It was that same year, at age 40, that Giff first tried to write a book of her own. Giff also wanted to make her students laugh. Her husband spurred her on and even converted two adjacent closets in their apartment into a small writing studio where she could work. Giff had found her writing voice, and clearly had much more to say to the students she was addressing in her books; she had published 10 books by when she stopped teaching and decided to write fulltime.
That change coincided with another new chapter, when she and her husband moved to Weston, Conn. For years she often produced multiple titles annually, creating the Kids of the Polk Street School series and two spin-off series, and a number of humorous novels. Giff has said that she drew from personal memories for this story and that it took her four years to finish. The book received a Newbery Honor citation, the first of two that Giff would win. In all, Giff produced more than books for young readers.
But in addition to her writing, Giff combined her expertise and love of books to reach people in other ways, too.
She served as educational consultant for Dell Yearling and Young Yearling Book and was an adviser and instructor to aspiring writers. A mentor to a generation of writers, she inspired everyone with her humor, positivity and friendship. She made everyone feel special. She was also able to give her characters the compassion and forgiveness they could not yet give themselves, and I think that this is why readers often found her work reassuring.
The lovely thing is that she was just as generous and compassionate in her personal relationships, which is part of what made it such a joy to work with her. In the News. She was Giff, a New York native, began writing in Her most recent book, Meet the Crew at the Zoo , was published last year.
We remember with love and gratitude our dear friend and mentor Patricia Reilly Giff. Award-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones reflects on her experiences working on the Project and discusses her plans to adapt the project into an expansive new book.
One of the most coveted designations in the book industry, the Kirkus Star marks books of exceptional merit. Be the first to read books news and see reviews, news and features in Kirkus Reviews.
Get awesome content delivered to your inbox every week. Already have an account? I wanted to write. After graduating from high school, Giff enrolled at Marymount College, where she studied the classic authors of English literature, such as Keats, Poe, Pope, and Dryden. Intimidated by such masterworks, she changed her major from English to business, "and then to history, where I listened to a marvelous man named Mullee spin tales about the past. I fell into teaching because my beloved dean, who had no idea I wanted to write, saw that it was a good place for me.
Married with three children, a master's degree in history, and a professional diploma in reading, Giff rounded the corner to age forty when it hit her: "I hadn't written a story; I hadn't even tried. Determined to pursue her childhood dream, she said, "I dragged myself out of bed in the early morning darkness to spend an hour or two at my typewriter before I had to leave for school. Slowly and painfully, I began to write.
Along with a number of Giff's books for school-age readers, Fourth Grade Celebrity has been through a number of printings, a reflection of its author's ability to connect with the timeless interests of young people.
In many of her series, Giff teams with an accomplished illustrator who uses a light, humorous touch to bring to life each of the author's likeable, realistic characters.
Several of Giff's series books have featured the popular students of her fictional Polk Street School. Rooney decides to have her students stage plays. Three play scripts, along with the student's efforts to make them come to life, are included in the volume, which serves as "a solid introduction for aspiring thespians," according to a Kirkus Reviews contributor. Bring-your-pet-to-school week becomes the focus of Pet Parade, as student Beast looks for another pet to take to Ms.
Rooney's class because his own dog, Kissie Poo, does nothing well except sleep. Serving as both a story and a tour guide of sorts, the books feature maps of their subject cities, as well as phone numbers of the most favorite tourist attractions for kids. In the "Ballet Slippers" series, Giff introduces young readers to Rosie O'Meara, an aspiring dancer whose enthusiasm for ballet sometimes gets her into trouble.
In Starring Rosie, although unhappy about finding herself cast as the evil witch rather than the star in Sleeping Beauty, Rosie rebounds, offers to find a boy to play the handsome prince, and then must make good on her promise. But finding a boy willing to wear tights on stage in front of all his friends proves to be no easy task in what School Library Journal contributor Eva Mitnick characterized as a "breezy and fun" read.
A Glass Slipper for Rosie finds the young dancer involved in another class production, although disappointment follows when she realizes her grandfather may not be in town to see the show. Bair praised A Glass Slipper for Rosie as "a well-rounded story about family and friends. In addition to seeing many of her popular stories translated into Spanish for Hispanic students, Giff has also written a series that incorporates children from Spanish-speaking cultures. In Ho, Ho, Benjamin, Feliz Navidad a young boy shares the holiday season with his homesick Ecuadorian neighbor and learns about Christmas celebrations in other countries.
Adios, Anna, another installment in Giff's "Friends and Amigos" series, finds Sarah Cole dejected after her best friend, Anna Ortiz, goes away for summer vacation. Deciding to occupy her time by trying to learn to speak Spanish, Sarah borrows Anna's house key to use one of her books and then mislays the key. Sarah appears again in Say Hola, Sarah. Here her progress in learning Spanish is being aided by Anna, although she is frustrated at how slowly she is advancing in another book that includes short lessons in the language.
In the late s, with over sixty books for young readers to her credit, Giff changed gears somewhat by penning Lily's Crossing, a coming-of-age story for older readers. In the poignant story, which takes place during the summer of as World War II rages across Europe, fifteen-year-old Lily is left behind with her grandmother as her widowed father joins the army to fight the Nazi threat overseas. The novel draws on Giff's own memories of the war years and took four years to complete.
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