About Robert

Robert Sams holds two bachelor’s degrees, one in zoology and one in communications. This means he can talk to animals . . .whether they understand him is another question.

He is a filmmaker and photographer, who has taken his cameras underwater and above ground from the Micronesian islands to the Great Lakes of Michigan.

He is an author and educator, sharing his enthusiasm with thousands of children at assemblies each year. He is also a performer and musician.

In The Shark Riddle, Robert plays himself (and a "riddle solver" who solves riddles for 5 cents a piece), an old sea captain (who sells tiny souvenirs), as well as a 1950s "Shark Dentist." He wrote and sings the hilariously upbeat and raucous "Great White Shark Song" as a sea lion, and he also filmed sea lions on the Oregon Coast. 

In First Snow in the Woods, Robert performs the voice of the crow, the little mouse, the groundhog, the chipmunk and a host of other woodland creatures. He spent months following animals in the fall forest, to film footage such as the pileated woodpecker.

In The Riddle in a Bottle, he is a very enthusiastic member of The Riddle Solvers.  He also stars as the singing, one-legged pirate and the very sleepy Father Time.  And if you listen carefully, you'll hear is voices in most of the wildlife stories, including children's favorites: the hunting eel, the munching muskrat and the overly-excited tide pool fish.

In Stranger in the Woods: The Movie, he is the voice of a raspy singing squirrel and the voice of Pierre, a snowdrift with a bad French accent.

In Lost in the Woods, he sings like a lounge-singing tree frog. He has recently been spotted as Father Time and as a singing, one-legged pirate.

He also plays the guitar and has very expressive eyebrows.

But who is he really? Read an essay Laura wrote about him.