NEW YORK — When Flavia Bujor flew to New York this month for a four-day stay, a U.S. customs official questioned her entry form.
Not many 15-year-old French schoolgirls enter "business" as their reason for visiting the United States. But Bujor hadn't checked the wrong box.
She was here for a round of personal appearances to promote the U.S. publication of her fantasy novel, The Prophecy of the Stones, a book she wrote when she was 13.
Bujor's story about a magical quest undertaken by three teenage girls became a best-seller in Germany and Italy. It has been translated into 26 languages, and a Russian version is in the works.
Bujor (pronounced Bu-JO) has large brown eyes set in an angular Slavic face. Change is rapid at her age: She already looks older than her book-jacket portrait. Her adult air of poise lapses at times into girlish giddiness. When told, for instance, that the fingerless, black, webbed gloves she is wearing look like part of Madonna's wardrobe, she giggles helplessly.
She speaks English well, if woodenly, and is more comfortable in French, Romanian or German. During occasional exchanges with her chaperone en franais, Bujor's tone is markedly more animated.
Writing a best-seller has given her a crash course in publishing. She blames marketing for the fact that The Prophecy of the Stones was not as popular in France as in other countries.
"It was more difficult to find it in bookshops in France," she says, "and it was given to the public more for adults."
That same mistake will not be made here. "We think it will appeal to girls 10 to 12," says Kathy Schneider, the publisher of Miramax books. "The fact that it's written by a young girl will give it greater appeal to that audience."
The message of The Prophecy is simple, according to its author. "It's about the power of dreaming, of believing that dreams can be realized," says Bujor. "The fact of hoping, of believing in dreams, can change the life and change the destiny of each one."
Early reviews have been mixed. The Cleveland Plain Dealer called it "an extraordinary novel . . . rich in irony and imagery." The New York Times, on the other hand, sniffed that it "reads like a homework project gone much too far."
Bujor's precocious literary standing has created a curious schism in her life. "It's like two worlds - very different," she says. "The world of school with my friends, and the world of the book with adults."
