Patricia Polacco quotes:

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 don't know if my work is a concerted effort to make kids sad! But life and death go hand in hand. It's our condition as human beings.

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

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.

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.

What I loved the most about Oakland was that all of my neighbors came in as many colors, ideas, and religions as there are people on the planet. How lucky I was to know so many people that were so different and yet so much alike!

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.

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

Honey is sweet, "and so is knowledge, but knowledge is like the bee that made that sweet honey, you have to chase it through the pages of a book." (taken from "Thank you, Mr. Falker" )

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

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

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

I used to say to my bubbe, 'Bubbe, is this story true?' And she'd say, 'Of course it's true! But it may not have happened.' What my bubbe was saying is profound: All stories are true. The truth is the journey you take through it - did it make you laugh, cry, seek and want justice? Then it's true.

Generally, what adults want to know is my background, why I write what I write, and very personal insights that some say are inspiring.

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.

My stories are fundamentally about the love of family.

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.

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

Genius is neither learned nor acquired. It is knowing without experience. It is risking without fear of failure. It is perception without touch. It is understanding without research. It is certainty without proof. It is ability without practice. It is invention without limitations. It is imagination without boundaries. It is creativity without constraints. It is...extraordinary intelligence!

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.

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

Be kind to one another. You may need each other when you are older.

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

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

Grampa took Mary Ellen inside away from the crowd. "Now, child, I am going to show you what my father showed me, and his father before," he said quietly. He spooned the honey onto the cover of one of her books. "Taste," he said, almost in a whisper. . . . "There is such sweetness inside of that book too!" he said thoughtfully. "Such things...adventure, knowledge and wisdom. But these things do not come easily. You have to pursue them. Just like we ran after the bees to find their tree, so you must also chase these things through the pages of a book!

Stars are holes in the sky, they are the light of Heaven coming from the other side.

You'd have to go through at least four different hugs to get from the kitchen to the front room. Those relatives!'.

All children have gifts, some open them at different times.