St. John resident wins award for young adult book
Published: July 27, 2010
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Local children’s author Cristina Kessler is celebrating the win of her second Children’s Africana Honor Book Award for her young adult adventure story, “Trouble in Timbuktu.”
Published in 2009, “Trouble in Timbuktu” is the story of heroic 13-year-old twins Ayisha and Ahmed’s quest to stop an American archaeologist and his wife from stealing ancient manuscripts from their native city of Timbuktu, Mali. Ahmed, who is multilingual, serves as a tour guide for foreigners visiting the ancient city. When he notices the couple’s suspicious behavior regarding certain important documents, he and his sister set off on an adventure in order to stop the thieves.
Now in its 19th year, the Africana Book Award program, part of the Outreach Council of the African Studies Association, honors the best children’s and young adult literature from U.S. authors and illustrators who create books about Africa.
The award was started as a way to encourage writers to publish accurate and balanced books about Africa, especially for children.
Kessler says she found out she was up for the award when the Africana Book Award committee contacted her and asked her to submit her work, which they had already read.
“I didn’t know that they knew it was out there so it came as a surprise and a big honor that they had even considered it,” she said.
The St. John resident says she received the news she had won while at a party in Washington, D.C., and she has yet to stop smiling.
“For me to be recognized by the African Studies Association, that is just a really big honor,” said Kessler.
Kessler will receive her award in November at the National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., where she will also give a presentation to some of her young readers at the Library of Congress.
A multi-lingual world-traveler, Kessler has visited some 104 countries, and has lived in Honduras, Kenya and the Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Indonesia, Honduras, Mexico, Niger, Mozambique, Sudan, Ethiopia, Mali and now, St. John.
She knew she would become a writer at a young age, and began writing for children in 1981, selling her first manuscripts to “Highlights for Children.” All of her books are set in places she has lived or knows well, and many of them incorporate her own experiences in these places.
Other works by Kessler are “One Night: A Story from the Desert/Muhamad’s Desert Night,” “All the King’s Animals,” “Konte Chameleon, Fine, Fine, Fine!,” “No Condition is Permanent,” “My Great-Grandmother’s Gourd,” “Jubela,” “Our Secret, Siri Aang” and “The Best Beekeeper of Lalibela - A Tale from Africa.”
In 2001, Kessler received her first “Africana Honor Book Award” from the African Studies Association for “My Great-Grandmother’s Gourd.”
For more information about the author or her books, visit www.cristinakessler.com/About.htm or www.africaaccessreview.org/aar/about.html.
— Contact reporter Genevieve Ryan at 774-8772 ext. 340 or e-mail gryan@dailynews.vi.
