Roland Smith Biography Essay

Roland Smith was born November 30, 1951 in Portland, Oregon. Roland claims ever since he was little he has always loved “the sound of the keyboard and the look of the letters and words that eventually turn into stories”. When Smith was 5 years old his parents gave him a keyboard. This keyboard was the best present he had ever received little did he know that this one small gift would later lead him being a bestselling author of children and young adult books.

Roland went to the Portland State University and majored in English so he could pursue his dream of become a writer. Roland being a poor college student decided that he needed a part-time job to pay off his expenses when he saw that there was a job opening for the children's zoo and …show more content…
Roland with his quick thinking jumped up and grabbed the bird. Both this instance and the one with the agonists he claims where “pure luck”.But nevertheless the zookeeper was so impressed he gave Smith a full time job working for the “big” zoo which led Smith to continue working with animals for 20 years. Traveling to various zoos all around the world, reintroducing almost extinct red wolves to the world and helping save wildlife in Alaska after the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. This whole time keeping his writing career as no more than a hobby but never forget it or losing interest in …show more content…
This oil spill caused Alaska to lose over 5,000 sea otters and 250,000 birds. With Roland's help they managed to save 300 sea otters. In his book he talks about how they go out in small boats for around two weeks at a time, following the flow of oil. When they would see a sea otter lying on shore shivering, they knew right away the seal was covered in oil. As fast as they can they would get out of their boats and attempt to trap the otter, and then scoop it up with a net. Smith continued to write about zoo keeping for the next few books and soon after retiring from zoo keeping to pursue his childhood career as becoming a full-time