Chris Monroe is an award-winning author, illustrator, and cartoonist who lives in Duluth, MN. She is a graduate of the Minneapolis College Of Art and Design, and has shown her work in galleries, museums and dimly lit hallways regionally and around the world.
Her Monkey with a Tool Belt books have been adapted for the Netflix series Chico Bon Bon: Monkey With A Tool Belt. Her newest picture book String Ball will be released by Carolrhoda Books in spring of 2025.
In 2016 she won an Emmy award for her work on the PBS documentary Kevin Kling: Lost and Found.
Her weekly comic strip Violet Days, was in print for 22 years in the StarTribune and other publications. The comic’s first years are documented in the book Ultra-Violet: Ten Years Of Violet Days.
Chris has written and illustrated 12 picture books for children, including the acclaimed Monkey With A Tool Belt series, Bug On A Bike, Sasquatch and Squirrel and others. She has also illustrated books for other authors, including Jane Yolen’s Trash Mountain, and the Big Little Brother books by Kevin Kling.
Awards / Honors
- 2016 Emmy Award – Lost and Found
- 2015 George Morrison Award
- 2015 MN State Artist’s Initiative Grant
- 2014 CCBC Choices Award
- 2012 Bronze Ippy Award
- 2012 Bronze Moonbeam Award
- 2010 Silver Ippy Award
- 2010 New York Public Library Best Books for Kids
- 2008 New York Public Library Best Books for Kids
- 2008 Gold Moonbeam Award
