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Author shares writing secrets with young students^
Vanessa Beauman
Record Staff Writer
With an encouraging smile
and upbeat note in his voice
writer Conrad J Storad
spilled the secrets of good
book writing to Dexter Ele
mentary School students
Tuesday and Wednesday at
the school s library He start
ed by providing them with the
essential first step in writing a
book
Think Storad said to a
group of preschoolers and
third graders Wednesday
afternoon You have to have
some ideas That s how you
start to write a book Storad
then explained the role of edi
tors publishers and illustra
tors — people needed to
the idea of a book a reality
Storad s educational back
ground includes undergradu
ate degrees in journalism and
environmental science as well
as a master s degree in sci
ence journalism from Arizona
State University s~~WaTter
Cronkite School of Journal
ism and Mass Communica
tion He has experience as a
reporter editor and general
manager for the Barberton
Herald newspaper in Ohio
Storad currently works for
ASU as director of the Office
of Research Publications He
writes and edits the ASU
Research Magazine is the
founding editor of Chain
Reaction magazine and is
dedicated to writing non fic
tion children s books that he
hopes will encourage children
to read and be interested in
science
Roswell Daily Record
Circulation: 11600
DMA: Albuquerque, NM
But Wednesday afternoon
all that mattered to the
preschoolers and third
graders was how Penny Pack
Rat was going to survive the
harsh desert environment to
find a shiny spoon The cen
tral character in Storad s
Desert Night Shift A Pack
Rat Story Penny s quest is
meant to teach children about
the desert and one of its noc
turnal creatures the pack
rat
Children s books are my
fun job on the side said
Storad who has written over
a dozen children s or young
adult books He calls them
non fiction because their sub
jects are based on real crea
tures
My intent is to help chil
dren learn that reading is
fun he said Storad said
sometimes children ask him
why he does not write fiction
but he finds his current genre
too much fun to let go
I like to write about the
real world Storad said The
world around us is an inter
esting place You just need
to slow down and take a
look
Storad said that as a visit
ing author he has been to
eight states more than 700
schools and estimates that in
the 10 years he s been travel
ing the country with his work
he has spoken to 700 000
children This is his second
visit to Dexter
Nancy Miles elementary
© Copyright 01/17/2008 Roswell Daily Record Cision USA, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Unlicensed Reproduction, Sale or Republication Prohibited.
City: Roswell
State: NM
librarian for Dexter Elemen
tary said Storad s visit and
input into book writing came
just in time for the school s
students who are in the
process of authoring books
themselves
Miles said children pre
school through third grade are
writing books as a class proj
ect Fourth and fifth graders
will be writing a book individ
ually Students will provide
their own illustrations and be
editors to each other s work
Miles called Storad s advice
about book writing invaluable
She said Storad s visit as well
as many other art music and
drama programs at Dexter Ele
mentary are made possible
through funding received from
the State Fine Arts dollars
This funding is available to
elementary schools throughou
the state of New Me xlcc
through an applicatior
process
Account: 2565G0
Date: 01/17/2008
Pub Num: NM­D180
Section/Page: A2
Page Count: 1 / 1
RefNo: 333735