then sends it back to Polacco.Polacco then does the final color illustrations, which takes about 1 to 2 months to do.The next step is sending it back to New York to get scanned and color separated.Once this happens, the films of the entire book get sent to Hong Kong to be printed, where most color books are printed at. The printing process takes about a month.Finally, the books are bound, boxed, and shipped back to the U.S. where they will be stored in the publishers warehouses for up to six months or even sometimes longer.They will not be sold in stores until the publication date when the book is released.

www.patriciapolacco.com

“FROM THE TIME I GET AN IDEA FOR A STORY UNTIL YOU ACTUALLY SEE IT AS A BOOK, ABOUT A YEAR AND A HALF HAVE GONE BY. I ALSO WORK ABOUT 3 BOOKS AHEAD OF WHAT YOU SEE ON THE BOOKSHELVES.” –Patricia Polacco

Doing What She Does Best

Doing What She Does Best

Her Passions

Her job as an author/illustrator is among her passions. She has been noted saying, “I am lucky…so very lucky! I love my life. Can you imagine doing what you love every day?... My thoughts boil in my head. They catch the air and fly. The images and stories come back with fury and energy…My heart sings whenever I am drawing.” –Patricia Polacco

Her animals are also among her passions, especially her cats who share her work space and her goats.

Polacco also collects and drives carriages, enjoys eating food with lots of garlic, rides a Harley Davidson motorcycle from time to time, and loves black and white photography.

Want More?

Check out this website to learn more about this unique author/illustrator.

www.patriciapolacco.com

Launching a Patricia Polacco Unit of StudyThe unifying theme that we would use to introduce a unit of study on Patricia Polacco is the theme of family traditions. We would be able to use this to help students understand where they come from and who their people are since Polacco’s books are inspired from her own family stories.

We would like to introduce students to the realistic fiction books from her collection that deal with family relationships, traditions, and heritage.

We would also touch on her intricate, detailed illustrations and the thought that goes into each one. Polacco’s artistic medium stays the same throughout each of her books and in fact many elements overlap into other stories that she has written.

We would like for our students to learn about the artistic media and elements of design that play into Polacco’s illustrations to gain a deeper understanding of how the illustrations add depth to the meaning of the text.

Launching a Patricia Polacco Unit of Study

We will first introduce our unit with our Prezi about Patricia Polacco. This unit is intended for third grade.

http://prezi.com/riioibrrjb63/patricia-polacco-childrens-authorillustrator-study/?kw=view-riioibrrjb63&rc=ref-3420542

We will then launch our unit with The Keeping Quilt. Before reading, we will watch the powerful video where Polacco describes and shows the real quilt from the story. We will discuss and understand Polacco’s feelings about her family’s quilt and their traditions. The story clearly depicts the heritage her family brings from Russia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkRkWoneKgY - The real “Keeping Quilt”

We will also make a quilt out of paper. Each child will receive two square pieces of paper. On one piece, they will write a Where I’m From or I Am Poem. On the other piece, they will draw a picture about themselves and their family. We will discuss how, like Patricia, we are all good at something and are all more alike than different. Once the students finish, we will put all of the squares together to make a quilt.

During this unit we will be doing narrative writing. We will use the five books: My Rotten Redheaded Brother, My Ol’ Man, Thunder Cake, Some Birthday! and When Lightning Comes In a Jar for mentor texts. We will discuss with our students that they are writing small moments from their lives just like Patricia Polacco does in her books.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogoEpqfdVaw&feature=em-share_video_user - Patricia Polacco (self-proclaimed “Narrative Queen”)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDczJbiwWv4 – Remember to listen/speak first before you write.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8K7bxPwqAs – We will watch this video as a preview to the book When Lightning Comes in a Jar and ask our children what a family reunion is and if they have ever been to one.

Once the students publish their writing, we will invite them to use the artistic media and elements of design that Polacco is known for in their own illustrations.

Teaching Writing through Polacco’s Work

To incorporate the website www.padlet.com, we will ask our students to predict what they think a thunder cake is in the book Thunder Cake. We will discuss the onomatopoeia that is weaved throughout the story. This story also addresses traditions which is part of our overall theme.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhhtKGCsAyY&feature=em-share_video_user – A video of Polacco reading her own work, Thunder Cake.

www.padlet.com/wall/cfd1sqmtx5 - Our Padlet for Thunder Cake.

