Patricia Polacco

'Fiona's Lace' is a story about a families destiny being changed by the skill and enterprise of their daughter. The author Patrica Placco is of Ukrainian and Irish descent, born in America in 1944. At school, Patrica was bullied for her problems with reading and writing and took solace in drawing. Eventually, a teacher picked up on Fiona's dyslexia and helped her with her work. 

"I didn't learn to read until I was 14. I got promoted from grade to grade because I could read enough to just make it. That changed, though, when my teacher, whose name was George Felker, invited me to wash blackboards one day after school. He asked me to make letters and numbers on the board with a wet sponge. As I struggled, I realized that he had discovered my most horrifying secret. He said, "Patricia, you have fooled us all the way to your 14th year, and you're not dumb. I have a friend that can help you."
Thirty years later, I saw Mr. Felker at a wedding. I remember racing across that room and grabbing him by his lapels, and I said, "Mr. Felker, you don't remember me. I was a student of yours..." Then we sat at a table, and I told him everything that he has meant to me and how he literally pulled me from absolute darkness into the light. I got to thank him. We were talking and crying, and he said, "What do you do for a living?" I said, "I make books for children." Patricia Polacco

In 'Fiona's Lace' an Irish family have to emigrate to America, as times are hard. The family becomes separated and it is the distinctive lace that Fiona makes that allows the parents to reunite their family.