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]

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:

• 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 Dawna, the new girl from Florida, until a good-luck charm of Emily's is stolen and Emily discovers that Dawn is the culprit. Made into a musical by ArtsPower.^[3]
• 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.
• 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.
• Sunny Side Up (1986) - Beast and his friends Emily and Matthew attend summer school.
• The Candy Corn Contest (1987) - Mrs. Rooney offers a jar of candy corn as a prize for whoever correctly guesses the number of candies in the jar.
• 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.
• Next Stop, New York City! (1997) - Ms. Rooney takes her class on a trip to New York City.

Lily's Crossing

Awards: (Newbery Honor 1998)

Plot: Elizabeth Mollahan—the main character of Lily's Crossing—lost her mom when she was little, 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

• http://www.randomhouse.com/features/patriciareillygiff/ Random House Author page

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Name	Giff, Patricia Reilly
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Date of birth	1935
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