Laura Joffe Numeroff was born in Brooklyn, New York on July 14, 1953. When the time came for her to choose a college, she only applied to Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn for fashion design. She hated everything about it and ended up taking a class in writing and illustrating books for children because it sounded like a great class. She received an assignment to write and illustrate a children's book, and after completing it, made several attempts to get it published. After only 4 rejections, Macmillan bought it. She graduated from college with a degree and a contract for her first book. Since then she has written over twenty books including If You Give a Mouse a Cookie; What Mommies Do Best, What Daddies Do Best; Laura Numeroff's Ten Step Guide to Living with Your Monster; Phoebe Dexter Has Harriet Peterson's Sniffles; Ponyella; If You Give a Dog a Donut; and It's Pumpkin Day, Mouse! She has received numerous awards including the Buckeye Children's Book Award in 1989, the Quill Award for If You Give a Pig a Party in 2006, and the Milner Award in 2007.
