Peter Catalanotto was born in March 1959 in Brooklyn, NY, and grew up in East Northport, Long Island. Catalanotto was educated at the Pratt Institute; his career as an illustrator began in the 1980s, painting jackets for young adult books and illustrating for newspapers and magazines. In 1987 he was asked to illustrate All I See by Cynthia Rylant. Peter then went on to write several picture books, the first being Dylan's Day Out, published in 1989. He has since published over 40 books, 14 of which he also wrote, including Matthew A. B. C., Emily's Art, Ivan the Terrier, and Question Boy Meets Little Miss Know-it-All.