Christina Soontornvat

**Christina Soontornvat** (; born 1980) is an American author, educator, and mechanical engineer. She won two Newbery Honors in 2021 for the children's books _A Wish in the Dark_ and _All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team_ (fiction and nonfiction, respectively). She won another Newbery Honor in 2023 for the middle grade novel "The Last Mapmaker".

## Early life and school

Christina was born in 1980. She was the daughter of Amnaj Soontornvat, a business-owner from Thailand and granddaughter of Thai broadcasting executive Saengchai Sunthornwat. She went to Weatherford High School in Weatherford, Texas. She graduated in 1998. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Trinity University in 2002. She also has a Master of Science degree in science education from the University of Texas at Austin in 2007.

## Career

Soontornvat worked at a science museum.

In 2020, Soontornvat wrote the children's books _A Wish in the Dark_ and _All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team_. In an interview, she said that _All Thirteen_, which tells the story of the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue, was told "from the Thai perspective as much as possible, and to let people know about Thailand". Both books were givrn a Newbery Honor in 2021. It made Christina the third author to get two Newbery awards in the same year (after Meindert DeJong in 1954 and E. L. Konigsburg in 1968). She is also the first author to win two Newbery awards in the same year for both fiction (_A Wish in the Dark_) and nonfiction (_All Thirteen_).

Christina, with fellow writers Ellen Oh and Melanie Conklin, made the Everywhere Book Fest, which took place from May 1 to May 2, 2020. It was created because of book festival cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It included the Tucson Festival of Books, where Christina and Ellen had been told to speak on a panel. The event included live and pre-recorded parts featuring authors of children's and young adult books. 43,000 online viewers came on to see it.

## Personal life

Christina lives in Austin, Texas with her husband. They have two children.

### _Changelings_ books

1. _The Changelings_ (September 6, 2016)
1. _In a Dark Land: A Changelings Story_ (October 1, 2017)

### _Diary of an Ice Princess_ books

1. _Snow Place Like Home_ (June 25, 2019)
1. _Frost Friends Forever_ (June 25, 2019)
1. _On Thin Ice_ (October 1, 2019)
1. _The Big Freeze_ (March 3, 2020)
1. _Slush Puppy Love_ (June 2, 2020)
1. _Icing on the Snowflake_ (September 15, 2020)

### Other books

- _The Blunders: A Counting Catastrophe!_ (February 11, 2020)
- _A Wish in the Dark_ (March 24, 2020)
- _Simon at the Art Museum_ (June 9, 2020)
- _All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team_ (October 13, 2020)
- _The Ramble Shamble Children_ (March 9, 2021)
- _The Last Mapmaker_ (April 12, 2022)
- _The Tryout_

## Other websites

- Official website

## Infobox (writer)

- **name**: Christina Soontornvat
- **image**: Christina Soontornvat 2023 Texas Book Festival.jpg
- **caption**: Soontornvat at the 2023 Texas Book Festival
- **occupation**: Author
- **education**: Trinity University (Texas), Trinity University (Bachelor of Science, BS)
University of Texas at Austin (Master of Science, MS)
- **period**: 2016–present
- **genre**: Children's literature, Children's and young adult fiction