By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
As the Wood County District Public Library celebrates its 150th anniversary, famed children’s author Laura Numeroff marks the 30th anniversary of her beloved book, “Give a Mouse a Cookie.”
Saturday’s celebration was huge as families crowded into the library’s atrium to see and hear the author whose books have entertained and sparked wild imaginations for decades.
Numeroff spent 45 minutes sharing snippets and stories about some of her more than 50 books and delighting kids and adults alike.
“How many of you here have made a mistake?” she asked the audience to raise their hands. “Every single person in this room should raise their hand.” As she looked around, “Sir… you don’t make any mistakes?” The room filled with laughter.
She proceeded to encourage her most attentive audience— the young ones sitting on the floor in front of the seated adults—to correct her if she made any mistakes.
“If you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to ask for a cup of tea,” she said. Immediately, the children erupted, “Noooooo! A glass of milk!” They caught every mistake she made, from the mouse asking for a banana (straw) to Starbucks (glass of milk).
Her point: Changing just one word can change everything.
“My favorite thing to do is just get the right words and put them together to write a story for you guys,” she said.
Two books from her childhood – “Eloise” and “Stuart Little” – Inspired her to become a children’s author. Although she followed in one of her older sister’s footsteps by studying fashion merchandising in college, Numeroff realized that not being able to sew was a detriment. She took classes that she loved, like drawing and children’s literature, and became determined to write children’s books.
Also from an early age, Numeroff has loved animals. They are usually the focus of her stories, from (a lot of) mice to moose, dogs, cats, horses, pigs, chimps, sheep, elephants and chickens.
In her “If you give” books, she has given a mouse a cookie and a brownie, a moose a muffin, a dog a donut, and a pig a party and a pancake. She has also taken a mouse to school and the movies, and celebrated Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Pumpkin Day and birthdays with a mouse.
Ideas for her books come from sitting with her imagination. Numeroff relayed a time she was sitting on a plane and drawing to pass the time. She drew a boy from across the aisle who was wearing a sweater, but to the sweater drawing, she added stripes, shapes and letters.
“By the time I landed, it was the ugliest sweater,” and spurred her book, “The Ugliest Sweater.”
One day, a friend with whom she shared an appreciation for sneakers commented, “Dogs don’t wear sneakers,” which led to a book of the same name and later, “Chimps Don’t Wear Glasses.”
Her love of science (mostly dinosaurs) and a visit to a museum with dinosaurs prompted “Monster Munchies,” about 20 monsters of varied shapes and sizes who have “monstrous dietary habits,” according to the book’s website description.
“I love that they gave the dinosaur monster munch,” she said. “But the best part about this book was that I had the same publisher as Dr. Seuss. I never met him, but I was very excited to be in the same company.”
“Monster Munchies” was out of print, but is coming back with new illustrations. “I had so much fun writing about monsters, I decided I was a monster expert,” Numeroff said. That led to her book “Laura Numeroff’s 10-Step Guide to Living with Your Monster.”
“Step Seven: teach your monster to sit. Say Sit. This may take some time,” she said. “And the monster’s name is Bob.”
She didn’t know anyone named Bob, but she admitted that she often uses names of family and friends, and even pets, for her book characters. Sydney the dog, and the horses Otis and Oliver were some of her pets whose names ended up in her books.
“If You Take a Mouse to School” was her favorite book to write, and Moose was her favorite character, she said in response to some of the children’s questions. One reason she liked the school book was that the illustrator, Felicia Bond, included Numeroff in one of the illustrations, taken from a photo of her as a schoolgirl.
Moose was her favorite character because “He’s so big and clumsy, and he scares himself.”
“Max and Mama” is her latest book, which was published earlier this year. The book is about the special bond between a corgi pup and his mother.
Numeroff’s visit was made possible by the library’s Marjorie Conrad Fund. The Mazza Museum at the University of Findlay provided some of Numeroff’s books for sale, which sold out before the talk began. At the end of the presentation, Numeroff took the time to sign books and talk with children and family members.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to have Laura Numeroff here as the library celebrates its 150th anniversary,” said Maria Simon, youth services coordinator at the library. “I’m thrilled at the size of the crowd (which was standing room only), but I’m not surprised because of who she is and just the delightfulness of her books.”
The talk was filled with humor, which “was not a surprise at all,” Simon said. Her books are so humorous and touching.”
“We chose her because she’s such a celebratory author, whose books bring so much joy for generations,” she said, pointing to adults who read her books growing up.
“The community showed up today,” said WCDPL Board President Ken Frisch. “Today is a testament to the support this community has for the library and for the programs we offer.”
