Patricia Reilly Giff (April 26, 1935 – June 22, 2021) was an American author and teacher born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, United States. She was educated at
Marymount Manhattan College
Marymount Manhattan College is a private college on the Upper East Side of New York City. As of 2020, enrollment consists of 1,571 undergraduates with women making up 80.1% and men 19.9% of student enrollment. The college was founded in 1936.
Hi ...
, where she was awarded a B.A. degree, and
St. John's University, where she earned an M.A. and
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of Ne ...
, where she was awarded a Professional Diploma in Reading and a Doctorate of Humane Letters. After spending some twenty years as a full-time teacher, she began writing, specializing in children's literature. Giff resided in
Trumbull, Connecticut
Trumbull is a town located in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders on the cities of Bridgeport and Shelton and the towns of Stratford, Fairfield, Easton and Monroe. The population was 36,827 during the 2020 census. Trumbul ...
, along with her husband Jim and their three children. Giff's writing workshops have influenced other children's authors such as
Tony Abbott
Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia.
Abbott was born in Londo ...
and
Elise Broach. She was a
Newbery Honor
Newbery is a surname.
People
*Chantelle Newbery (born 1977), Australian Olympic diver
*David Newbery (born 1943), British economist
*Eduardo Newbery (1878–1908), Argentine odontologist and aerostat pilot
*Francis Newbery (disambiguation), seve ...
,
ALA Best Book For Young Adults
The American Library Association's Best Fiction for Young Adults, previously known as Best Books for Young Adults (1966–2010), is a recommendation list of books presented yearly by the YALSA division (Young Adult Library Services Association
Th ...
, and
Christopher Award
The Christopher Award (established 1949) is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, films and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit". It is given by The Christophers, a Christian organization ...
laureate.
She died on June 22, 2021.
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. The stories revolve around second-grade teacher Ms. Rooney and the students in her class, in particular perpetual troublemaker Richard Best (nicknamed "Beast"), who is good at art but terrible at reading and Emily Arrow, who is good at
math
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
but also terrible at reading. Some novels in the series also feature Emily's younger sister Stacy as the central character.
Books in the series include:
* ''The Beast in Ms. Rooney's Room'' (1984) – Richard "Beast" Best must repeat his second-grade year, and between the teasing from his former classmates and having to take classes with "babies," his new school year is off to a miserable start.
* ''Fish Face'' (1984) – Emily is excited to make friends with Dawn, the new girl from Florida, until a good-luck charm of Emily's is stolen and Emily discovers that Dawn is the thief. Made into a musical by ArtsPower.
*'' The Candy Corn Contest'' (November 1984) – Mrs. Rooney offers a jar of candy corn as a prize for whoever correctly guesses the number of candies in the jar.
* ''The Valentine Star'' (1985) – Emily reports her classmate Sherri for misbehaving in class, and Sherri vows revenge.
* ''Lazy Lions, Lucky Lambs'' (1985) – Richard has trouble with a writing assignment, since writing is his worst subject.
* ''Snaggle Doodles'' (1985) – Ms. Rooney assigns her students to groups to come up with inventions, and Emily clashes with Linda, the bossy leader of her group.
* ''Purple Climbing Days'' (1985) – Richard struggles with rope-climbing in physical education class.
* ''Say "Cheese"'' (1985) – Summer vacation is about to begin, but Emily is lonely and depressed because she doesn't have a best friend.
* ''Sunny Side Up'' (1986) – Beast and his friends Emily and Matthew attend summer school.
* ''Pickle Puss'' (1986) – Emily and her friend/rival Dawn compete in a book-reading contest to determine who will get to keep Pickle Puss, the stray cat they found.
* ''In the Dinosaur's Paw'' (1987) – Richard is convinced that the ruler he found in his desk has magical powers, and is mortified when it disappears
* ''December Secrets'' (1987) – Emily is assigned the irritating class "crybaby," Jiliannel Simon, as a "secret pal" for the month of December.
