AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR BIOS
Justine Danielle Del Monte -Author
Justine Danielle Del Monte, Author, is currently in the 11th grade and is attending The Athenian School in Danville, California. She has enjoyed traveling and attended a semester abroad in South Africa, and hopes to travel more in the future. When she was eleven she began her writing with “Drew’s Dancing Drum,” and continued Drew’s adventures with her second book, “Drew Meets Boo,” written at age 12. Her most recent story, “Drew and the Cyber Bully,” was written at age 13, and it continues to educate children on bullying and she aims to send positive messages about acceptance to young children. She enjoys writing for kids as she relates to many of the struggles they face at such a young age, and her passion for writing has enabled her to turn her books into her Girl Scout Gold Award. (Justine has also earned the Bronze and Silver Girl Scout Awards.) What started as a simple literature assignment while attending Palmer School, in Walnut Creek, turned into a book series (with discussion points), interactive Apps available in English, Spanish, and Mandarin, and an animated short film. Justine and Brandon were interviewed by KVCR in San Bernardino in 2014 and 2016, interviewed live at WABE Atlanta in 2015, and returned for an interview in January of 2017. Justine was also a keynote speaker at the Solano BookFest. Justine has done international community service in Nicaragua, Bali, Singapore, and Peru. She has also been a guest speaker at numerous schools and for Girl Scout Troops and is deeply honored that her simple stories are encouraging others to be "nice" and treat others with respect.
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Brandon King Chappell -Illustrator
Brandon King Chappell, Illustrator and Director, has just completed the six month process of creating the Illustrations for “Drew and the Cyber Bully,” the third book in the Drew Series. His work on the animated short film, “SPOOF,” has won 1st Place for USA at the San Francisco Film Awards. Brandon was the guest speaker at the Hampton Inn in Vacaville, Ca, for the Solano BookFest, where he spoke to authors and illustrators. He taught how a simple story on paper transformed into an animated TV spot of public television. He has since then, won several more Film Festival Awards including a nomination for Best Visual Effects at the prestigious Attic Film Festival in Austin, Texas. His app,“Drew’s Dancing Drum,” currently has over 50,000 downloads in 100 countries. He was also the guest speaker alongside Justine Del Monte during a live radio show at WABE, Atlanta. Brandon was invited back to WABE, in Atlanta on January 2017 to speak about their third book on Cyberbullying. They were both invited to come in to several schools in the area to read and distribute the Drew Book Series. Brandon is continuing his education at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco on a Master’s level and has a “Best of Show,” award for Graphic Design.
His three favorite quotes are: "People are more important than the project." -Brandon Chappell "If you can DREAM IT you can DO IT." -Walt Disney “Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” -Thomas Edison |
