Photo/Fair Haven School District
A wish came true for students in the Fair Haven School District when children’s author Patricia Polacco paid a visit recently.
Students in fourth, fifth, and sixth grades at Knollwood School spent quality time with the author during presentations on April 3. Polacco inspired them with her personal stories about kindness, inclusion, and discovering your own unique gifts. She had a special message for students who struggle with learning issues.
“You are off-the-charts brilliant, trust me,” she said. “Always remember this; we don’t all open up our gifts at the exact same time. You are amazing, all of you, and I want you to promise me you will always lead with your heart – this old lady up here is waiting on you.”
During her presentations, Polacco introduced the Knollwood students to one of her prized possessions — a fist-sized piece of a tiny meteor that landed in the front yard of her grandparents’ farm in Michigan many years ago.
Polacco’s first children’s book, Meteor, was inspired by her mother’s experience of seeing the townspeople making a wish on the newly fallen meteor. It’s an annual tradition to this day. Polacco invited the Knollwood students to make an immaterial thoughtful, meaningful wish on her meteor rock.
She also showed them what she has dubbed her Keeping Quilt fashioned from items belonging to her ancestors. The Keeping Quilt, she said, is the inspiration behind one of her most beloved books.
Polacco’s visit to Viola L. Sickles School on April 4 included lunch with two students chosen by lottery from each third grade class along with their teachers. And since there were so many avid fans in the building, Polacco also spent part of her lunch period with star-struck Sickles staff members, too.
Later that day, Polacco signed her books for students and teachers and made presentations to Sickles students in kindergarten through third grades. As she had at Knollwood School, she shared her wishing rock and Keeping Quilt.
The Sickles School third graders presented a welcome gift for Polacco by creating digital Google slides expressing their admiration and appreciation. In return, Polacco created a piece of original artwork during her visit. A copy of the signed artwork will be made available to all Sickles students.
Polacco is the author and illustrator of over 115 books including Keeping Quilt, Babushka’s Doll, The Dream Keeper, My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother, Chicken Sunday, Thank You Mr. Falker, and Welcome Comfort.
Born into a storytelling family of Russian Jewish immigrants on her mother’s side and Irish immigrants from the County of Limerick on her father’s side, Polacco writes four books a year and never seems to be short on inspiration.
For example, Thank You Mr. Falker is based on her experience as a student with learning disabilities such as dyslexia and failure of sensory integration.
“I had artistic talent at an early age, but I found myself unable to read or write,” Polacco told the Sickles students during her lunch with them. “As a young student I could not articulate what was wrong, but then my teacher Mr. Falker noticed that I was struggling and hired a reading specialist to help me. I was fourteen years old and had been bullied for years when Mr. Falker intervened and I learned to write, and that’s when everything changed for me. I was finally able to trust my teachers and accomplish what I have in my life. I owe everything to him.”
Polacco noted that her learning disabilities still make it impossible for her to sit still. “I have rocking chairs in every room of my home because that is where I do my best thinking,” she explained. “If I were queen, every classroom would have rocking chairs!”
As for her writing process, Polacco bypasses the laptop in favor of a typewriter and has this advice for aspiring young authors.
“Don’t worry about grammar at the beginning, just pour it out,” she said. “You can always edit it later.”
Knollwood School Principal Amy Romano and Sickles School Principal Cheryl Cuddiihy were thrilled by Polacco’s visit.
Polacco is a New York Times bestselling author and the winner of numerous awards including the 1994 President’s Commendation Medal for Chicken Sunday and Pink and Say and the 1999 Association of Dyslexic and Learning Disabled Readers Best Book Award for Thank You Mr. Falker.
She has been honored for her body of work by The Lab School in Washington D.C. (with a 2012 award presented by the President of the United States) as well as by the Educators for Social Responsibility in Children’s Literature (1992). In 2013, the Library of Congress and the President of the United States recognized Pink and Say as one of the best books written for children in the past 100 years.
Polacco has established a series of lectures designed to encourage students to reach out to one another and to include those who are perceived to be “different.” She has also designed an anti-bullying campaign that earned her national recognition. Many of her books are featured in the curriculum for the It’s OK to be Different program teaching respect for individual differences and encouraging inclusion.
It’s OK to be Different is currently being used in Fair Haven and many other districts.
— Edited press release from the Fair Haven School District
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