* ''Watch Out! Man-Eating Snake!'' (1988) – On the first day of school, Stacy tries to make friends with her classmate Jiwon, with disastrous results.
* ''All About Stacy'' (1988) – Stacy tries to think of something special to go in her "About Me Box" project.
* ''Fancy Feet'' (1988) – When Jiwon's pair of gold shoes disappears, the whole class accuses Stacy of stealing the shoes.
* ''B-E-S-T Friends'' (1988) – Annie, the "weird" new girl in class, constantly irritates Stacy, but then Stacy is assigned to be her class partner.
* ''Spectacular Stone Soup'' (1988) – Stacy begins a campaign to be more helpful, beginning with her class's Stone Soup project.
* ''Garbage Juice for Breakfast'' (1989) – Dawn participates in a treasure hunt at summer camp.
* ''The Case of the Cool Itch Kid'' (1989) – When some of Dawn's prized possessions turn up missing at summer camp, she suspects the students from a rival school of being thieves.
* ''The Beast and the Halloween Horror'' (1990) – Beast finds himself in trouble after he fudges a letter-writing assignment.
* ''Emily Arrow Promises to Do Better This Year'' (1990) – Emily makes a New Year's resolution she finds difficult to keep.
* ''Monster Rabbit Runs Amuck!'' (1991) – Beast and his friend Matthew accidentally ruin a prop for the school spring assembly.
* ''Look Out, Washington D.C.!'' (1995) – Ms. Rooney takes her class on a trip to the United States'
capital city
A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, Department (country subdivision), department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city ...
.
* ''Next Stop, New York City!'' (1997) – Ms. Rooney takes her class on a trip to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
''Wild Girl''
Lidie leaves
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and she dreams of going to
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
, New York. But she discovers that a new world is a big challenge.
''Lily's Crossing''
Awards:
Newbery Honor
Newbery is a surname.
People
*Chantelle Newbery (born 1977), Australian Olympic diver
*David Newbery (born 1943), British economist
*Eduardo Newbery (1878–1908), Argentine odontologist and aerostat pilot
*Francis Newbery (disambiguation), seve ...
Book 1998
''Nory Ryan's Song''
Awards:
ALA Best Book For Young Adults
The American Library Association's Best Fiction for Young Adults, previously known as Best Books for Young Adults (1966–2010), is a recommendation list of books presented yearly by the YALSA division (Young Adult Library Services Association
Th ...
Book 2003
''Pictures of Hollis Woods''
Awards:
Newbery Honor
Newbery is a surname.
People
*Chantelle Newbery (born 1977), Australian Olympic diver
*David Newbery (born 1943), British economist
*Eduardo Newbery (1878–1908), Argentine odontologist and aerostat pilot
*Francis Newbery (disambiguation), seve ...
Book 2003.
Hollis is an abandoned orphan who is searching for a home.
''Eleven''
Sam is almost 11 when he discovers a locked box in the attic above his grandfather Mack's room, and a piece of paper that says he was kidnapped. There are many other words, but Sam has always had trouble reading. He's desperate to find out who he is, and if his beloved Mack is really his grandfather.
''Genevieve's War''
Awards:
Christopher Award
The Christopher Award (established 1949) is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, films and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit". It is given by The Christophers, a Christian organization ...
2018.
References
External links
Giffat publisher Random House, with autobiographical greeting
* ''
Water Street'' at
Wikiquote
Wikiquote is part of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation using MediaWiki software. Based on an idea by Daniel Alston and implemented by Brion Vibber, the project's objective is to produce collaboratively a vast refer ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giff, Patricia Reilly
1935 births
2021 deaths
Writers from Brooklyn
American children's writers
Newbery Honor winners
Hofstra University alumni
20th-century American novelists
21st-century American novelists
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American women writers
American women children's writers
American women novelists
People from Trumbull, Connecticut
Novelists from New York (state)