Mike Curato is the author-illustrator of the wildly popular Little Elliot picture books. Mike’s debut title in the series, Little Elliot, Big City has won numerous awards and has been translated into over ten languages. There are now three additional Little Elliot books – Little Big Family; Little Elliot, Big Fun; and Little Elliot, Fall Friends. Mike is the illustrator of Worm Loves Worm by J.J. Austrian, All the Way to Havana by Young People’s Poet Laureate Margarita Engle, and What if… by Samantha Berger. He is also working on his debut YA graphic novel, Flamer.

More than anything as a kid, Mike dreamed of making picture books. After earning a BFA in illustration from Syracuse University, Mike moved to Seattle where he worked as a graphic designer for the better part of ten years. But he still dreamed of making picture books. That dream became a reality when Henry Holt Books for Young Readers offered Mike a three-book deal featuring everyone’s favorite polka-dotted elephant, Little Elliot.

These days, Mike lives in Northampton, Massachusetts with his husband Dan, where he likes to draw, write, and eat lots of cupcakes and ice cream.

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