 |
Laura Numeroff | |
|---|---|
| Born | Laura Joffe Numeroff July 14, 1953 New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Author |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Pratt Institute |
| Genre | Children's stories |
| Website | |
| www | |
Laura Joffe Numeroff (born July 14, 1953) is an American author and illustrator of children's books who is best known as the author of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie .
Numeroff was born in Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of three girls. By the age of nine, she had decided she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. [1] She credits her current profession to two childhood favorites, saying that they "are the reason" she is a writer: E. B. White's Stuart Little and Kay Thompson's Eloise .
Numeroff attended Pratt Institute, where she initially studied fashion. Realizing fashion "wasn't for her", she returned to her childhood dream of becoming a writer and took a course in illustrating and writing children's books. [1] A homework assignment prompted Numeroff to write and illustrate Amy for Short, about the tallest girl in third grade. Before graduating from Pratt in 1975, Amy For Short was published by Macmillan Publishing. [1]
Numeroff's first nine books were both written and illustrated by Numeroff herself.
Numeroff has worked with illustrators including Lynn Munsinger, David McPhail, Tim Bowers, Nate Evans, Joe Mathieu, Sal Murdocca, Sharleen Collicott and Felicia Bond; Felicia Bond is the illustrator of the If You Give . . . series.
Phoebe Dexter Has Harriet Peterson's Sniffles, published in January 1977, tells the tale of Phoebe Dexter who is stuck at home because she is sick. Upset that she is missing all the happenings of her school day, Phoebe busies herself pretending she is a dog and eventually playing Go Fish with her grandmother who comes over to keep her company. The book is both written and illustrated by Numeroff.
When the manuscript for If You Give A Mouse A Cookie was bought by HarperCollins after nine rejections, Numeroff's editor chose Felicia Bond to illustrate. When asked about her earlier endeavors into illustrations during an interview, she mentioned that though she loves drawing, she decided her "strength was in writing and not in illustration" and said "I don't think I would illustrate a whole book anymore at this point."[ citation needed ]
Her autobiography, If You Give an Author a Pencil, was published in 2003; it was written at a second-grade reading level so that it is accessible to children.[ citation needed ] Numeroff's books have been published in many languages.
Numeroff lives in Los Angeles, California.
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, published in 1985 and illustrated by Felicia Bond, was the book that launched the hit If You Give... series. It was rejected by publishers nine times before it was finally accepted by Harper. [2] These stories use a circular story format, presenting to the reader a chain of events. At the end of the story, the reader discovers that the characters have ended up at the same transaction that they started with. The entire story is an "If ____________ , then ___________" scenario. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie led to other books about a moose, a cat, a pig, and a dog.
The first book in this series by Numeroff, What Mommies Do Best/What Daddies Do Best, published in April 2008, was illustrated, in watercolors, by Lynn Munsinger. The series was written for children ages 4 – 8.
This children's book is a two part story. On one side of the book is What Mommies Do Best. This book demonstrates many of the things that mothers do, such as give piggyback rides, teach children how to ride a bicycle, and sew a button on a teddy bear.
Following What Mommies Do Best, the book can be flipped to reveal What Daddies Do Best. This side illustrates things that fathers do with their children. The stories are identical. Both parents do the same things in each book. Subsequent books are about grandparents, aunts and uncles.
Bitsy, a pig wearing purple, loves to draw, color, paint and make art. Emily, a dog wearing pink, loves to dance. Anna, a rabbit wearing yellow, loves to read books. Nicole, a cat wearing blue, loves to play soccer. The first letters of their names spell the word "BEAN", and they love jellybeans, their favorite candy from Petunia's, their favorite place.
An animal lover, Numeroff had always wanted to write a book about service dogs. [3] In 2016, Numeroff and co-creator Sean Hanrahan released Raising a Hero, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger. The book is about a young boy raising a puppy to become a service dog in order to help children with disabilities. Proceeds from Raising a Hero supported Canine Companions, a non-profit devoted to training service dogs for people with disabilities.
Laura Numeroff's Ten Step Guide to Living with Your Monster, illustrated by Nate Evans, was published in April 2002 and was intended for children aged 4 to 8. The book explains to readers how to make a monster a good pet, rather than being afraid of monsters. A portion of the profits from the book were donated to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.
Numeroff has won numerous awards as author of the If You Give... series, including:
| Book | Award and Year |
|---|---|
| If You Give a Mouse a Cookie | Alabama Children's Choice Book Award, K–1 (1986–87) [4] [5] |
| California Young Reader Medal (1988) [6] | |
| Colorado Children's Book Award (1988) [7] | |
| Georgia Children's Picture Story Book Award (1988) [8] | |
| Nevada Young Readers' Award (1988–89) [9] | |
| Buckeye Children's Book Award, K–2 (Ohio) (1989) [10] | |
| Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award (1994) [11] | |
| Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award (1994) [12] | |
| Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Blue Chip Classic Award (1994) [13] | |
| If You Give A Moose A Muffin | Children's Choices (IRA/CBC) (1992) |
| Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award (1998) [14] | |
| If You Give A Pig A Pancake | Oppenheim Platinum Award (1999) |
| IRA Children's Choice (1999) | |
| Oprah Winfrey named If You Give a Pig a Pancake her "favorite book for children" | |
| Listed on Oprah Winfrey's "Oprah’s Favorite Things from A-Z" | |
| If You Take A Mouse To The Movies | NAPPA Gold Award (2000) |
| Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award (2001) | |
| IRA/CBC Children's Choice (2001) | |
| If You Take A Mouse To School | Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award (2003) [15] |
| If You Give A Pig A Party | Quill Award (2006) |
Laura Bush invited Numeroff and Bond to the White House to be honored at the Presidential Inauguration "NEA Teacher’s Picks Books to Read Across America" in 1999 plus for the If You Give... series at the "Laura Bush Celebrates American Authors" in 2001.
