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An Accidental Journey

For a WVU education alum and children’s book author, whimsy nurtures learning

By West Virginia University

March 9^th, 2026

Every Christmas Eve, Nate Whiting pulls a single sheet of paper from a drawer. It’s a poem, “The Tale of the Christmas Wish Crackler,” which he wrote years ago on a whim for his young sons, Leif and Clay, and still reads aloud as part of a family tradition.

Whiting, a former physical education teacher who earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from West Virginia University, never planned to become a children’s author. But he’d been writing poetry since childhood — forever rhyming words without thinking, with half-formed ideas humming in his mind like background music.

Today, Whiting is the creator of the “Whimsies of an Accidental Poet” series, a collection of rhyme-driven children’s books built around playful language, imaginative characters and an ethos he returns to again and again: Kids deserve light.

The cadence of his books and the refusal to dumb language down even for the littlest audiences is reminiscent of Shel Silverstein’s work, with a touch of Dr. Seuss’s whimsy and worldbuilding.

“I just really believe in positivity toward kids. There’s enough negativity in the world,” Whiting said.

Whiting’s separate paths as writer and educator run parallel thanks to his lifelong ability to notice how kids learn best — by using their imaginations.

A man in a cowboy hat sits in a chair and reads a book to three young children sitting on a curb in front of him. The scene takes place outside, on a brick walkway, with white tents and people in the background. — At an outdoor festival, Nate Whiting perches on a chair, reading from one of his books and doing what he does best — making children laugh.

Author smiles at his book signing booth at a Renaissance fair. The table displays his books: — Children’s author Nate Whiting mans his booth at a festival, presiding in full pirate costume behind a display of his whimsical books of poems for kids.

From Student to Teacher

“I’ve always been a big kid myself,” Whiting said.

In his own youth in Beverly, Massachusetts, he thrived as an athlete, lettering in five different sports. For high school, Whiting went to New York Military Academy, where children as young as 8 or 9 years old were also students, giving Whiting a taste for the joys of being a mentor.

When he got to WVU, he earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education, recreation and dance. He also found a mentor of his own, Linda Carson, now the WVU Ware Distinguished Professor Emerita.

A member of the WVU faculty for more than 30 years, Carson directed the Motor Development Center in the WVU Teacher Education Program. For Whiting, she was instrumental in guiding his focus on children’s physical development and play-based learning.

“Dr. Carson had a program called Kinder Skills and Play Skills,” he said. “It was about teaching kids how to move in specific ways to improve their skillsets as far as throwing, running, jumping, acrobatics, gymnastics, all those kind of things.”

The work took him deep into how kids learn to communicate: through confidence and coordination, imagination and inspiration.

Whiting also gained experience in daycares in Morgantown.

“I loved watching kids laugh when they learn something,” he said.

He didn’t know it then, but that desire to make kids laugh would stick with him.

Nate Whiting gets in the creative zone, writing poems on his laptop at his home in Maryland.

Two people pose with the book — In a bookstore, a delighted Nate Whiting poses with renowned children’s author Judy Blume (left), who holds a copy of one of Whiting’s own books, “If Whispers Could Wonder.”

Nate Whiting takes some time out from the busy promotional life of an author and reflects at a memorial for Jimmy Buffett outside his recording studio in Key West.

An Inevitable Accident

Whiting’s writing life began early, but for most of it, he didn’t really see it as a career.

More like a reflex.

He wrote poems for family. He wrote poems for colleagues. He wrote poems for his students.

“I would write a poem for a kid that was having a bad day, or to help a teacher make a lesson plan a little more fun,” Whiting said.

He also wrote and played music from an early age — another way he stayed connected to the mental work of rhyme and cadence.

“But I’d never really considered myself to be a poet,” he said.

Publishing felt outside the realm of possibility. The process was complicated. And his writing existed best in ordinary, everyday spaces.

Whiting’s turning point as a writer came when he met his wife, Jo Gilley, in 2018.

One Christmas Eve after they’d started dating, he broke out “The Wish Crackler” and read it to her.

“As soon as I was done, Jo was like, ‘That’s a book,’” Whiting said.

But unlike others who had encouraged him casually, she could see and plan a path forward. A graphic designer and editor, she had a family history in sales and business that helped her see what he didn’t: potential.

She took action, and her present to Whiting for his next birthday was to pay for an illustrator who created drawings for “The Wish Crackler.”

Their first run was imperfect and small, just a hundred copies of the book. Still, those copies disappeared quickly. And the positive feedback piled up.

The next edition was printed more professionally, and it was bigger — 500 copies.

They sold out again.

And again.

Jo then asked the obvious question. “What other poems do you have?”

Endless poems, Whiting thought.

He had ideas upon ideas. They were just waiting for someone to believe in them.

Man in cowboy hat holds four copies of his book — “Where’s the what thing?” asks a boggled Nate Whiting, holding an array of copies of his book of that title.

A man and woman smile while holding children's books in front of a display of books. The man wears a cowboy hat and a blue shirt that says — Nate Whiting and Tracy Vega, owner of E.L. & Co. in Pasadena, Maryland, show off a display of titles in his children’s book series, Whimsies of an Accidental Poet.

Jo (left) and Nate Whiting model T-shirts from the Whimsies of an Accidental Poet merchandise line.

A Whimsical World

Jo dived into her husband’s poems, looking for ones that could become full picture books.

“I am not necessarily always the ideas person, but I’m the person that can take your idea and launch it into the stratosphere,” she said.

She picked out 10 or 12 poems to start with, and the project took on a name.

“That was the start of the ‘Whimsies of an Accidental Poet’ series,” Whiting said.

Today, his published work features mischievous dinosaur toddlers who won’t sit still and eat their food.

It depicts philosophical “Blurp” creatures who ponder the biggest ideas.

And it brings to life siblings who amass a toy army to combat sock-stealing monsters.

The stories, like children, contain big, unpredictable feelings.

“I never wrote for anybody in particular,” Whiting said. “I just write things that make me smile and remember how poetry made me feel when I was a kid.”

A poster for Nate Whiting’s appearance at the Once Upon a Con event in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 14–17, 2025.

Need a hug? This squishy and snuggable dinosaur from Nate Whiting’s merchandise line can help with that.

Mischievous dinosaurs like the one featured on this sticker design are just some of the fantastical creatures that populate the world Nate Whiting has created for kids who love to laugh.

The Accidental Process

Parents often tell Whiting they like the books even more than their kids do, even when their kids ask for them on repeat night after night.

He traces that response to the writers who shaped him, like Silverstein, who stands out to Whiting for “the wackiness and the weirdness that he incorporated into his poetry and the fact that he didn’t dumb down his words,” he said.

His own philosophy is similar.

“I don’t believe any child can’t handle a word,” he said. “A word that a kid doesn’t know is just a word that a kid doesn’t know yet.”

Inspiration comes to Whiting from his everyday life in Glen Burnie, Maryland, fleeting moments and mundane interactions that spark something.

“I get inspired by the strangest, silliest things,” he said. But once an idea takes hold, the writing comes quickly.

“Typically, it only takes me about an hour to write a poem,” he said. The challenge is then shaping the story around it. “It’s like squeezing all the words in between,” he said.

It’s a joyful process and one meant to bring joy to others.

Whiting said, “Not only does a poem allow children to just feel good for a second, but it also gives them the opportunity to ask themselves, ‘What other silly things can I think of?’”