Algerian-American Author Saves World From Chaos With a Fairytale
Boualem Bousseloub was born in Algeria to Berber and Arab parents and emigrated before his country earned its independence from France. Eventually, he settled in Pasadena, CA and became an avid hiker in the verdant Arroyo Seco Valley.
In the late 1980s he became a board member of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Los Angeles Chapter and raised two children, but he still hiked in his beloved Arroyo Seco near his home. After retirement and a second marriage, he started to write fiction.
Bousseloub’s first book, a fairy tale, The Mysterious Kingdom of the Arroyo, centers around Astor, 10, who has Asperger’s syndrome. Astor and his mother are mourning the death of his father in a car accident, and the two go for Saturday picnics in the Arroyo Seco. On a walk by himself, Astor meets a human-size white rabbit who tells him her name is Blanca. She leads him to a magical underground animal world.
Each Saturday Blanca introduces Astor to a magical realm of wonderful characters in the Palace of the Serene Soul, including Lord Irido and Professor Hoot-Hooty, a human-size owl presiding in his Laboratory of the Perpetual Quest for Knowledge. They have a mission for Astor: to save the world from chaos. This story, written for children in the spirit of The Little Prince, is intended to appeal to readers of all ages, everywhere in the world. The Mysterious Kingdom of the Arroya is available from AET’s Middle East Books and More.
—Pat McDonnell Twair
