2. Biography
• Born July 11, 1944 in Lansing, Michigan
• Author and illustrator of numerous picture books
• Patricia Polaccois of Russian, Ukrainian, and Irish
decent and has written several books about her
cultural upbringing
• She was unable to read until age 14 due to dyslexia.
She endured teasing from her peers and hid her
disability, until one school teacher recognized that
she could not read and began to help her. Her book
Thank You, Mr. Falkerretells this story.
3. Themes & Techniques
Themes Techniques
• Family and relationships • Imagery
• Culture and tradition • Narrative
• History • Prose
• Cooking • Illustrations
• Nature
• Autobiographical
• Personal Anecdotes
• Trust and acceptance
4. Snippet of Writing
Topic of Study:
The Keeping Quilt
Social Studies
• And her dress was getting
too small. After her mother
had sewn her a new one,
she took her old dress and
babushka. Then from the
basket of old clothes she
took Uncle Vladamir’s shirt,
Aunt Havalah’s nightdress,
and an apron of Aunt
Natasha’s. “We will make
a quilt to help us always
remember home.” Anna’s
mother said. “It will be like
having the family in
backhome Russia dance
around us at night.”
5. List of Works
• Boat Ride with Lillian Two • Firetalking
Blossom • My Rotten Redheaded Older
• The Keeping Quilt Brother
• Meteor! • Pink and Say
• Tikva Means Hope
• Uncle Vova's Tree
• Babushka's Mother Goose
• Babushka's Doll
• My Ol' Man
• Just Plain Fancy
• Aunt Chip And The Great
• Thunder Cake Triple Creek Dam Affair
• Appelemando's Dreams • I Can Hear The Sun: A
• Dream Keeper Modern Myth
• Some Birthday! • Rechenka's Eggs
• Chicken Sunday • The Trees of the Dancing
Goats
6. List of Works
• Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of • Oh, Look!
the Republic, Sung in the Year • An Orange for Frankie
1888 • Emma Kate
• In Enzo's Splendid Gardens • The Graves Family Goes
Camping
• Mrs. Mack • Mommies Say Shhh
• Thank You, Mr. Falker • Rotten Richie and the Ultimate
• Luba And The Wren Dare
• Welcome Comfort • In Our Mothers' House
• The Butterfly • January's Sparrow
• Betty Doll • Junkyard Wonders
• Gracias, Sr. Falker • Something About Hensley's
• Mr. Lincoln's Way • Picnic at Mudsock Meadow
• Christmas Tapestry
• When Lightning Comes In A • Babushka Baba Yaga
Jar • The Bee Tree
• G is for Goat • Mrs. Katz and Tush
• The Graves Family
• John Philip Duck
7. Use in the Classroom
• Patricia Polacco is a great example of someone who writes
and illustrates about she is passionate about. She writes about
her life, experiences, and feelings. She shows kids that their
lives, experience, and feelings are important and should be
shared with the world through written word and or illustration.
• An example of using this in the classroom is to ask the
students to make their own patch for a classroom quilt.
Student’s have to design a patch of the quilt that represents
them, where their family came from, and what’s important to
them. The students write about what they created and how it
compares to the book. By the end, all of the pieces are
assembled into a classroom quilt that show the students that
each of them is an important and unique part of the whole.
