Patricia Reilly Giff Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Patricia Reilly Giff Biography

As a reading teacher for 20 years, the educational consultant for Dell Yearling and Young Yearling books, an adviser and instructor to aspiring writers, and the author of more than 60 books for children, Patricia Reilly Giff spent her entire life surrounded by books.

After earning a B.A. degree from Marymount College, Giff took the advice of the school's dean and decided to become a teacher. During the 20 years of her teaching career, she earned an M.A. from St. John's University, and a Professional Diploma in Reading and a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hofstra University.

Patricia Reilly Giff and her husband lived in Weston, Connecticut. They have three children and five grandchildren. In 1990, Giff opened The Dinosaur's Paw, a children's bookstore named after one of her Kids of the Polk Street School novels.

Throughout the year, Giff visited schools and libraries around the country and spoke to her readers about her books, and about writing. When discussing her work, Giff claimed, "I have no special talent, you know. I never took a writing course before I began to write." She believes that "anyone who has problems, or worries, anyone who laughs and cries, anyone who feels can write. It's only talking on paper .... talking about the things that matter to us."

Patricia Reilly Giff received the Newbery Honor for Pictures of Hollis Woods and Lily's Crossing, which is also a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book. Nory Ryan's Song was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and an ALA Notable Book. Willow Run, a sequel to Lily's Crossing was published in 2005.

She died in 2021 aged 86.

This bio was last updated on 06/24/2021. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.