Patricia Polacco Quotations

My family always encouraged my drawing ability. Kids in school who teased me about my reading would get out of their seats and stand behind my desk as I worked and go, 'Wow, you can really draw.' Later, I earned a degree in Fine Art and got a Ph.D. in Art History.

I could walk into anyone's home one time and draw a three-dimensional architectural plan of the inside of their home from memory, but I could not add up a column of numbers.

When you come from a family of storytellers, you're doomed. You just have to tell stories.

Now, I've got to tell you: 'In Our Mothers House,' I don't think is for a kindergartner.

My stories deal with multicultural situations as well as multigenerational settings.

My stories are fundamentally about the love of family.

Maybe one of you can enlighten me, but I just don't understand why it is so hard to be kind to one another?

I wasn't a very good student in elementary school and had a hard time with reading and writing.

I lived the first five years of my life on a farm in Union City, Michigan, with my mom and grandparents. It was the most magical time of my life.

I have been in more classrooms than any legislator will ever walk into in their lives, and I see wonderful, caring, dedicated teaching out there.