Brendan Shusterman
Brendan Shusterman is Neal Shusterman’s son, and the illustrator of Challenger Deep. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 16, and his experiences provided some inspiration to the story. Neal states that when Brendan was experiencing a particularly rough time, he once described his circumstances by saying, “Sometimes it feels like I’m at the bottom of the ocean screaming at the top of my lungs and no one can hear me.” This gave Neal the idea for Challenger Deep, however he waited for 6 years until his son’s health had improved before starting the project. Brendan’s poetry was also incorporated into the dialogue of the character Hal.
Sources:
hbook.com (accessed: August 20, 2018).
Bio prepared by Emily Booth, University of Technology, Sydney, Emily.Booth@student.uts.edu.au
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