The students will complete a Padlet about the book Thank You, Mr. Falker. The students will be asked to write about the character’s emotion in this book and to use evidence from the text. Next, the students will complete a Venn Diagram and compare and contrast Thank You, Mr. Falker and The Art of Miss Chew. We want our students to learn from Thank You, Mr. Falker to have empathy for others and to understand the commonality of humanity while learning about what Polacco faced as a child.

www.padlet.com/wall/o0o3r2z24f - Our Padlet for Thank You, Mr. Falker http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abN2aP_Dzd0&feature=em-

share_video_user - Thank You, Mr. Falker being read aloud

To meet our Common Core Standards, we will also compare My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother and Rotten Richie and the Ultimate Dare since they are both written by the same author and share stories from her life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogoEpqfdVaw(A link to My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother being read aloud.)

At the end of the unit, students will choose a character for any of the stories written by Polacco. Using details from the story, the students will describe how the character changes from the beginning to the end of the story. The students will do this on a Padlet.

www.padlet.com/wall/akgd7793rv

To conclude the unit, students will choose their favorite book. They will use the opinion template and write a book review for that book. It will be published on Amazon Book Review for Kids.

To keep our unit alive throughout the year, we will bring out Polacco’s story, An Orange for Frankie, at Christmas time. This will allow us to revisit the theme of our unit. We will invite the students to share family traditions with each other and make an Animoto video depicting this tradition.

Standards Met by the UnitReading3.RL.3 Describe the characters in the story and describe how their actions contribute to sequence of events. 3.RL.7 Explain how specific aspects of text of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story ( mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)3.RL.9 Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar character

Writing:3.W.1(a-d) Write opinion pieces on texts supporting a point of view with reasons.3.W.3(a-D) Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.3.W.6 With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others3.SL.2 Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally

Social Studies 3.C.1 Understand how diverse culture are valuable in local and regional communities.

The Keeping Quilt(1988)

This story tells about Patricia’s family coming to America from Russia. The family made a quilt from family members’ old clothes. The quilt was used for weddings, birth of children, birthday parties, and other special events in the family. The quilt helped to keep memories of their family members from Russia. Stories were told about each piece of the quilt. It became a family tradition. The quilt was passed down from generation to generation along with the stories.

Summary:

A Closer Look at Her Artwork

Then

The negative space is white, which allows the focus to be maintained on the quit.

The quilt is bordered in red, which is an attention-getting color. The colors of the quilt draw the reader’s eyes to the most important object in the positive space.

Thunder Cake(1990)

In this story the grandmother helps the little girl overcome a fear of thunderstorms. The grandmother tells the little girl that thunder is only a sound and it was the perfect time to make Thunder Cake. So the two of them go and gather all the ingredients. While they are doing this, the little girl counts how long it is between the lightning and the thunder. That is how long they have before the storm gets there. They bake the cake and sit down during the storm and enjoy cake and tea. The little girl overcomes her fear of thunderstorms.

Summary:

A Closer Look at Her Artwork

Polacco likes to incorporate her animals into her stories, especially her goats and cats.

She also likes to use Earth tone colors as her color of choice throughout her stories.

Some Birthday!(1991)

Summary:

Patricia thinks that her entire family has forgotten about her birthday. In fact, her father acts as if it is a normal day and goes on about his business. To make matters worse, her father plans a trip to the Clay Pit at the edge of town. Patricia, along with her father, brother, and cousin all set out on their adventure to “the scariest place on Earth” with campfire provisions in hand. While they are there, they hear a sound that her father goes to investigate. All of a sudden, what appears to be the Clay Pit Monster comes walking towards the children. They run all the way home only to find out it was Patricia’s father who had fallen in the water. Then out comes the cake and the birthday celebration begins!

A Closer Look at Her Artwork

The color red creates a focus on Patricia since this book is about her birthday.

Here is an example of how she uses her family photos for the artistic media of collage.

My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother(1994)

Patricia writes this story in first person about her older brother. The story takes place in the summer on her grandparents’ farm when she was a child. Her rotten redheaded older brother is always better at everything than her. She longs to do something better than him. She tries eating more blueberries and more raw rhubarb, but is unsuccessful. One night she wishes upon a star. They go to the carnival and Patricia rides the merry-go-round longer than her brother. When she gets off, she falls. Her brother carries her all the way home and ran to get the doctor. Patricia had to get stitches and thanks her big brother for helping her. This event changed their relationship and shows a family’s love for one another.

