About the Author:
Laura Numeroff is the New York Times bestselling author of IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE, RAISING A HERO and WHAT MOMMIES DO BEST/WHAT DADDIES DO BEST. Laura was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up as the youngest of three girls, surrounded by art, music, and books. Laura attended Pratt Institute and graduated with a degree in communications and a contract for her first children’s book, AMY FOR SHORT, published in 1975 by Macmillan.
A New York Times best-selling children’s book author, Laura is best known for the series based on her book IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE. First printed in 1985, “Mouse” is now beyond its 60th printing. The fourth book in the series, IF YOU TAKE A MOUSE TO THE MOVIES was on the New York Times Children’s Best Seller list for five months- nine weeks at number one.
In 2000, IF YOU GIVE A PIG A PANCAKE was featured on the Oprah show three times, and was recommended by Oprah’s first kids’ book club, as well as being noted as Oprah’s favorite children’s book of the year on her Christmas show. “Pig” was also on Publishers Weekly Bestseller List for over a year. In addition, the series has sold over 4.5 million copies, been printed in fourteen languages, and won the prestigious Quill Award in the picture book category.
An avid animal lover, Laura has always wanted to write a book about service dogs. In 2016, with co-creator Sean Hanrahan, she released the first book of a new children’s series celebrating dogs with incredible jobs. RAISING A HERO supports Canine Companions for Independence and represents all those –human and canine– helping children, adults and veterans with disabilities and special needs.
President George W. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton have all read Numeroff’s books to children. First Lady Michelle Obama, with her mother and two daughters Malia and Sasha, read Laura’s IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE at the 2010 Easter Egg Roll on the White House Lawn. Laura was one of ten children’s authors invited to a literacy day in Washington during the Bush administration in 2001. Laura has also visited over 100 elementary schools and has been a speaker at teacher conferences around the country.
In addition to her work with service dogs, Laura also donates a portion of her book royalties to First Book, a non-profit organization that provides brand new books to children who otherwise would not have access to them. She donated all royalties from THE HOPE TREE – KIDS TALK ABOUT CANCER, to the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.