Katherine Hannigan is the author of Ida B . . . and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World. She grew up in western New York with a mom, a dad, two boisterous brothers, an array of stray dogs and cats, and some rodents that usually remained caged. She has undergraduate degrees in mathematics, education, and painting, and a graduate degree in studio art. She has worked as an education coordinator for Head Start and, most recently, as an assistant professor of art and design. She now lives in a tiny town in northeastern Iowa that’s surrounded by woods and hills and fields. Lulu the cat, a character in Ida B, lives there, too, along with her feline stepbrothers Mackie, Norbert, and Winston.