Author

Justin Snyder, author and illustrator, is currently a medical student at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. He is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University with a bachelor’s degree in Pre-Medicine. In 1984 as his older brother was dying of Leukemia, the 4 year old Justin began to demonstrate is artistic abilities as he drew in specific detail, the hospital bed, intravenous tubes, and even a stuffed animal hanging from the intravenous pole. Following that demonstration of perception and detail, Justin then moved to imagine what he might have looked like as a fetus and drew a picture of himself in his mother’s womb. When asked why there was a bump on his mother’s abdomen, he pointed out that he was kicking.

His attention to detail and his creative drive led him to excel all through public school in art. Always at the top of his class academically, Justin also participated in various sports and eventually found his place as a starter on soccer team. It was art, however, in which he always ingratiated himself to his peers and his teachers. He was asked to draw caricatures of his fellow senior class members and his teachers for his high school yearbook.

Still a high school senior, Justin took classes at Penn State Altoona and expanded in writing skills. As an undergrad at Penn State, he focused on his pre-medicine courses, took additional art, drama and photography classes. It was at this time that he began to accept commissions for personal artwork.

In January 2002 Justin was sent by Grace Brethren International Missions and his home church to participate on an Extreme Team missionary trip to the Central African Republic. He had the opportunity to experience the culture of the pygmy people in the heart of Central Africa. Many of the Bayaka people Justin met had never seen a white person before and had been taught that “white people eat children.” Despite their initial wariness, it was Justin’s responsibility to break through the language barrier by making non-verbal communication with these children. Soon he had whole villages of children involved in multicultural soccer games in the middle of the rainforest. He had the opportunity (through translators) to share his faith but came back from Central Africa realizing that he had learned far more from the Bayaka people than he had taught them.

Inspired by his experiences and his ever-present creative drive, Justin has labored over Jonathan’s Jungle for several years. The project is finished. The message shines through the written text and the artwork, but the benefit is yet to be realized as parents and grandparents share quality time together. They will come to understand that sometimes the most important things in life are already within our grasp.