Daniel W. Vandever is a product of Small Wonders Day Care where his experiences as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle helped shape the creativity behind his debut picture book, Fall in Line Holden!, a 2017 Honor Award book with the American Indian Library Association.

Vandever is the owner of South of Sunrise Creative, a strategic communications firm that helps advance higher education initiatives through community development strategies. The company focuses on equity, access, and advancement - principles that also shape his approach to children’s books. It is in each role that Vandever hopes to affect change on the Navajo Nation through education.

 Vandever received a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri and a Masters in Community and Regional Planning from the University of New Mexico. He the grandson of the late Joe Vandever Sr., Navajo Code Talker, U.S. Marine Corps, Third Raider Battalion.