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Item Barcode | Collection | Call Number | Status | Item Holds |
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33607002365909 | Picture Books | POLACCO | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
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Summary
Summary
When young Trisha finds out her class at the new school is known as The Junkyard,' she is devastated. She moved from her old town so she wouldn't be in a special class anymore! But then she meets her teacher, the quirky and invincible Mrs. Peterson, and her classmates, an oddly brilliant group of students each with his or her own unique talent. And it is here in The Junkyard that Trisha learns the true meaning of genius, and that this group of misfits are all wonders.'
Author Notes
Patricia Polacco was born in Lansing, Michigan on July 11, 1944. She attended Oakland Tech High School in Oakland, California before heading off to the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, then Laney Community College in Oakland. She then set off for Monash University, Mulgrave, Australia and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia where she received a Ph.D in Art History, Emphasis on Iconography.
After college, she restored ancient pieces of art for museums. She didn't start writing children's books until she was 41 years old. She began writing down the stories that were in her head, and was then encouraged to join the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. There she learned how to put together a dummy and get a story into the form of a children's picture book. Her mother paid for a trip to New York, where the two visited 16 publishers in one week. She submitted everything she had to more than one house. By the time she returned home the following week, she had sold just about everything.
Polacco has won the 1988 Sydney Taylor Book Award for The Keeping Quilt, and the 1989 International Reading Association Award for Rechenka's Eggs. She was inducted into the Author's Hall of Fame by the Santa Clara Reading Council in 1990, and received the Commonwealth Club of California's Recognition of Excellence that same year for Babushka's Doll, and again in 1992 for Chicken Sunday. She also won the Golden Kite Award for Illustration from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators for Chicken Sunday in 1992, as well as the Boston Area Educators for Social Responsibility Children's Literature and Social Responsibility Award. In 1993, she won the Jane Adams Peace Assoc. and Women's Intl. League for Peace and Freedom Honor award for Mrs. Katz and Tush for its effective contribution to peace and social justice. She has won Parent's Choice Honors for Some Birthday in 1991, the video Dream Keeper in 1997 and Thank You Mr. Falker in 1998. In 1996, she won the Jo Osborne Award for Humor in Children's Literature. Her titles The Art of Miss. Chew and The Blessing Cup made The New York Times Best Seller List.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-Based on true events, this inspiring story celebrates the extraordinary influence a teacher can have on her students. As Trisha enters a new school in Michigan, she hopes she won't be relegated to a "special" class. At her old school, she had trouble learning to read. On the first day, she is disappointed to learn that Room 206 is known as the junkyard. Fortunately, their teacher, Mrs. Peterson, doesn't allow her students to feel like misfits. She divides her "Junkyard Wonders" into tribes, creating a sense of unity among them. One day, the children visit a local junkyard where they discover "a place full of wondrous possibilities" and collect objects for a class project. Trisha and her tribe retrieve an old model plane, which they refurbish. The whole class looks forward to the science fair when they will fly the plane from the roof of the school in remembrance of a classmate who has died. The school bully tries to foil their plans, but in the end the Junkyard Wonders launch the plane and watch it soar up into the stratosphere. The touching story is accompanied by Polacco's trademark illustrations in which a motherly Mrs. Peterson presides over her busy classroom. The children's expressive faces convey their devotion to her and to each other. Pair this title with Lester L. Laminack's Saturdays and Teacakes (Peachtree, 2004), another nod to a fondly remembered past.-Linda L. Walkins, Mount Saint Joseph Academy, Brighton, MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
As in Thank You, Mr. Falker, Polacco examines her childhood, her confused awareness of herself and her schoolmates as different-"retards," according to their common nemesis-and her teacher, an imposing and passionate woman who changes their lives. Mrs. Parkinson makes her mark immediately in a class of children who involuntarily shout (Gibbie, who has Tourette's), do not speak (Ravanne, a foster child), or don't seem able to learn fast enough (Polacco herself). Stung when the "normal" kids call their class "the junkyard," the students accompany Mrs. Parkinson to a real junkyard, where she urges them to find treasures and build something new: "Forget what the object was... imagine what it could be!" Like her earlier autobiographical stories, this tale of Polacco's group and of the model plane they restore ("This baby is goin' all the way to the moon!") thrills, saddens, touches, and inspires, all at once. The death of their kindest classmate and loyal guardian, Jody, whose too-rapid growth defeats his heart, is the most difficult moment in this complex and deeply felt book. Not to be missed. Ages 6-9. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved