About Chain Reaction

Conrad J. Storad

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 the past 20 years. He is the founding editor of Chain Reaction, an award-winning magazine for young readers that highlights stories about science, learning, and creative activity taking place at ASU.

Storad is the author of 20 science and nature books for children and young adults.In Fall 2005, as part of her program to promote reading, Governor Janet Napolitano selected Storad’s book Don’t Call Me Pig! (A Javelina Story). More than 90,000 Arizona first graders received a special edition copy. In 2001, the Arizona Library Association named Storad the “Arizona Children’s Author of the Year.” New picture books published in 2006 include Life in the Slow Lane (A Desert Tortoise Tale) and Desert Night Shift (A Pack Rat Story). Other picture books published by The RGU Group of Tempe include: Don’t Ever Cross That Road! (An Armadillo Story), Lizards for Lunch (A Roadrunner’s Tale), and the award-winning Don’t Call Me Pig! Also brand new in 2006 is Earth’s Crust, part of Lerner Publications Early Bird Earth Science series, and Hippos, part of the Early Bird Nature Book series.Storad’s other titles in that series include:  Saguaro Cactus, Scorpions, Tarantulas, and Meerkats. Another new title from Storad in 2006 is The Circulatory System. The book is part of Lerner’s Early Bird Body Systems series. All of the books are written for readers in grades 2 to 4. Other Storad titles published by Donna Atwood Design include the coloring/learning books Sonoran Desert A to Z, Little Lords of the Desert, Ancient Harvest, 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 was a science/medical writer for the U.S. National Cancer Institute, a freelance magazine writer, and a science/feature writer at Kent State University. He earned a mass media communication degree from the University of Akron in 1979, and a master's degree in mass communication/science journalism from ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Telecommunication in 1983. He was a Year 2000 inductee to the Cronkite School’s Journalism Hall of Fame. Storad is a 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 University Research Magazine Association.