Author Conrad Storad Excites Kids About Science
How Writing Fun Facts Led Him to Write Science Books for Kids
Dec 20, 2008
For Conrad J. Storad, the director of Arizona State University’s Office of Research Publications and editor of the nationally award winning ASU Research Magazine, one of his proudest accomplishments didn’t start in a newsroom or a research lab, but in a factory for educational toys.
“A friend of mine got hired to design the tags for the stuffed animals and hand puppets this company made for zoos, resorts, and airport gift shops,” he says during a face-to-face interview on September 2, 2006. “And he ended up subcontracting me to write the text for those tags.”
Storad, who had already written several science books for kids, built a relationship with the company, Resort Gifts Unlimited, and was asked if he would write a science book about javelinas to help promote the javelina puppets the company made.
Science Books For Kids
“At first I thought I’d do a standard science book on javelinas,” he says. “But then I thought it would be fun to do something different. I remembered how everyone thinks javelinas are wild pigs even though they’re not. I thought about my audience and how kids don’t like to be called names, and the title Don’t Call Me Pig! came to me. I got a rhyme started in my head and couldn’t stop until it was done.”
Don’t Call Me Pig! (A Javelina Story) (1999) ended up becoming a popular science picture book with schools and libraries, later earning the Arizona Children’s Book of the Year award. In November 2005, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano selected Don’t Call Me Pig! as part of her literacy program and distributed special editions of the science book to over 90,000 first graders across Arizona.
The book’s success led Storad to publish more science picture books including Lizards for Lunch (A Roadrunner’s Tale) (1999), Don’t EVER Cross That Road (An Armadillo Story) (2003), Life in the Slow Lane (A Desert Tortoise Tale) (2006), and Desert Night Shift (A Packrat Story) (2006).
“I call these books ‘fun nonfiction’ since they share actual facts about these animals through rhyme,” says Storad, who has presented his books to over 600,000 kids at more than 600 schools in the past ten years accompanied by his hand puppets Julio Javelina and Penny Packrat. His author visits are marked by fun discussions of desert creatures and writing workshops that encourage kids to think creatively about science.
Free and Fun Science Activities and Kids Science Experiments
The success of his science books for kids led Storad to team up with other science writers and create Chain Reaction, a free science magazine for kids. By requesting this magazine and using its accompanying web site, teachers gain an additional resource for teaching science – through mind boggling photos, kids science experiments, and fun-to-read articles about biotechnology, desert life, other planets, urban ecology, and other research conducted by ASU scientists.
“Learning resources are limited in many schools – a lot of teachers pay for supplies out of their own pockets,” says Storad in a September 11, 2006 article of ASU’s The Community Camera. “Chain Reaction provides public, private and home school educators with a free teaching tool that keeps science in the classroom.”
For Storad, these experiences have shown him that all good nonfiction books for kids and learning materials should provide students with more than a list of facts. To truly reach children, he states, good non-fiction stories should entertain and – above all – be fun.
Find more ways to excite kids about science with these articles that contain kids science experiments and fun science activities -- Science Experiment Teaches Kids About Density, Coke Sinks and Diet Coke Floats, and Fun Party Trick Also a Cool Science Experiment.
Learn more about Conrad Storad’s science books and author visits at his website!
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