Excerpt: Reid came up with the idea for Rappin' Rob while taking a graduate class at the University of Minnesota. Once he became children's librarian in Eau Claire, he started making presentations at schools and libraries to inspire children to read.
"That was my whole purpose, to make reading cool," Reid says.
Demand for Reid's performances skyrocketed after a Rappin' Rob performance in the late 1980s at a library conference in Chicago. In fact, Reid credits that performance and the Rappin' Rob character for the national acclaim he has garnered as a children's literature expert (Reid has published 13 books and more than 70 articles in children's literature publications).
"If it wasn't for Rappin' Rob, I wouldn't have had these opportunities," says Reid, now a children's literature teacher at UW-Eau Claire.
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