Senior Carina Wang shared her ninth novel, Wind Seeker, at a lunchtime reading in the Oxford library on Sept. 9. Wind Seeker is a children’s fantasy novel that weaves magical adventures with a powerful message about environmental conservation. Wang donates 90% of the book’s profits to environmental efforts, such as One Tree Planted.
In Wind Seeker, an 11-year old girl who is initially rude and selfish. However, a boy in her class is a witch, and in that society, magical species exist but are dying out because of human pollution. Wang incorporates environmental knowledge to share with readers of this book.
“Just making all the information was accurate. It talks a lot about environmental problems, and I had to make sure it was accurate. I had to look at a lot of sources,” she said.
Wang has sold her novel at farmers markets, created a YouTube channel, and presented to kids about her book. To motivate herself while writing, she crafted a book trailer that was released in December of 2023. Wind Seeker was released officially in May 2024.
“I think one thing that really helps me is thinking about the reasons why I started writing this book in the first place,” Wang said. “I filmed a live action book trailer for it, a while before I published it. When I was working on it, I found it really helpful to watch my own book trailer.”
Wang’s writing journey began at the age of seven when she started writing her first book with the support of friends from her elementary school’s daycare program. Two years later, she debuted her first book, which marked the start of her writing journey to become an author. She likes to write children’s fantasy with real world themes.
“When I was younger, each book would take a year. When you’re young it’s hard to find motivation. I built up this habit to write 30 minutes a day before going to bed,” Wang said.
Many Oxford students came to the reading to listen to Wang’s story and presentation.
“She talked a lot about environmental aspects, and from what I can tell, she loves fantastical elements, so based on the cover and synopsis, it seems like a book with an important, real message told through a magical, fantastical mode,” senior Joseph Lee said.
Wind Seeker is available on Amazon. Wang’s author website is crowns-of-the-sky.com.
