Patricia PolaccoResenhas

Independent Reading Level: Grades 1-4

Lyla makes a friend on her first day of school, but when she joins the cheerleading team and a group of popular girls invites her to join them, her friend is left behind. she recognizes that those girls are bullies and decides to stop hanging out with them. But those girls do not take it so well.

This would be a good book for intermediate readers
This book is about an array of different students with a mix of different disabilities and home experiences
This would be a good read aloud book to spark up conversation, but should be read at older grade levels as there are heavy topics within the story.

"The Graves Family" introduces readers to a unique and eccentric family who loves everything spooky and supernatural. The Graves family lives in a peculiar house filled with bats, spiders, and even a pet alligator. They celebrate Halloween every day, delighting in frights and scares. The book's themes of embracing differences and finding common ground can spark discussions about diversity, inclusion, and the importance of respecting others' unique identities and interests. This book would be best suited for 2nd-4th graders to start learning about inclusivity.

contains a mention of a soothsayer.

Also two children teach their parents.

They warn of the closings of libraries.

So on the one hand-

fortune telling is forbidden by the Bible. I suppose you could look at it as a symbol of how they have strayed.

This book is almost 30 years old and how much farther have we fallen?

A charming illustration and signature from the author is here also.

Independent Reading Level: 3rd-5th grade
Awards: N/A

This book is a memoir about a girls experience in a special education class. The main character struggles as she is bullied in the beginning of the book, but find true friendship with her peers in the special education class. This book was incredibly touching and it would be very valuable in the classroom to teach kindness and friendship to students!

Reading this as a mother of young children and a granddaughter who recently lost her own grandmother, I was emotional thinking of the ways we carry the ones we love. What a beautiful sentiment to pass down a quilt that holds such immensely meaningful memories.

I'll admit, Polacco really can do no wrong in my book. I love the twist at the end - I was so thrown off the first time I read this. It's a whimsical story, paired with Polacco's classic art style. Perfection.

This a charming book about sibling rivalry and reconciliation. Visit Storyline Online to hear it read by Melissa Gilbert!
https://storylineonline.net/books/my-rotten-redheaded-older-brother/

This was a great book to use for a unit on Springtime/Easter traditions. Third and Fourth graders all enjoyed the book.

Elementary and early middle school, children. Young girl with struggles in schools gets sent to be in the classroom that is only for kids who struggle in school, she gets made fun of for this but ends up making the bestest friends ever in this class and learning so much about friendship and kindness.
Great book for inclusion.

La historia trata de Trisha, una niña que siempre ha amado los libros pero cuando empieza la escuela, se da cuenta de que es muy difícil para ella aprender a leer, debido a ello sus compañeros del salón se burlan de ella y le faltan el respeto llamándola tonta, pero a pesar de todo es una niña muy talentosa. Finalmente, su maestro de quinto grado es quien reconoce la dificultad problema y la ayuda a salir de ello.

I think this book would be good for any age category because of the message. The main girl was put into a class with other students who had learning disabilities or other disabilities and they were nicknamed by students outside of the class as the junkyard.

This book is about a class that is full of students with learning disabilities and follows their journey of learning about the world and each other, as they build a model airplane. I think this would be a good book to foster inclusion in your classroom and would work the best in grade school settings.

Fiona's family immigrates to the United States from Ireland in hopes of a better economic future. When they arrive, they're working harder and living worse than they ever have before. When the great Chicago fire of 1871 arrives while her parents are out working, Fiona must escape with her sister. She uses her parent's courtship tale of a lace trail to reunite her family.

This is a very heartwarming, true story of a puppy found by a coast guard serviceman who tried to keep the news away from the Commander. Taught to jump high to retrieve objects, Vera, named after the serviceman's favorite Aunt, is loved by all. When an emergency call was received requiring the coast guard unit to get a lifeline to the capsized boat, it was Vera who saved the lives of those on the boat.

By using the feats she was taught, she recused those in need. This particular day, the Commander watched as Vera saved lives. He too became smitten with Vera, and soon she had a bed beside his desk. When a ferry capsized and got caught in a rip tide in the area off Alcatraz, CA, it was Vera who saved those who were trapped below deck. Fearlessly, she dove time and time again to save the lives of many. As a result, she was compromised. The Commander made sure she had the best veterinary care possible.
She received a medal for valor and was made an honorary member of the coast guard.

Each year Vera had two litters of puppies. Everyone wanted one of Vera's puppies. She came into the life of the author who was volunteering at the Oakland, CA SPCA when it was time to help Vera transition to a better life. After treating Vera all those years, she became special to the vet staff as well. After putting her to sleep, a complete military honor guard entered. Vera's small casket was saluted and had a special burial site under her favorite tree.

