Award-Winning Author Visits Cinnaminson School’s 6th Graders

CINNAMINSON, NJ – Award-winning author Christina Soontornvat recently visited virtually with sixth-graders at the Westfield Friends School to talk about her book titled "All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team."

“The 6th grade has been reading her book for science, language arts and social studies,” Margaret Haviland, head of Westfield Friends School, told Patch.

“They have studied cave formation, hydrology, how diving equipment works and what sorts of water pumps were used to help save the boys. They have learned about Buddhism and Thai culture and asked themselves how this country pulled together for this rescue,” she continued.

Students also had to write ten different types of poetry based on what they read, according to Haviland.

Most of the Zoom discussion with Soontornvat on May 5 focused on caves and tactics that could help solve multi-layered problems, she added.

"Writing All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team" gave Soontornvat the chance to write on people who share the same heritage as her and also earned her the 2021 Kirkus Prize for Young People’s Literature and a 2021 Newbery Honor, Soontornvat’s biography said.

She has also written "The Ramble Shamble Children" and the 2021 Newbery Medal-winning and The Washington Post’s Best Book of the Year "A Wish in the Dark," her website said.

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