Patricia Reilly Giff facts for kids

Patricia Reilly Giff is an American author and former teacher. She was born on April 26, 1935, in Brooklyn, New York. She went to college at Marymount Manhattan College and St. John's University. She also studied at Hofstra University.

Before becoming a writer, Mrs. Giff taught full-time for about 20 years. She then started writing books, mostly for children. Today, she lives in Trumbull, Connecticut, with her husband Jim and their three children.

Mrs. Giff's writing workshops have inspired many other children's authors, like Tony Abbott and Elise Broach. She has won several important awards for her books. These include the Newbery Honor, the ALA Best Book For Young Adults, and the Christopher Award.

Books by Patricia Reilly Giff

The Polk Street School Series

Patricia Reilly Giff is well-known for her popular series of children's books about the kids at Polk Street School. These stories are about a second-grade teacher named Ms. Rooney and her students. Two main characters are Richard Best, nicknamed "Beast," who is good at art but struggles with reading, and Emily Arrow, who is good at math but also finds reading hard. Sometimes, Emily's younger sister Stacy is also a main character in the books.

Here are some books from the series:

• The Beast in Ms. Rooney's Room (1984) – Richard "Beast" Best has to repeat second grade. He feels sad because his old classmates tease him, and he has to be with younger kids.
• Fish Face (1984) – Emily is happy to make friends with Dawna, a new girl. But then Emily's good-luck charm is stolen, and she finds out Dawna took it. This book was even made into a musical!
• The Valentine Star (1985) – Emily tells on her classmate Sherri for misbehaving. Sherri then promises to get back at Emily.
• Lazy Lions, Lucky Lambs (1985) – Richard has trouble with a writing assignment. Writing is his hardest subject.
• Snaggle Doodles (1985) – Ms. Rooney puts her students into groups to invent things. Emily argues with Linda, who is very bossy in her group.
• Purple Climbing Days (1985) – Richard finds it hard to climb the rope in gym class.
• Say "Cheese" (1985) – Summer vacation is starting, but Emily feels lonely because she doesn't have a best friend.
• Sunny Side Up (1986) – Beast and his friends Emily and Matthew go to summer school.
• Pickle Puss (1986) – Emily and her friend Dawn compete in a book-reading contest. The winner gets to keep Pickle Puss, a stray cat they found.
• The Candy Corn Contest (1987) – Mrs. Rooney offers a jar of candy corn as a prize. The student who guesses the number of candies correctly wins.
• In the Dinosaur's Paw (1987) – Richard believes a ruler he found has magic powers. He is very upset when it disappears.
• December Secrets (1987) – Emily has to be a "secret pal" for Jiliannel Simon, who cries a lot.
• Watch Out! Man-Eating Snake! (1988) – On the first day of school, Stacy tries to make friends with Jiwon, but things go wrong.
• All About Stacy (1988) – Stacy tries to find something special for her "About Me Box" project.
• Fancy Feet (1988) – Jiwon's gold shoes disappear. Everyone in the class thinks Stacy stole them.
• B-E-S-T Friends (1988) – Annie, the "weird" new girl, often bothers Stacy. Then Stacy is assigned to be her class partner.
• Spectacular Stone Soup (1988) – Stacy decides to be more helpful. She starts with her class's Stone Soup project.
• Garbage Juice for Breakfast (1989) – Dawn takes part in a treasure hunt at summer camp.
• The Case of the Cool Itch Kid (1989) – Some of Dawn's favorite things go missing at summer camp. She thinks students from another school are the thieves.
• The Beast and the Halloween Horror (1990) – Beast gets into trouble after he cheats on a letter-writing assignment.
• Emily Arrow Promises to Do Better This Year (1990) – Emily makes a New Year's resolution that is hard to keep.
• Monster Rabbit Runs Amuck! (1991) – Beast and his friend Matthew accidentally ruin a prop for the school's spring assembly.
• Look Out, Washington D.C.! (1995) – Ms. Rooney takes her class on a trip to the United States' capital city.
• Next Stop, New York City! (1997) – Ms. Rooney takes her class on a trip to New York City.

Wild Girl

• Wild Girl (2009) – Lidie leaves Brazil dreaming of a new life in Queens, New York. But she soon finds that a new world brings many challenges.

Lily's Crossing

Awards: Newbery Honor Book 1998

Nory Ryan's Song

Awards: ALA Best Book For Young Adults Book 2003

Pictures of Hollis Woods

Awards: Newbery Honor Book 2003. Hollis is an orphan who is looking for a forever home.

Eleven

• Eleven (2009) – Sam is almost 11 years old when he finds a locked box in the attic above his grandfather Mack's room. Inside is a paper saying he was kidnapped. There are many other words, but Sam has always had trouble reading. He really wants to find out who he is and if Mack is truly his grandfather.

Genevieve's War

• Genevieve's War

Awards: Christopher Award 2018.

• Water Street at Wikiquote