Roland Smith By: Grayson Petter, Ethan Wall, Christian Robless, Grant Schloesslin, Sam Johnston

Childhood Was born in Portland, Oregon Nov. 30, 1951 Loved animals since he saw his first dog Got a manual typewriter for Christmas at age 5

Educational Background Attended Portland State University He studied English and biology He was in a program to work part-time at Portland’s Children zoo.

Writing Career Roland Smith’s writing career began in 1990 when his first book Sea Otter Rescue was published and is still writing novels. Roland Smith has gotten multiple awards for almost every novel he has written and awards for some of his non-fiction books.

Novels Thunder Cave, 1995 Amy’s Missing, 1996 Jaguar, 1997 Sasquatch, 1998 The Captain’s Dog, 1999 The Last Lobo, 1999 Zach’s Lie, 2001 Cryptid Hunters, 2005 Jack’s Run, 2005 Peak, 2005 Elephant Run, 2007 I.Q.: Independence Hall, 2008 I.Q.: The White House, 2009

Nonfiction Sea Otter Rescue: The Aftermath of an Oil Spill, 1990 Primates in the Zoo, 1992 Snakes in the Zoo, 1992 Inside the Zoo Nursery, 1993 Cats in the Zoo, 1994 Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises in the Zoo, 1994 African Elephants, 1995 Journey of the Red Wolf, 1996 Vultures, 1997 In the Forest with the Elephants, 1998 B is for Beaver: An Oregon Alphabet, 2003 E is for Evergreen: A Washington Alphabet, 2004 Z is for Zookeeper: A Zoo Alphabet, 2005 N is for Our Nations Capital: A Washington, DC, Alphabet, 2005 W is for Waves: An Ocean Alphabet, 2008

Other careers He was also in a number of programs that helped save animals from extinction. Roland Smith was a zoologist and a research biologist at the Portland Zoo. He kept his zoologist job for twenty years, before he left to full-time writing.

Compare/ Contrast Compare: All the main characters are teenagers. The father either wasn’t there or very strange. All the books were in the Action/Adventure genre. A lot of the books are about animals or mythical creatures. Contrast: All the books are in a different part of the world. He writes some in 3 rd person and some in 1 st person.