Patricia Polacco

“I don't believe being gay is something you can change, no more than you can change the color of your hair or your eyes. Well, I dye my hair, so maybe that's not the best example. But your eyes!”

“I came from a family of incredible storytellers, but I didn't start writing children's books until I was 41 years old.”

“I believe with all my heart that the American classroom teachers are one of our greatest and most heroic treasures.”

“I didn't learn to read until I was almost 14 years old. Reading out loud for me was a nightmare because I would mispronounce words or reconstruct things that weren't even there. That's when one of my teachers discovered I had a learning disability called dyslexia. Once I got help, I read very well!”

“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.”

“When I was growing up, we never had much money. My parents were divorced young, but I was always surrounded by loving individuals. They couldn't give us riches, but they gave us their stories, their hearts, and their time.”

“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.”

“You were born with the power to change others. You change people by the way you treat them. That is what changes the human heart.”

“Show me an Irishman who can't tell a story - I don't think they exist.”

“Until we learn to honor and respect what other people believe, I think we are doomed.”

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

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

“I don't care what color the parents are. I don't care if it's a giraffe and a fish living together. If they're raising children who believe they're honored and loved, that's all that's important.”

“I don't know if my work is a concerted effort to make kids sad!”

“My parents were divorced when I was three, and both my father and mother moved back into the homes of their parents. I spent the school year with my mother, and the summers with my dad.”

“All of us have a 'voice' inside where all inspired thoughts come from. When I talk to children and aspiring writers, I always ask them to turn off the TV and listen to that voice inside them.”

“My books cover many aspects of daily life through which your children will recognize their own relationships in their families and communities.”

“My appearances are almost theatrical performances. I bring items for the children to see, such as photographs and actual piece of meteorite, a family quilt, sometimes spectacles, sometimes clothing, so that they can understand what I write about is family stories based in fact.”

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

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