Born:
  Brooklyn, New York,

Current Home:
Weston, Connecticut,

Patricia Reilly Giff

Biography

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Patricia Reilly Giff began her life in Brooklyn, New York surrounded by books! As a child Giff would prefer to have her nose in a book imagining the life of each character rather than playing with the other children.  Some of her favorite childhood reads included Little Women, The Secret Garden, and the Black Stallion books, the Sue Barton books, and the Nancy Drew series. So it's no surprise that she knew early on that she wanted to be a writer.

But even before her career as a popular children's book author Giff spent twenty years as a reading teacher and learned first hand what literature children love to read. So Giff's focus when she began writing was to offer new readers exciting and fun chapter books that would hold their attention.  She also hoped that they would appeal to reluctant readers and keep them turning the pages too.

Giff enjoys writing books about the special gifts of ordinary people, she explains, “All of my books are based in some way on my personal experiences, or the experiences of members of my family, or the stories kids would tell me in school.”

Giff graduated from Marymount College with a B.A. degree and went on to receive her Master's Degree from St. John's University.  She also holds a Professional Diploma in Reading and a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hofstra University.  Giff now resides in Weston, Connecticut with her husband Jim and her three cats.

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  The Teacher Store

  The Kids of the Polk Street School: Fish Face by Patricia Reilly Giff Having to repeat a grade, losing one's place at the head of the class, keeping up with schoolwork, or dealing with bullies. These are the issues that middle schoolers encounter, and the kids at the Polk Street School do their best to make their way through these challenges. Emily Arrow may be a poor reader, but she's terrific in math and is the fastest runner in class. Enter new girl, Dawn, a better reader and a faster runner. Emily tries to accept her demotion with grace, but discovers $3.95 Paperback Book | Grades K-2

  
  The Kids of the Polk Street School: Fish Face
  Grades K-2 $3.95
  
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  The Teacher Store

  The Kids of the Polk Street School: The Candy Corn Contest by Patricia Reilly Giff Having to repeat a grade, losing one's place at the head of the class, keeping up with schoolwork, or dealing with bullies. These are the issues that middle schoolers encounter, and the kids at the Polk Street School do their best to make their way through these challenges. Richard Best has to win the Candy Corn Contest by guessing the exact number of candies in the jar - he can taste them already. The only problem is that Richard has to read a page in a library book for each guess. Temp $3.95 Paperback Book | Grades K-2

  
  The Kids of the Polk Street School: The Candy Corn Contest
  Grades K-2 $3.95