A good non-fiction story should be more than just a bunch of facts. Author Conrad J. Storad says that non-fiction stories should be fun. That’s exactly what he tries to do with each and every book that he writes for young readers. An award-winning author, editor, and science writer, Conrad J. Storad currently is director of the Office of Research Publications at Arizona State University. His duties include editing and writing for the nationally award winning ASU Research Magazine, which he has done for more than 20 years. He is the founding editor of Chain Reaction magazine, a publication written for younger readers that highlights stories about science, learning, and creative activity taking place at ASU.

In addition to his duties at ASU, Storad is the author of several science and nature books for children and young adults. In November 2005, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano selected Storad’s Don't Call Me Pig! (A Javelina Story) as part of her program to promote literacy. During the 2005-2006 school year, every first grader in Arizona – more than 90,000 students – received a special edition copy of the book that included a note from the Governor. In 2001, the Arizona Library Association named Storad the “Arizona Children’s Author of the Year.” Storad’s has two new picture books published in 2006 by The RGU Group of Tempe. Desert Night Shift (A Pack Rat Story) will be released in the fall. Life in the Slow Lane (A Desert Tortoise Tale) was released in January. Other titles from The RGU Group include:  Don’t EVER Cross That Road! (An Armadillo Story). Don't Call Me Pig! (A Javelina Story), and Lizards for Lunch (A Roadrunner's Tale).

Earth’s Crust is a brand new title for 2007. The book is part of Lerner Publications Early Bird Earth Science series. Lerner is based in Minneapolis, Minn. The Circulatory System was new in 2005, and is part of Lerner’s Early Bird Body System series. Both new books are written for 2nd and 3rd graders. Storad has written five titles for Lerner’s Early Bird Nature Book series. Those books include Hippos, Saguaro Cactus, Scorpions, and Tarantulas. Meerkats is due out in 2007. A title in Lerner’s Discovery series is Inside AIDS: HIV Attacks the Immune System. The book provides a detailed look at the biology of AIDS written for teens and young adults.

Storad also has written four coloring/learning books published by Phoenix-based Donna Atwood Design. The titles are: Sonoran Desert A to Z, Little Lords of the Desert (Insects and Arachnids), Ancient Harvest (Favorite Plants Used by Native Americans of the Southwest), and Flying Colors (Beautiful Birds of the Southwest). Storad is currently working on several new titles for a variety of publishers.

Prior to working at ASU, Storad worked as a reporter, editor, and general manager for The Barberton Herald newspaper in northeast Ohio. He also worked as a science/medical writer for the U.S. National Cancer Institute, a freelance magazine writer, and as a science writer/editor at Kent State University. He earned a mass media communication degree from the University of Akron in 1979. In 1983, he received a master's degree in mass communication/science journalism from ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Telecommunication. He was a Year 2000 inductee to the Cronkite School’s Journalism Hall of Fame. Storad is an active member of the National Association of Science Writers, Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, International Association of Business Communicators, Arizona Book Publisher’s Association, and is a past president of the University Research Magazine Association.