The Lemonade Club

Patricia Polacco 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. Living on that little farm with them was the most magical time of her life, and her Babushka and other grandparents were some of the most inspirational people in her life.

Her parents 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. These relationships with her grandparents have most definitely influenced her life and her work. In almost every book that she writes there is a very young person who is interacting with an elderly person. 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. Her genuine curiosity for the wonder of living a very long life prepared her to accept the declining years of her own parents.

In 1949, she left the farm to move, first to Coral Gables, Florida, for almost 3 years, then to Oakland, California. She remained there for most of her young life into her adulthood. She lived on Ocean View Drive in the Rockridge District. She loved that all of her neighbors came in as many colors, ideas, and religions as there are people on the planet. It is on Ocean View that she met her best friend, Stewart Grinnell Washington, and his family.

As a student in elementary school she wasn’t a very good student and did not learn how to read until she was almost 14 years old. It was learned that she has a learning disability called dyslexia. She felt trapped in a body that wouldn’t do what everybody else could do. That was when one of her teachers found what was wrong with her and got her the help she needed to succeed in school.

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. 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, and her extended family were from the bayous of Louisiana. At the age of 41 she started putting stories that she told down on paper and did drawings to help illustrate them.

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.

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.

The mother of a grown son and a daughter, Patricia Polacco currently resides in Michigan, where she has a glorious old farm that was built during the time of Lincoln.

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