Robb, Don 1937-

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Robb, Don 1937-

Personal

Born November 24, 1937; married. Education: Ohio University in Athens, B.A. Hobbies and other interests: Reading, cooking.

Addresses

Home—Andover, MA. Office—Charlesbridge Publishing, 85 Main St., Watertown, MA 02472.

Career

Editor and writer. Charlesbridge Publishing, Watertown, MA, staff member, 1981—; writer. Former foreign-language teacher in Toledo, OH, and Hackensack, NJ; Holt, Rinehart & Winston Publishers, New York, NY, former foreign-language consultant; Houghton Mifflin (publisher), Boston, MA, former vice president.

Writings

Hail to the Chief: The American Presidency, illustrated by Alan Witschonke, Charlesbridge Publishing (Watertown, MA), 2000.

This Is America: The American Spirit in Places and People, illustrated by Christine Joy Pratt, Charlesbridge Publishing (Watertown, MA), 2005.

Ox, House, Stick: The History of Our Alphabet, illustrated by Anne Smith, Charlesbridge Publishing (Watertown, MA), 2007.

Sidelights

Don Robb worked for more than twenty years in the publishing industry before he began writing his own books for children. He is affiliated with Massachusetts-based Charlesbridge Publishing as both an author and a member of the company's staff. Robb's books include the nonfiction titles Hail to the Chief: The American Presidency, This Is America: The American Spirit in Places and People, and Ox, House, Stick: The History of Our Alphabet.

Hail to the Chief, featuring artwork by Alan Witschonke, is an elementary-grade picture book useful for teaching youngsters about America's best-known presidents. This Is America, illustrated by Christine Joy Pratt, explores famous people and places that have made the United States the country it is today. In her School Library Journal review of This Is America, Susan Lissim dubbed Robb's book "an appealing way to explore U.S. history and democracy."

With its intriguing title, Ox, House, Stick introduces elementary-grade readers to the history of the modern alphabet, beginning with the earliest pictograms and following the evolution forward in time to the Roman letters used today. Robb explains both why and how writing began and evolved over time, including the changing shape of letters and the need for punctuation. "This quality work fills a significant gap in children's information literature," concluded Jayne Damron in a review of the book for School Library Journal. In Horn Book, Joanna Rudge Long described Ox, House, Stick as "an excellent first resource" that is "skillfully organized to … inspire interest," while in Booklist Gillian Engberg deemed it "a fascinating look at the Roman alphabet." In a review of Robb's book for Kirkus Reviews, a contributor praised Ox, House, Stick as a "pleasingly informative offering."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August, 2007, Gillian Engberg, review of Ox, House, Stick: The History of Our Alphabet, p. 72.

Horn Book, November-December, 2007, Joanna Rudge Long, review of Ox, House, Stick, p. 698.

Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2007, review of Ox, House, Stick.

School Library Journal, March, 2001, Margaret C. Howell, review of Hail to the Chief: The American Presidency, p. 242; May, 2005, Susan Lissim, review of This Is America: The American Spirit in Places and People, p. 114; August, 2007, Jayne Damron, review of Ox, House, Stick, p. 138.