Patricia Polacco has a unique way of writing about relationships, and many of her books bring tears. This one was no exception.
Years later, when the author wanted to find Vera's burial site, she learned that that particular area was not in the area they searched. She was able to find Vera's burial site and she brought her young grandson to Vera's location.

This is a very special book especially to be read and understood by those of us who had the experience of a wonderful relationship with a beloved animal.

Highly Recommended.

This book would be good for 2-4 grade because of the length of the book and the depth of the topics.
This book is about a young girl is placed in a class for students with special needs and she learns to embrace her uniqueness and learns to believe in herself.
I think this could be valuable as a read-aloud for students to learn about including special needs students as well as learning to embrace their own uniqueness.

This is a touching memoir of a girl who is put in a special education classroom. She faces bullying and isolation but finds community in her classroom. Sensitive topics like bullying, name calling(R-word), and death of a classmate. I would not use as the content is outdated(3-5th).

I am drawn to the works of this artist. Each book tells a story from her young life. Patricia Polacco weaves very poignant stories of lessons learned from her childhood. While the illustrations seem large and unartistic, still, I am impressed that each book is rendered with facial expressions that follow the story. Each character is drawn with the emotion that accompanies the feeling.

This is yet another book in which the author focuses on the teachers who made a difference in her life. In this book, Miss Keller is one of those teachers we all may have had in school. This is a teacher who pushes her students to write to the best of what she expects, a story with feeling, meaning and something that grabs the reader to continue finish the work.

This is a teacher who may scare most students because she is very blunt about her expectations, and calls out the student in class to express what is lacking. In turn, this helps others understand what is needed to qualify for an A. And, rumor has it that Miss "Killer Keller" never gives an A to any student.

No matter how hard she tries, Trica cannot write to Ms Keller's standards. Frustrated, Trica is disappointed and takes the admonishments hard. Then, when her beloved neighborhood man, known as "Pop," dies, Trica has the courage and the depth of meaning to write what is needed for an A.

Writing from experience of grief, love and the soul retching feeling of losing a wonderful friend who has impacted on her life, Trica is now able to write from her pain and express the love felt for a man who impacted and helped so many. Cookies were baked, stories were told, and a seat on the steps when a listening ear is needed. Pop listened to Trica's depiction of this teacher as the meanest. Later, he told the story of how Miss Keller mentored his son, and later in life paid his college tuition.

When Miss Keller tells her to bring a thesaurus to school and to look up the overused word "love." Pop was helpful in providing a thesaurus to Trica. Later, when the assignment to interview an older person was given to the class, Pop was the subject of her asssignment. Telling her the story of his son and how hard he worked for Miss Keller and how assignments were picked apart and made to work over and over until he got it right.

Her ability and caring to send Pop's son to college, changed his life. He wrote for many of the biggest newspapers, and received a Pulitzer Prize for writing. This is the story of Miss Keller and her devotion to her class members.

Tragically, Pop died. Through her grief, Trica now wrote with depth of feeling, and she received an A for her personal narrative.½

A group of outsiders who are outcasts because of disabilities. The teacher inspires the class to band together. A child ends up passing away and they name the plane after them.
I would use this in fourth and fifth grade. Also to teach teachers. Love it.

This book followed a group of "misfit" students with different abilities and strengths. It showed how students band together and become lifelong friends, and goes through deep themes of bullying, loss of a student, and believing in yourself even when other people don't. It is a true story and will bring up some deep emotions, both good and sad.
I would use this book in 3rd grade and up. It is important to know your students and make sure that you are not presenting these things to students who are going through losses of their own. But it's also important to talk about these important topics.

Main character stays with her father and grandmother for a year instead of her mother to try and start fresh. Since in her last school she was in special classes. But she is put in a different class than others but it ended up being good for her. Her teacher supported and worked with the class to uplift them. They end up building a plane that they fly during a science fair.

4th and up?

This book is great for students of all ages, but I would especially recommend it for older students in special education. It is about a girl from Michigan who is placed into a special class where the students are known as "junkyard wonders." Although it seems like a bad thing, their teacher uses that name to encourage the students to believe in themselves so that they can express their unique talents. The girl makes friends with other students in her class, and she realizes that she is not alone. I would use this book in my classroom as a read-aloud to connect my students with the reality that many special education students worldwide face.

This is a great story for the ages primary or intermediate. This story talks about the challenges of dyslexia and feeling different. I feel that you can get a lot from this book whether that's to encourage those with dyslexia/other disabilities or to encourage those to be kind to others who may be different or struggle in school. This book goes through the struggle of having dyslexia and how she is living with her father instead of with her mother. She wanted to go to a new school but got put in a different class called the junkyard. The teacher in this book was so kind and wanted everyone to know that they are all a genius. This was so cool. The main character she was connecting with others and made good friendships even whent hey woud get picked on.