Patricia Reilly Giff

Patricia Reilly Giff was born on April 26, 1935 in Brooklyn, New York. She is an author and teacher. She was educated at Marymount College, where she was awarded a B.A. degree, and St. John's University, where she earned an M.A. and Hofstra University, where she was awarded a Professional Diploma in Reading and a Doctorate of Humane Letters.[1] After spending some twenty years as a full time teacher, she began writing, specializing in children's literature. Giff now resides in Weston, Connecticut, along with her husband James and their three children. Giff's writing workshops have influenced other children's authors such as Tony Abbott and Elise Broach.[2]

Contents

Writing

Polk Street School Series

Giff's series of children's books about the kids from Polk Street School has proven popular and won critical acclaim (1). The stories revolve around second-grade teacher Ms. Rooney and the students in her class, in particular perpetual troublemaker Richard Best (nicknamed "Beast") and Emily Arrow, who is good in math but terrible in reading. Some novels in the series also feature Emily's younger sister Stacy as the central character.

Books in the series include:

Lily's Crossing

Awards: (Newbery Honor 1998)

Plot: Elizabeth Mollahan—the main character of Lily's Crossing—lost her mom when she was young, so her father and a grandmother are her only family. Every summer the three of them flee New York City for a beach house in New York's Rockaways. She looks forward to this trip every year, and hopes to spend a fun summer with the small family she loves and cherishes. This year though, Lily's father announces that he's enlisted in the Army and days later, he is gone for a while. Just days after her father's departure, Lily's friend announces that her family is moving away because of the war. Alone with her grandmother, Lily sees a long, treacherous summer ahead. Soon after, Albert appears. A refugee from Hungary, his family thrown to the winds, he lost his whole family when nazi's invaded his house, leaving him and his younger sister orphans. Young Albert bears a grief and sadness of his own because his sister, Ruth, is in France and his grandmother is in Hungary. While learning to deal with the situation of having her best friend gone, she is befriends Albert, and makes her summer a little more worthwhile.

Pictures of Hollis Woods

Main article: Pictures of Hollis Woods

Awards: (Newbery Honor 2003)

References

  1. ^ http://www.randomhouse.com/features/patriciareillygiff/patriciagiff.htm Random House Author biography
  2. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/03artsct.html
  3. ^ http://www.artspower.org/shows/fish-face/

External links