Patricia Reilly Giff (1935-2021) was a teacher for 20 years in the public schools of New York City and the Long Island community of Elmont who went on to author more than 100 books for young readers. Giff, who was born in Brooklyn, delighted her young audience with stories of the adventures and misadventures of the Kids of the Polk Street School. She earned a B.A. in history from Marymount Manhattan College, an M.A. from St. John’s University, and a Professional Diploma in Reading and a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hofstra University.
Giff, who once said she wanted to write from the first time she picked up a book, waited until her 40s to begin writing in a studio converted from two adjacent closets by her husband. Her early books included Fourth-Grade Celebrity, about an elementary student desperate to distinguish herself from an older sister. It remains in print more than four decades after its publication in 1979.
Two books for older readers, Lily’s Crossing (1997), a novel set on the home front during World War II, and Pictures of Hollis Woods (2002), about a foster child in search of belonging, received the Newbery Honor. Her most recent titles included A Slip of a Girl (2019), a novel written in verse and set during the Irish Land War, and the animal-on-the-loose adventure Zebra at the Zoo (2021). Giff's writing workshops have influenced other children's authors such as Tony Abbott and Elise Broach. She is a Newbery Honor, ALA Best Book For Young Adults, and Christopher Award laureate.
