Two of Rob Reid’s new books are geared
for educators while the third is for silly
story tellers of all kinds.

Story has been and will continue to be a powerful part of every child’s formative years and an everlasting fountain of youth for adults. Entertaining, teaching, and inspiring children’s literature is not just for kids, as we well know. A certain Children’s Literature professor at UW-Eau Claire is opening the door to the magic land of knights in shining armor, giants, witches, and fairies for children, college students, and adults alike with books that help provide theory and lesson plans to our teachers, librarians, and parents.

Starting out as a ninth grade English teacher in Minnesota, UW-Eau Claire professor Rob Reid had a strong passion for story. This led him to pursue his Library Science degree, specializing in children’s literature. He began working here in Eau Claire where he was soon recruited by the University to teach children’s literature courses. One thing led to another and now he has been a professor there for 16 years. But that’s not all he has been up to. He is also a writer and storyteller. Rob Reid has three books coming out in 2012. Two of them are directed at librarians and one is written for parents.

Rob Reid’s two books geared towards librarians focus on laughter. The first book, What’s Black and White and Reid All Over, was published by ALA Editions in January as a companion book to Something Funny Happened At the Library. Reid was asked to write these books to help librarians bring humor into their programs, classrooms, and materials. Containing huge lists of the funniest books in the library, librarians and teachers have a useful tool to bring hilarity into learning.  

Reid’s second book, published by Upstart, called Welcome to Storytime: The Art of Story Program Planning is his own original idea to aid teachers and librarians create their lesson plans. There is actually quite a bit of theory behind lesson planning in children’s literature. This book not only gives theory, but hints at how to write original songs, finger plays, and poems.  

I feel like I hit my lucky niche writing
for the library field.
– Rob Reid, author of What’s Black and White and Reid All Over among others

Rob’s third book coming out this fall is written for the public. Silly Stories to Read Aloud is published through Huron Street Press, a publishing imprint of American Library Association Editions, a publishing company that creates resource books for schools and libraries. Huron Street Press aims to appeal to a broader consumer and library market. The purpose is to take information from books of the shelves of libraries and make it all available to the public. Rob Reid’s book is specifically about books that are good to read aloud, particularly books that that produce good belly laughs. This will be Rob’s 16^th book published.  

“I feel like I hit my lucky niche writing for the library field,” he reflected happily.  

Rob has also published two picture books called Wave Goodbye and Coming down to Storytime. He is currently working on a collection of children’s poetry and a picture book about William H. Robinson, a true story about a man who went from being a slave in South Carolina to a preacher. Rob writes a column for Book Links Magazine and a blog entitled Heart of a Child that can be accessed through childrensliteraturenetwork.org. On top of all that, Reid still visits schools and libraries as a storyteller, bringing the mystery and magic of literature to
all ages.