Meet Children’s Author Laura Numeroff

Laura Numeroff was born in 1953 in Brooklyn, New York. Since her father was on the art staff of a major newspaper, and her mother a middle school teacher, they helped Laura learn to love reading, playing the piano, singing, dancing, science and stamp collecting. She was the youngest of three girls. Numeroff loved to draw, read and make up stories as a child. She would decorate a book cover for her story and then write her story and draw pictures on each page. She visited the library each week to pick up books; her favorites were Stuart Little by E.B. White and Eloise by Kay Thompson.

She started college following her sister’s footsteps in fashion design, but later changed her focus and started taking classes in things she loved like photography, animation, and radio broadcasting. By her senior year, she was given an assignment in a class to write and illustrate a children’s book. She wrote about the “tallest girl in third grade.” No, this wasn’t about her, but Numeroff had a great imagination. She tried to get it published and only after four rejections (this happens a lot in writing) Macmillan bought it! So Numeroff graduated college with a contract for her first book.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie was the tenth book she wrote. The idea came to Numeroff as she was taking a long, boring car trip from San Francisco to Oregon. She was being silly with her friend by telling a story about a mouse nibbling on a cookie: “He’d want some milk to go with it and then a straw. Then he would want a napkin…” And by the time the trip was over, she had told the entire story. This story was rejected by publishers nine times, but her motto is “never give up” so she continued to submit the manuscript until it was accepted by Harper.

Today, Laura Numeroff visits classrooms all over the country and reads this famous book to children. She continued this “If You Give…series and here are some of the titles.

If You Give A Moose a Muffin

If You Give a Pig a Pancake

If You Take a Mouse to School

If You Give a Pig a Party

If You Give an Author a Pencil (this is Numeroff’s autobiography)

Visit Laura Numeroff’s website for lots of information and fun activities for children.

Books and Follow-Up Activities

If You Give a Pig a Party (HarperCollins)

First, there’s a search for friends, which leads to a street fair, a game of hide-and-seek, a sleep over, and a pillow fight. A blanket fortress needs balloon decorations – and balloons lead to a party.

Children will love to act out the pig character by wearing a pig nose and tail. Help each child to make a nose from a 4-oz paper cup with a hole punched on the sides. Invite him to decorate the cup with markers. Thread a piece of yarn through each of the holes and then use this yarn to tie the nose around the back of the child’s head. For the pig’s tail, take a pipe cleaner and show the children how to curl it. They can stick one end through a piece of paper and then pin the paper to the back of their clothing.

Invite the children to act out this story and also of the Three Little Pigs. How about singing this open-ended song to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus”

The pigs on the farm go oink, oink, oink,

Oink, oink, oink;

Oink ,oink, oink.

The pigs on farm go oink, oink, oink,

All day long.

Try:

The duck on the farm go quack, quack, quack…

The cows on the farm go moo, moo, moo…

The sheep on the farm go baa, baa, baa..

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If You Take a Mouse to School (Laura Geringer)

There can be many problems if you bring your mouse to school. He’ll ask you for your lunch box, and then a sandwich, and a snack for later. Then he’ll want to take part in everything from math to soccer. Everyone will love the very cute pictures of the mouse in the classroom. Let the children make some finger mice puppets to go with the story. Begin by cutting out quarter-size circles from gray paper and six-inch lengths of yarn. Make five-finger mice by forming five cones from the paper. The pointy end is the little mouse’s head. Invite the children to add details to each mouse. They can use markers to draw on eyes and a nose. Glue on tiny pom-poms as ears and a length of yarn can be the tail.

Have them place a mouse puppet on each finger and recite this rhyme following the actions.

Five little mice on the pantry floor,

This little mouse peeked behind the door, (wiggle thumb mouse)

This little mouse nibbled at the cake, (wiggle index finger)

This little mouse not a sound did make, (wiggle middle finger)

This little mouse took a bite of cheese, (wiggle ring finger)

This little mouse made the kitten sneeze, (wiggle baby finger)”Ach-oo” sneezed the kitten, and “Squeak” they cried as they found a hole and ran inside!

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If You Give a Moose a Muffin (HarperCollins)

When a big hungry moose comes to visit, give him a muffin to make him feel at home. Then he’ll want some jam to go with it. When he’s eaten all your muffins, he’ll want to go to the store to get some more muffin mix.

Gather the kids and make some muffins together. Baking is always fun, and these muffins are full of surprises when you eat them. Begin by preheating the oven to 400 degrees. Invite the children to help measure and mix these dry ingredients in a bowl.

1-cup whole-wheat flour

1-cup quick-cooking oats

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2-teaspoon cinnamon

Now combine 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup cooking oil, 1 egg, and 1-cup milk in another bowl. Mix until smooth. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and mix again.

Let the children help you fill 12 greased muffin cups about 1/4 full. Invite them to spoon 1 teaspoon of jam (any flavor) over the batter and fill each cup 3/4 full with the remaining batter. Bake about 10-15 minutes until lightly brown. When the kids bite into the cooled muffin – SURPRISE! Some yummy jam!

These are only three of Laura Numeroff’s books. Read them all and try to enhance the story with an activity or craft. This takes reading the book to a higher level and helps the children remember the context of the story.

Sources:
Laura Numeroff’s Website

Activities from personal experience