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MEET LAURA NUMEROFF (1/2011)
by Bonnie O'Brian

What did you most like to do when you were a child?

Laura Numeroff

Besides trying to steal my older sister’s makeup and spying on their dates, I loved to read. I loved animals, even though my mother would let me have one. Once a kitten followed me home in the rain and I begged my mother to let me keep him. But when the kitten threw up on the carpet, I had to find him another home.

What books influenced you most when you started reading?

Besides my sister’s diaries? ELOISE by Kay Thompson and STUART LITTLE by E. B. White.  I grew up in Brooklyn and since both books take place in Manhattan, I was enthralled with them. I’m ‘rawther’ proud that I own an original E. B. White illustration from STUART LITTLE.

Did you write stories when you were growing up?

I wrote and illustrated books at home as a kid. My first book was about a horse named Trixie who shopped at Macys. Then as a teenager I wrote angst-riddled poetry like all other 16 year olds.  In school I wrote during math class. I also kept a diary and re-read it recently. It was very intense - “It rained. My flip fell.”

When you were a child did you ever have moments when you decided that you were going to be a writer when you grew up?

I didn’t have moments. I knew. I just knew I was going to be a writer when I grew up except when my dad and I assembled an Invisible Man, I decided I wanted to be Madame Curie. But when I didn’t win first place at my science fair I went back to writing. Talk about an over achiever.

When you went to college, were you already pursuing a writing career?

When I was 15, I abandoned writing because I wanted to follow in my sister’s footsteps and become a fashion designer. I applied to only one school, Pratt Institute, where she went.  Luckily I got in.  Turns out, I hated all my courses and couldn’t sew. I was.  Pratt introduced a new program called University Without Walls. I could create my own curriculum. I interned with a Sesame Street animator and put together an animation. Once I saw how much work went into 5 seconds of animation, I knew that wasn’t for me.  In my last semester I needed 2 credits to graduate. I thought I’d just take something easy like tai chi. But my advisor told me I needed two more studio credits.  So, I browsed through the class catalog and ended up taking a class in writing and illustrating children’s books. The final project of the class was writing and assembling a dummy book.

Was your first book accepted immediately? or did you experience a number of rejections?

Before the semester ended I showed the dummy book to editors. The first one said I wasn’t ready to be published; one said they were doing a similar story… After another two rejections, McMillan bought the book. So I graduated from college with a degree in Communications and my very first book contract.
 
What was your first job when you graduated from college?

My first job was illustrating the book I sold. Which sounds great but I soon learned that I didn’t learn color separation while at Pratt.  I was living with my boyfriend in a fifth floor walk up in Manhattan.  He would set up his card table in the living room for me to work at. I’d sit there, frozen, not knowing how to do anything. After the book was finished, I thought this is great! I figured I’d just make a living writing and selling my own books.  Not so much.  After being fired from many, many temp jobs I discovered I could write but not type.  Nine books later I wrote a book called IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE. I wrote it on my fifty dollar flea market typewriter with a sticky W and since it was still in the age of snail mail it took forever to get rejected.  I sold it after the eighth rejection. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had given up after the eighth rejection. That’s why I tell kids to never give up.

What do you most want the students to get out of your school visits?

See above answer. To never give up. It sounds corny, but it’s true.

Has anyone ever written you a fan letter that you’d like to share?

My favorite is- “Dear Miss Numeroff, Are you going to write a funnier book? Love, Jack.”

Is there anything about yourself that you’d like to share?

I’m honored to be involved with First Book, a non-profit organization that donates books to kids who don’t have any.  They just donated their 65 millionth book. I love to give kids the opportunity to fall in love with reading the way I did when I was a kid.