Thai, Texas roots major influence on award-winning author of children’s books

Christina Soontornvat has long understood the joy that comes from reading as a child.

She grew up doing a lot of it as a little girl behind the counter at her parents’ Thai restaurant in Weatherford.

Now, the 1998 Weatherford High School graduate is a history-making, award-winning author of children’s books. Recently, not one, but two of her children’s books, “A Wish in the Dark” and “All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team,” were named 2021 Newbery Honor Books.

This is only the third time in the history of the Newbery Award that an author has received two awards in one year — and is the first time that an author has had both fiction and nonfiction books win in the same year.

“Honestly, I think I am still a little bit in shock about the Newbery honors. I could not believe it when they called to tell me I had been selected — and was even more surprised to learn that two of my books had received the recognition,” Soontornvat said.

“I am so very grateful because this means that more children may be able to access these books that celebrate Thailand and the Thai people, something that is very important to me.”

Despite all her reading as a youth, she did not plan on becoming an author. She went to college to study engineering, and then worked for a decade in the science museum field before pursuing writing.

“Once I became an aunt and then a mother, being around young children reminded me how much I loved storytelling, and I remembered how important books were to me as a child,” she said. “I knew that I had stories of my own to tell and I wanted to give it a shot. It took me years of trying and failing before I was able to succeed.”

She seriously pursued publication for about a dozen years before her first book, “The Changelings,” was published in 2016.

Now, the awards just keep coming. “A Wish in the Dark” also earned the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award this year, and “All Thirteen” has garnered multiple awards, including a Sibert Honor for nonfiction and a YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award.

As for her personal favorite among the books she’s written?

“I think ‘A Wish in the Dark’ will always have such a special place in my heart because it was heavily influenced by stories told to me by both of my parents. The book is dedicated to both of them,” she said.

Though she and her husband moved to Austin 20 years ago for graduate school and have lived there ever since, she often makes it back to Weatherford and Fort Worth where she has family and friends there — and special memories.

And family remains a major influence in her writing.

“My mother’s Texas roots go way back, and her grandparents were dry land farmers out in West Texas during the Dust Bowl. She grew up in Kermit, a tiny oil town,” Soontornvat recalled.

“My father’s ancestry is Chinese and Thai. He grew up in Bangkok and immigrated to the US when he was 19. After my parents met and got married, they opened the Golden Moon Restaurant in 1983 — Parker County’s first Asian food restaurant. I am so proud and grateful for both my Thai and Texas roots. I know I wouldn’t be who I am today without them.”

And, it turns out she is not the only one in the family with a writing talent.

“My mother is a wonderful writer, though she has never been published. She filled our house with books when I was younger and was always encouraging me to read and tell stories as a young person,” she said. “And it’s very exciting to see that one of my daughters is becoming quite a talented storyteller herself.”