Laura Joffe Numeroff

Laura Joffe Numeroff is an American children’s book author best known for her bestselling picture book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and the subsequent “If You Give…” series, including titles such as If You Give a Moose a Muffin, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, and If You Take a Mouse to the Movies. Born on July 14, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York, she grew up as the youngest of three girls in a home filled with art, music, and books, and decided by age nine that she wanted to be a writer. She studied at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, graduating with a degree in communications and securing a contract for her first children’s book, Amy for Short, which was published in the mid-1970s.

Numeroff has written more than 40 children’s books, and her work has achieved significant commercial and critical success, with the If You Give… series selling millions of copies, appearing on major bestseller lists, winning a Quill Award in the picture book category, and being translated into multiple languages. In addition to her picture books about animals, she has authored titles such as What Mommies Do Best/What Daddies Do Best and Raising a Hero, the latter reflecting her long-standing interest in service dogs and disability support.