Bujor, Flavia 1989–

PERSONAL: Born 1989, in Romania.

ADDRESSES: Home—France. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Hyperion Editorial Dept., 77 West 66th St., New York, NY 10023.

CAREER: Writer.

WRITINGS:

Prophétie des pierres, [Paris, France], c. 2003, translated by Linda Coverdale as The Prophecy of the Stones, Miramax Books/Hyperion Books for Children (New York, NY), 2004.

Author's work has been translated into Italian and German.

SIDELIGHTS: Flavia Bujor was fourteen years of age when her first novel, Prophétie des pierres, was published in France. Translated as The Prophecy of the Stones, the novel focuses on three girls, Jade, Amber, and Opal, each of whom has a stone that matches her name. The powerful stones are connected to an ancient prophecy concerning the Light. The girls enter the kingdom of Fairytale, with both its good and evil beings, and meet a knight called the Nameless One, who is also involved in the fulfilling of the prophecy. A parallel story involves a girl who, while dying in a Paris hospital, dreams of Jade, Amber, and Opal.

Perhaps because of the age of its author, reviews of The Prophecy of the Stones were generally negative. School Library Journal reviewer Bruce Ann Shook wrote that the story "often takes on the quality of a B movie," and that Bujor's writing "style is somewhat flat and … very youthful." A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that "the prose and the plotting, exceptional for a teenager, may seem mannered or conventional by other standards." Nora Krug, reviewing the book in the New York Times Book Review, concluded that readers should "stick with masters of the genre rather than what reads like a homework project gone much too far."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 15, 2004, review of The Prophecy of the Stones, p. 1453.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, May, 2004, Krista Hutley, review of The Prophecy of the Stones, p. 367.

Chicago Sun-Times, May 9, 2004, Elizabeth Hand, review of The Prophecy of the Stones, p. 14.

Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2004, review of The Prophecy of the Stones, p. 267.

New York Times Book Review, April 18, 2004, Nora Krug, review of The Prophecy of the Stones, p. 27.

Publishers Weekly, March 1, 2004, review of The Prophecy of the Stones, p. 70.

School Library Journal, May, 2004, Bruce Anne Shook, review of The Prophecy of the Stones, p. 144.

ONLINE

Scholastic News Web site, http://teacher.scholastic.com/ (July 7, 2004), Lisa Feder-Feitel and Rachel Laskow, "Tips from a Teen Author" (interview).