Summary:

A Closer Look at Her ArtworkOne of Polacco’s distinctions is that she continually incorporates the same things throughout all of her stories, such as the goats that we’ve already seen earlier in Thunder Cake.

For her book covers, she likes to use bold colors and images to invite the reader into the story.

My Ol’ Man(1995)

This story is about a father who is a traveling salesman who loved to tell stories. One day he told his children a story about a magic rock with old lines down by the pond. A few days later, he lost his job. This made it difficult for the family, but each day they would visit the rock and hope the magic would work. Finally, a man showed up at their house and offered the dad a job at a radio station. He was impressed with the story he had written about the rock. However, they learned the magic was inside them and not really in the rock.

Summary:

A Closer Look at Her ArtworkPolacco sets her self apart from most children’s book illustrators through her use of lines on faces to reinforce the age of the characters and even illustrates close-ups of her characters especially the elderly, which is a rare characteristic for picture books.

Thank You, Mr. Falker(1998)

This story begins with a little girl who is eager to begin school and learn to read. However, when she goes to school she is very good at drawing but struggles with reading. In first grade, she was unsuccessful with learning to read the words on the pages. She stayed in the same reader while the others moved on. Trisha began to feel different. As the years went by, she continued to struggle and other students began to make fun of her and call her names. So school became an undesirable place to be. Later her mother moved the family to California and Trisha had hoped things would be better in a new school. Soon the same things began to happen to her. Trisha was lonely and felt dumb. In fifth grade a man named Mr. Falker became Trisha’s teacher. He really bragged to the class about her drawing and discouraged the teasing the students did in the classroom. One student continued to bully Trisha until one day Mr. Falker caught him. He discovered Trisha’s problem with reading and helped her learn to read. Finally Trisha had learned to read thanks to a caring fifth grade teacher.

Summary:

A Closer Look at Her ArtworkThe color orange is used to symbolize the change that is taking place as her family moves to a new location.

The color blue is used to symbolize the tranquility and peace that they feel in their decision to move.

A Closer Look at Her ArtworkThe color yellow is used as a foreshadowing feature of what’s to come. Yellow represents the happiness that Mr. Falker will bring to Trish once she learns how to read.

The vertical lines used to make his body show the stability he will bring to her life.

When Lightning Comes in a Jar(2002)

This is a story of a family reunion. Everyone is excited about all of the aunts, uncles, cousins gathering together at Gramma’s house. There is lots of food. The kids play baseball, croquet, bag races, and rode the horse. They sat around and looked at photo albums and told stories. When it was almost dark, Aunt Bertha brought out the canning jars and Gramma tells the story of the magic of the fireflies and how to catch lightning in a jar. The children dash around catching fireflies.

Summary:

A Closer Look at Her Artwork

Patricia incorporates actual family photos into her books as part of her artistic media. the positive space.

An Orange for Frankie(2004)

This is a story about a family Christmas tradition of long ago. The Stowell family had a tradition of gathering boughs of greens for the mantel. Then their Pa would bring home nine oranges, one for each child to put on the mantel. This Christmas had a bad snow storm and everyone was worried about Pa making it home for Christmas. Their mother always fed the passengers on the train when they stopped. This year one of the hobos seemed very cold and didn’t have a shirt. So Frankie, the youngest gave him his red sweater his sister had made him last year. As Christmas approached the family gathered the greens and decorated the tree. Finally on Christmas Eve, Pa arrived with the oranges. The children were not to touch the oranges, however Frankie did put it on his pocket and the family headed to the Christmas pageant. When the family returned home Frankie did not have an orange. Feeling sad Frankie told his mother about how he gave his sweater away to the hobo and took the orange. Afterward, Frankie went downstairs and discovered an orange with a pink ribbon tied around it. It had eight wedges. Each brother and sister shared a wedge of their orange to give Frankie one. It was a precious Christmas for giving and the last Christmas for Frankie.

Summary:

A Closer Look at Her Artwork

The artistic media used in this book was watercolor and pencil, which is typical in a lot of her work.