Numeroff has also won awards for her individual stories, including the Milner Award in 2007.[ citation needed ]
All illustrated by Felicia Bond.
Written by Nate Evans, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger
Lesléa Newman is an American author, editor, and feminist best known for the children's book Heather Has Two Mommies. Four of her young adult novels have been finalists for the Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature, making her one of the most celebrated authors in the category.
Charlie and Lola are fictional children created by the English writer and illustrator Lauren Child in 2000. They were introduced in a series of picture books and later adapted as animated television characters. Lola is an energetic and imaginative little girl; Charlie is her kind and patient older brother who is always willing to help Lola learn and grow. Charlie and Lola's parents, as well as their friends' parents, are often mentioned, but never seen.
Candice F. Ransom is a popular children's and young-adult author. She has written over 150 books as of June 2020, including 18 books for The Boxcar Children series, The Time Spies series and the Sunfire series. She wrote the Dungeons & Dragons novel, Key to the Griffon's Lair. Her work includes picture books, easy readers, middle grade fiction, biographies, and nonfiction. More than 45 of her titles have been translated into 12 languages.
The Family Book is a 2003 children's picture book written and illustrated by Todd Parr that details the daily lives of all kinds of families. Each unique family structure is depicted with vivid illustrations that complement the book’s themes of family diversity and inclusivity. The book has been adopted in various educational settings as a teaching tool to normalize the acceptance of various family forms. The Family Book has been challenged repeatedly and has sparked controversy in certain regions due to its inclusion of same-sex marriages as a family structure in the book.
Penny Dale is an English illustrator and writer of children's books.
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is an American children's picture book written by Laura Joffe Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond, first published in 1985 by Harper and Row. Described as a "circular tale", illustrating a slippery slope, it is Numeroff and Bond's first collaboration in what came to be the If You Give... series.
Lillian Hoban was an American illustrator and children's writer best known for picture books created with her husband Russell Hoban. According to OCLC, she has published 326 works in 1,401 publications in 11 languages.
McGee is a series of computer games released by Lawrence Productions for Kindergarteners ages 2–4.
Kino's Storytime, also known as Storytime, is an American children's reading television program which aired on PBS from October 12, 1992 until September 1, 1997. It was produced by KCET in Los Angeles, California. It was available on VHS from Strand Home Video and Video Treasures. It was co-hosted by Anne Betancourt as Lucy, Marabina Jaimes as Mara and Kino, voiced and performed by puppeteer Mark Ritts.
Saviour Pirotta is a Maltese-born British author and playwright who resides in England. He is mostly known for the bestselling The Orchard Book of First Greek Myths, an adaptation of the Russian folktale, Firebird, and the Ancient Greek Mysteries Series for Bloomsbury. His books are particularly successful in the UK, Greece, Italy and South Korea.
Laura Vaccaro Seeger is an American author and illustrator of children's books. She has often appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List and has won the Caldecott Honor twice, the New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Best Picture Book, the Empire State Award for "Body of Work and Contribution to Children’s Literature", the Massachusetts Reading Association Award for "Body of Work and Contribution to Children's Literature", and the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor twice.
Todd Parr is an American author, illustrator, animator and television producer. Parr grew up in Rock Springs, Wyoming and later moved to San Francisco in 1995, where he pursued a career as an artist. He has also worked as a flight attendant before becoming a full-time author.
Emily Jenkins, who sometimes uses the pen name E. Lockhart, is an American writer of children's picture books, young-adult novels, and adult fiction. She is known best for the Ruby Oliver quartet, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, and We Were Liars.
The Oppenheim Toy Portfolio is a nationally recognized independent consumer review of children's media. It was founded in 1989 by child development authors Joanne Oppenheim and her daughter Stephanie Oppenheim. The newsletter is published quarterly and have held an annual series of awards that have gained attention in the industry. They have spoken on children psychology/behavior, toys, and child media on OPRAH, CNN, NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, MSNBC, Lifetime, and both are Contributors to NBC's TODAY Show.
Amy Krouse Rosenthal was an American author of both adult and children's books, a short film maker, and radio show host. She is best known for her memoir Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, her children's picture books, and the film project The Beckoning of Lovely. She was a prolific writer, publishing more than 30 children's books between 2005 and her death in 2017. She is the only author to have three children's books make the Best Children's Books for Family Literacy list in the same year. She was a contributor to Chicago's NPR affiliate WBEZ, and to the TED conference.
Felicia Bond is an American writer and illustrator of numerous books for children. She is the illustrator of all the If You Give... series written by Laura Numeroff and published by HarperCollins Children's Books.
Bonnie Christensen, an American author and illustrator, is best known for writing biographies and other illustrated non-fiction books for children and young adults. She was also an accomplished wood engraver and fine artist whose works were shown internationally in both solo and group exhibitions.
Eileen Christelow is an American writer and illustrator of children's books, both fiction and non-fiction. She is best known for her series about the Five Little Monkeys, starting with her retelling of the classic nursery rhyme "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed." Other notable books include stories set in her home state of Vermont; stories featuring Emma the Desperate Dog; and Vote!, a non-fiction work about the voting process.
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is an animated children's adventure comedy television series based on the 1985 book of the same name. The pilot was originally released on November 4, 2015; the series was later released on Amazon Video on November 7, 2017.
LeUyen Pham is a children's book illustrator and author. She has illustrated and written more than 120 books. In 2020, she won a Caldecott Honor for her illustrations in the book Bear Came Along.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
