AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR BIOS
Justine Danielle Del Monte -Author
Justine Danielle Del Monte, Author, is currently a senior in high school and is attending The Athenian School in Danville, California. While at Athenian, she was fortunate to be able to have the amazing experience to attend a semester abroad in South Africa, and also international community service trips to Nicaragua, Bali, Singapore and Peru. She fell in love with the people in all of the countries.
When she was eleven she began writing anti-bullying messages with “Drew’s Dancing Drum,” and continued Drew’s adventures with her second and third books, “Drew Meets Boo,” written at age 12 and “Drew and the Cyber Bully,” written at age 13. Justine’s fourth book, “Drew and Boo Adopt Lou and Sue,” written at age 14 focuses on being kind to animals and adopting from shelters. Her fifth story, “Drew Moves,” written at age 15 focuses on forgetting judgment and accepting people. Her stories continue to educate young children on bullying and she aims to send positive messages about kindness and acceptance. She enjoys writing for kids as she relates to many of the struggles they face at such a young age. 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), two free interactive Apps available in English, Spanish, and Mandarin, and an animated short film. Justine and Brandon, the illustrator, were interviewed by KVCR radio in San Bernardino in 2014 and 2016, interviewed live at WABE Atlanta radio in 2015 and 2017 and has had two television interviews in Southern California. Justine was a keynote speaker at the Solano BookFest. She has been a guest speaker at numerous schools in California and Atlanta and for local Girl Scout Troops. Justine is featured on Pacer.org, Students Taking Action Segment (Pacer is a National Bullying Center), and 86 Degrees and Story Monsters Inc. magazines. She is deeply honored that her simple stories are encouraging others to be "nice" and treat others and animals with respect. |
Brandon King Chappell -Illustrator
Brandon King Chappell, Illustrator and Director, has just completed the six month process of creating the Illustrations for “Drew and Boo Adopt Lou and Sue,” the fourth book in the Drew Series and has already started the fifth book. 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 for 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 over 100 countries. His Apps have also been honored with awards. He has been a guest speaker alongside Justine Del Monte during two live radio shows at WABE, Atlanta and two radio and television interviews at KVCR in Southern California. Brandon has been a guest speaker at numerous schools in Atlanta, Southern California and Northern California. Four of his stories have been animated by Public Broadcasting Services and are being shown nationally during their Children’s Programing. Public Broadcasting Services enthusiastically agreed to animate the next two books in the series. Brandon has been working with them since 2014. 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 |
