If You Give an Author a Pencil

by Laura Joffe Numeroff, Sherry Shahan (Illustrator)

Author Laura Numeroff, whose first book, "Amy for Short" grew out of a college assignment, recounts her life and describes how her daily activities and creative process are interwoven.

Genres: Biography, Writing

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Laura Joffe Numeroff is the NYT best-selling author of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, What Mommies/Daddies Do Best and Raising a Hero. She was born in Brooklyn, New York and graduated from Pratt Institute. Laura grew up as the youngest of three girls, surrounded by art, music, and books. An avid animal lover, Laura has always wanted to write a book about service dogs. She now lives in Los Angeles, California.

Reviews

[Mark Eichin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, an ok gift for a fan, especially a young one curious about what does an author even so. (Now I want to see the same title done in the style of the rest of the series, which would be hilarious and worth 5 stars, but this isn't that, just a story about how a nice lady became an author.)

[Karol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief autobiography sharing pieces of the author’s life that influenced and led to her becoming a published author and her creative process.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story about Laura Numeroff. I enjoyed the photographs of her and the things in her life.

[Sharon]

This is a children's version of an autobiography. It is nonfiction, but it is full of pictures and is an easy read about a person that writes books that children love. The thing I love about the "Meet the Author" series is that it introduces biographies in a fun way, the series is meant for 2nd-5th graders and I think it is interesting for all ages. Biographies can get lengthy and monotonous, but these autobiographies are full of pictures, simpler sentences and true feel of the author of these beloved books. It doesn't just focus fact after face with numbers and dates, you get to see the authors in a personal level. Also, it shows children that if you follow your dreams and work hard like the authors you love, you can create something wonderful just like them!

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was different than I expected. It wasn't as informative as imagined because it was written in a format that children could read and understand. I thought it did a good job of giving a snapshot of a writer's life and how the whole writing process looked, even if it was brief. I also appreciated that Laura mentioned how many times she had to submit a manuscript before it got published or even if the publisher rejected it. There were a lot of photos as well and those were fun to look at. I might recommend for fans of Laura Numeroff.

*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2011...

[Ashley Lahr]

This book is about Laura Numeroff who is an author. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York in the fifties. Her mother was a teacher and her father was an artist. Laura took lots of lessons, including piano, tap, dancing, ballet, drawing, and guitar. she began writing stories at he age of 9. That is when she realized she wanted to be a writer. At the age of 15 she decided to take a different path and follow in her sisters footsteps, which was a fashion designer. She changed her mind several times before going back to the idea of an author. She had a contract for her first book before she even graduated. One of her books that I love is, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie!

[Emmaline MacBeath · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't realize this book was the story of Laura Numeroff as an author until I opened it. But I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed this book very much. Laura tells her life history and how she became an author. She talks about how she writes books and some about the process of getting them published. I love how Laura talks about how she tried other jobs before realizing that writing was what she was meant to do.
This is an excellent book for young potential authors. They can see a little bit of what life would be like as an author.

[Yasmin Gomez Geng]

I was expecting the author to follow her own format when telling her story but she didn't so I was a little disappointed but it was still a great book!

I think very few authors really tell their own story and all that it encompasses to be an author but Laura Numeroff does a great job showing all sides. She shows how she came to be an illustrator, how she wrote her first book and was rejected several times, the way she writes books and chooses her illustrators, and what her job entails (like traveling).

Grade: 2nd Grade - 5th Grade
Topic: Authors, Books

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love seeing authors at work, and this was a sneak-peak into their world!

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Numeroff does an excellent job of sharing her life, and passion, as an author. Kids come away with a new respect for the writing process.

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

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