Something About Hensley's

Born Patricia Ann Barber in Lansing, Michigan, to parents of Russian and Ukrainian descent on one side and Irish on the other, Patricia Polacco grew up in both California and Michigan. Her school year was spent in Oakland, California, and summers in her beloved Michigan. She describes her family members as marvelous storytellers. “My fondest memories are of sitting around a stove or open fire, eating apples and popping corn while listening to the old ones tell glorious stories about their homeland and the past. We are tenacious traditionalists and sentimentalists…. With each retelling our stories gain a little more Umph!”

Studying in the United States and Australia, Patricia Polacco has earned an M.F.A. and a Ph. D. in art history, specializing in Russian and Greek painting, and iconographic history. She is a museum consultant on the restoration of icons. As a participant in many citizen exchange programs for writers and illustrators, Patricia Polacco has traveled extensively in Russia as well as other former Soviet republics. She continues to support programs that encourage Russo-American friendships and understanding. She is also deeply involved in inner-city projects here in the U.S. that promote the peaceful resolution of conflict and encourage art and literacy programs.

The mother of a grown son and a daughter, Patricia Polacco currently resides in Michigan, where she has a glorious old farm. She was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1944. Soon after her birth she lived in Williamston, Michigan and then moved onto her grandparents farm in Union City, Michigan. She lived on the farm with her mom and Grandparents until 1949. That is when her Babushka (her grandmother) died and they prepared to move away from Michigan. She must say that living on that little farm with them was the most magical time of her life…and that her Babushka and other grandparents were some of the most inspirational people in her life.

Her parents were divorced when she was 3, and both her father and mother moved back into the homes of their parents. She spent the school year with her mother, and the summers with her dad. In both households she was the apple of her grandparents’ eyes! She would say that these relationships with her grandparents have most definitely influenced her life and her work. You probably have noticed that in almost every book that she writes there is a very young person who is interacting with an elderly person. Personally, she feels that this is the most valuable experience of her life….having the wonder of knowing both children and elderly people.

The respect that she learned as a very young person certainly carried over into her life in later years. She has always liked hearing stories from these folks. Her genuine curiosity for the wonder of living a very long life prepared her to accept the declining years of her own parents.

To get back to the farm in Union City…this place was so magical to her that she has never forgotten it! This was the place where she heard such wonderful stories told…this was the place that a real meteor fell into their front yard…that very meteorite is now their family headstone in the graveyard here in Union City.

Did she tell you that she now lives in Union City? This is after living in Oakland, California for almost 37 years. But, you see, every year she’d come back to Michigan to see her Dad and family.

In 1949 they left the farm to move, first to Coral Gables, Florida. She lived there with her Mom and her brother, Richard, for almost 3 years. Then they moved to Oakland, California. She remained there for most of her young life on into her adulthood. They lived on Ocean View Drive in the Rockridge District. What she loved the most about this neighborhood is that all of her neighbors came in as many colors, ideas and religions as there are people on the planet. How lucky she was to know so many people that were so different and yet so much alike.

It is on Ocean View that she met her best friend, Stewart Grinnell Washington. They are best friends to this day! He has a younger brother, Winston and three sisters; Jackie, Terry and Robin. When she was a student in elementary school she wasn’t a very good student. She had a terrible time with reading and math. As a matter of fact, she did not learn how to read until she was almost 14 years old. Can you imagine what it was like to see all her friends do so well in school and she wasn’t! She thought she was dumb. She didn’t like school because there was this boy that always teased her and made her feel even dumber. When she was fourteen, it was learned that she has a learning disability. It is called dyslexia. She felt trapped in a body that wouldn’t do what everybody else could do. That was when one of her heroes, her teacher, found what was wrong with her and got her the help she needed to succeed in school. Of course, now that she is an adult, she realizes that being learning disabled does not mean DUMB AT ALL! As a matter of fact, she has learned that being learning disabled only means that she cannot learn the way most of you do. As a matter of fact, most learning disabled children are actually GENIUSES! Once she learned how to read and caught up with the rest of her fellow students, she did very well.

She went on to University, majored in Fine Art, then went on to do a graduate degree and even ended up with a Ph.D. in Art History. For a time she restored ancient pieces of art for museums. She eventually became the mother of two children, Steven and Traci, and devoted much of her days to their education and upbringing.

She did not start writing children’s books until she was 41 years old. Mind you the “art” has always been there for her most of her life. Apparently one of the symptoms of her disability in academics is the ability of draw very, very well. So drawing, painting and sculpture has always been a part of her life even before she started illustrating her books. The books were quite a surprise, really. Mind you, she came from a family of incredible storytellers. Her mother’s people were from the Ukraine and Russia…her father’s people were from Ireland. Her extended family,(Stewart’s family) were from the bayous of Louisiana…also great story tellers. When you are raised on HEARING stories…..NOT SEEING THEM, you become very good at telling stories yourself. So at the age of 41 she started putting stories that she told down on paper and did drawings to help illustrate them…she guess the rest is history.

She has enjoyed a wonderful career of writing books for children. Who could have guessed that little girl that was having such a tough time in school would end up an illustrator and author. Children and adults alike ask her where she gets her ideas…she gets them from the same place that you do….HER IMAGINATION… She would guess the reason her imagination is so fertile is because she came from storytelling and, THEY DID NOT OWN A T.V.!!!!!!!!! You see, when one is a writer, actor, dancer, musician; a creator of any kind, he or she does these things because they listen to that “voice” inside of them. All of us have that “voice”. It is where all inspired thoughts come from….but when you have electronic screens in front, of you, speaking that voice for you… it DROWNS OUT THE VOICE! When she talks to children and aspiring writers, she always asks them to listen to the voice, turn off the T.V. and LISTEN… LISTEN… LISTEN.

Now that she has moved back to Union City she is intending to open her house and community and invite people to come there to take part in writing seminars, story telling festivals, literature conferences and various events that celebrate children’s literature.

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