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About
About the Author
Tad Roberts is a writer and graphic designer originally from Hot Springs, Arkansas. Raised on a steady diet of dry humor and sarcasm, he was further influenced by Hanna-Barbera cartoons and old school hip-hop.
Tad studied creative writing and journalism in college. After 25 years of exercising those skills for corporate clients, he’s thrilled to create imaginative stories for himself and other kids. He lives in Atlanta with his wife, Kim, and daughter, Sydney.
About the Illustrator
Chip Waller is an illustrator and graphic designer from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Son of an artist and an elementary school teacher, he grew up in a world of children’s books and art.
Chip studied advertising and graphic design throughout college, finishing off his post-graduate work at The Creative Circus in Atlanta, Georgia. He has been a working designer and illustrator for over twenty years, however it has been one of his life-long dreams to get into the world of children’s literature, illustration, and storytelling. Chip lives in Roswell, Georgia, with his wife (Joey), his son (Max), and their two dogs (Luna and Dash).
About the Inspiration
This project is inspired by—and dedicated to—three amazing ladies in Tad's life: his mom, his wife and their daughter.
Tad's mom was an elementary school teacher—specifically a reading specialist. She was very active in the state, national and international reading associations, attending every book fair and conference imaginable. Who knows exactly how many students she helped with literacy, but she taught her granddaughter to read at age four over the course of one weekend. That kid has been a voracious reader ever since—she’s also winning writing awards at school. So props to Nana for that.
The Crab Rap started nearly eleven years ago as a freestyle rap to distract/entertain baby Sydney as Tad (or Kim) changed her diaper. He beat-boxed and got a smile. He made up some rhymes and got a giggle. So the story grew and grew using the few facts Tad knew about crabs.* Some internet research ensued, and he learned many more facts and polysyllabic words. Low and behold, he had a complete song. Or is it a book? Can it be both? Well it is now!
Nana lost her battle with cancer on Labor Day, 2021—Tad and his brother received a portion of her teacher retirement fund. Kim encouraged Tad to use that as seed money to fulfill his dream of becoming an author. He hired an amazing illustrator to help lift this story to its proverbial feet, and 65 backers on Kickstarter helped get the book published and promoted. Tad and Chip are thrilled to share this silly story with you and your favorite kidlets.
* Why crabs? There happened to be a plush crab near Sydney's changing pad.
About three minutes and 58 seconds
Shelton's story is told in the form of an old school rap—like the way MCs would boast about their DJ. Tad sampled over a dozen songs to create a track for the audiobook and enlisted his daughter, nephew and niece to record the vocals. Once kids hear The Crab Rap, they’ll want to perform this book again and again and again.