He introduces readers to such places as Burma, the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and Brazil as well as American cities such as New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. The topics of his books range from biology, cryptozoology, meteorology, volcanology, and American history to organized crime, mountaineering, terrorism, technology, anthropology, and football. Smith's writing style is sprinkled with wry humor that hooks the reader and action that takes them for a ride. Nonseries titles have included The Captain's Dog: My Journey with the Lewis and Clark Tribe, Sasquatch, Legwork, and Elephant Run, which won the Oregon Council of Teachers of English Oregon Spirit Book Award for Young Adults in 2007. Since then, Smith has written several popular and critically acclaimed series whose first volumes include Beneath, Mutation, Cryptid Hunters, I.Q.: Independence Hall, Zach's Lie, Jack's Run, Thunder Cave, Storm Runners, and The Edge. Eventually, however, he made the segue to become a children's writer with his first book, Sea Otter Rescue (1990), an outgrowth of his involvement cleaning up the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. Smith wrote while he was working as a biologist, rising at four in the morning before starting his day job. As a senior research biologist, he helped conservation biologists reintroduce red wolves into the wild. For more than twenty years, he conducted research and traveled for the zoo as zookeeper, senior zookeeper, curator of mammals and birds, general curator, assistant zoo director, and zoo director. Originally an English major at Portland State University, he switched to biology when he took a job at the Portland Zoo (now the Oregon Zoo), where he found that he loved working with animals. He attended Grant and Lincoln High Schools in Portland and received a GED diploma when he was sixteen. Roland Smith was born in Portland on November 30, 1951, to Roland Charles (Smitty) Smith and Melva May (Hap) Smith. His prize-winning publications include both fiction and nonfiction, totaling about 50 titles. Smith writes about characters who face high-stakes situations with daring and courage, often working together to achieve an outcome.
He has described himself as a writer of "adventure, animals, and more," and his many books have children and teens at the center of the excitement. Author and former zookeeper Roland Smith said it was the gift of a typewriter from his parents when he was five years old that sparked his love of writing.
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