The color blue shows the tranquility and peace that is brought on due to the falling snow.

List of BooksBullyThe Art of Miss ChewBun Bun ButtonJust in Time, Abraham LincolnThe Junk Yard WondersJanuary's SparrowIn Our Mother's HouseSomeone for Mr. SussmanFor the Love of AutumnThe Lemonade ClubGinger and PetuniaSomething About Hensley's Rotten Richie and the Ultimate DareEmma Kate

The Graves Family Goes Camping Mommies Say Shhh!An Orange for FrankieJohn Philip DuckOh Look!The Graves Family"G" is for GoatChristmas TapestryWhen Lightning Comes in a JarMr. Lincoln's WayBetty DollThe ButterflyLuba and the WrenWelcome Comfort

List of Books ContinuedMrs. MackThank You, Mr. FalkerIn Enzo's Splendid GardensThe Tress of the Dancing GoatsI Can Hear the Sun: A Modern MythAunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam AffairBabushka's Mother GooseBabushka’s DollMy Ol' ManMy Rotten Redheaded Older BrotherPink and SayTikvah Means HopeBabushka Baba Yaga

The Bee TreePicnic at Mudsock MeadowMrs. Katz and TushChicken SundaySome Birthday!Appelemando's DreamsUncle Vova's TreeJust Plain FancyBoat Ride With Lillian Two BlossomThunder CakeThe Keeping QuiltCasey at the BatRechenka's EggsMeteor!

An Interview with Patricia Polacco

Food For Thought…

For More Information…

Please visit these related websites:

http://prezi.com/riioibrrjb63/patricia-polacco-childrens-authorillustrator-study/ (This is the link to the Prezi that we created to use with the students.)www.patriciapolacco.com - the author’s websitehttp://www.patriciapolacco.com/documents/4PPOLACCOEDGUIDE.PDFhttp://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/calendar-activities/children

-author-patricia-polacco-20659.htmlhttp://www.ipl.org/div/askauthor/polaccobio.htmlhttp://schools.cms.k12.nc.us/hiddenvalleyES/Documents/3rd%20Grade%20EOG

%20Study%20Materials/Patricia%20Polacco.pdfhttp://www.teachingbooks.net/author_collection.cgi?id=56&a=1http://www.youtube.com/user/DreamJamWorld (Scroll to bottom for videos)http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/contributor/patricia-polacco

Bibliography"Patricia Polacco (1944-)." Something about the Author. Vol. 212. Detroit: Gale, 2010. 166-172. Something About The Author Online. Gale. Appalachian State University - Belk Library. 31 May 2013 <http://0-galenet.galegroup.com.wncln.wncln.org/servlet/SATA_Online/boon41269/BH2178125058>.

www.patriciapolacco.com (Retreived on May 31, 2013)

http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/polacco/ (Retrieved on May 31, 2013)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eddrUVo9ugY (Retrieved on May 31, 2013)

http://0-www.teachingbooks.net.wncln.wncln.org/tb.cgi?aid=457 (Retrieved on May 31, 2013)

Maughan, Shannon. "Patricia Polacco: the author and illustrator of children's books goes to her rocking chair for inspiration." Publishers Weekly 15 Feb. 1993: 179+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 1 June 2013 <http://0-go.galegroup.com.wncln.wncln.org/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA13462697&v=2.1&u=boon41269&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w>.

"Patricia Polacco." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2011. Literature Resource Center. Web. 4 June 2013. <http://0-go.galegroup.com.wncln.wncln.org/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1000113247&v=2.1&u=boon41269&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w>

BibliographyPolacco, Patricia. (1995). My Ol’ Man. New York, New York: Scholastic Inc.

Polacco, Patricia. (1990). Thunder Cake. New York, New York: The Putnam Berkley Group.

Polacco, Patricia. (1991). Some Birthday!. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.

Polacco, Patricia. (2002). When Lightning Comes in a Jar. New York, New York: Scholastic Inc.

Polacco, Patricia. (2004). An Orange for Frankie. New York, New York: Scholastic Inc.

Polacco, Patricia. (1994). My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.

Polacco, Patricia. (1988). The Keeping Quilt. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.

Polacco, Patricia. (1998). Thank You, Mr. Falker. New York, New York: Philome.