PowerPoint Presentation

Patricia Polacco By Megan Climer and Jessica Louks

http://www.patriciapolacco.com/author/bio/bio.html

Voice Over: Patricia Polacco author and illustrator.

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History of Patricia Polacco

Born in Michigan

Lived on a farm in Union City, Michigan.

Florida

California

http://www.patriciapolacco.com/author/my_home/my_home.html

Voice Over: In 1944, Patricia Polacco was born in Lansing, Michigan. Patricia lived with her mother and grandparents on their farm in Union City, Michigan until 1949. After leaving Union City, Patricia moved to Coral Gables, Florida with her mother and brother for three years. Patricia left Florida with her family, and relocated to Oakland, California. This is where Patricia would live throughout most of her adulthood.

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The Farm

Family Farm

Meteor Ridge Farm

Visited by Abraham Lincoln

http://www.patriciapolacco.com/author/my_home/my_home.html

Voice Over: The farm belonged to her grandparents. It got the name Meteor Ridge Farm after a meteor fell and landed in the yard. On a trip to Burlington, Michigan, Abraham Lincoln made a visit to the farm. 3

Troubles at School

Learning Disability

Bullying

http://www.patriciapolacco.com/author/bio/bio.html

Voice Over: Patricia Polacco did not learn how to read until the age of fourteen when her teacher helped her realize she had dyslexia. As a result of her learning disability she was often bullied and teased at school.

4

Thank you, Mr. Falker

A true story about Patricia Polacco.

One teacher who changed her life.

http://www.patriciapolacco.com/books/falker/falker_index.html

Voice Over: In Trishas family there was a high value placed on reading. So when she began to fall behind Trisha was embarrassed to ask for help. Every year the gap between her reading ability and her peers reading ability grew, which led to Trisha being bullied and teased at school. This continued until the fifth grade when she moved to California and was place in Mr. Falkers class. He helped Trisha discover her learning disability and put an end to the bullying.

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Stop Bullying

Put an end to the teasing.

Get your class involved.

http://www.patriciapolacco.com/news/teasing/index.html

Voice Over: On her website Patricia Polacco has page that is devoted to putting an end to teasing. This page is inspired by the events that occurred in Thank You, Mr. Falker. She is encouraging teachers and students to get involved in her campaign by making fun resources available on her webpage. 6

The Junkyard Wonders

Trisha is placed in a special needs classroom.

Throughout the year she is taught the real meaning of genius.

http://www.patriciapolacco.com/books/junkyard/index2.html

Voice Over: Trisha stayed in Michigan with her Grandma and father. She was able to go to a new school where nobody would know that she just learned how to read. She thought it would be better this year until she discovered that her classroom was called the junkyard. Trisha begins to lose hope that this will be a better school. Then one day Mrs. Peterson explains that they called it the junkyard because junkyards are filled with amazing possibilities and so are the students in her class. As the year goes on Trisha and her classmates go through many ups and downs.

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Awards

Parents Choice Honor

Jo Osborne Award

Boston Area Educators for Social Responsibility.

Parents Choice Award: http://www.parents-choice.org/award.cfm?thePage=books&p_code=p_boo

Jo Osborne Award: http://people.ehe.osu.edu/lcya/jo-osborne-award/

Voice Over: For the book Thank You, Mr. Falker Patricia Polacco received the Parents Choice Honor. She has also won the Jo Osborne award for the humor in her Childrens Literature, the Boston Area Educators Award for Social Responsibility for her books, and was inducted into the Santa Clara Reading Council Authors Hall of Fame. 8

What inspires Her?

Artistic hero is Norman Rockwell.

Favorite picture book is The Tall Mother Goose by Fedor Rojankovsky

http://www.patriciapolacco.com/author/inspirations/inf.html

Voice Over: There are many things that have influenced and inspired Patricia Polacco. Some of these things are books, such as The Tall Mother Goose and The Tale of Peter Rabit by Beatrux Potter. Her illustrations are mostly influenced by famous artist, Norman Rockwell. 9

Writing and Illustration Process

Writing

The Dummy

Review by the Art Director

Illustrations

http://www.patriciapolacco.com/author/work.html

Voice Over: When making a book, the first step is writing the story. Once the story is written, Patricia makes a dummy which is a blueprint of all the illustrations that will be in the picture book. The completed dummy is sent to Patricias art director, who decides any changes that need to be made. After the art director makes all their changes, Patricia starts on the actual illustrations.

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Timeline of a Book

A year and a half from the first idea to the end product.

To write a book takes one to two months.

http://www.patriciapolacco.com/author/work.html

Voice Over: A story is written, edited, and rewritten until the editor gives a final approval. It takes one to two months to write the story. Then three to five months to finish all the illustrations in the book. Once the final copy is completed it then takes one month to print, bind, and ship to the publishers warehouse where they stay about six months until they are sold in bookstores. It takes about a year and a half from her the first idea of the book to the first book being sold.

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For more information about the author, Thank you, Mr. Falker, and The Junkyard Wonders visit: http://www.patriciapolacco.com/index.html

For more information about Parents Choice Award visit: http://www.parents-choice.org/award.cfm?thePage=books&p_code=p_boo

For more information about Jo Osborne Award visit: http://people.ehe.osu.edu/lcya/jo-osborne-award/

Voice Over: For more information about the author, Thank you, Mr. Falker, The Junkyard Wonders, Parents Choice Award, or Jo Osborne Award you can visit the links on the screen. 12