Patricia Polacco

Patricia Polacco (born Patricia Barber on July 11, 1944, in Lansing, Michigan) is an acclaimed American author and illustrator of over 115 children's books, often drawing from her Russian, Ukrainian, Jewish, and Irish family heritage and her own childhood struggles with dyslexia. After earning degrees in fine art and a Ph.D. in art history in Australia, where she married Enzo Polacco in 1979, she began publishing at age 41 with works like Thunder Cake and The Keeping Quilt. Her stories celebrate family storytelling, intergenerational bonds, and cultural diversity, including the semi-autobiographical Thank You, Mr. Falker about overcoming reading difficulties.