Born in Peru and raised in Chile, Isabel Allende is the critically-acclaimed author of bestselling works including Violeta, A Long Petal of the Sea, The House of the Spirits, Of Love and Shadows, Eva Luna and Paula. Her works have been translated into over 42 languages and have sold more than 74 million copies worldwide. She calls Marin home.
Both your acclaimed novel, The Wind Knows My Name (paperback edition), and your new beautiful children’s book, Perla the Mighty Dog, are being published in early June. How does your process change when writing for adults versus children?
A story for little kids (3 to 6 years old) is linear, simple, memorable and preferably about something that matters to the child. Good fiction for adults is complex, detailed, layered, nuanced, erotic. I prefer to write a long historical novel rather than fourteen pages for a toddler. The playful and charming illustrations of Sandy Rodriguez made my task easy.
Despite the genre and audience difference between Perla the Mighty Dog and The Wind Knows My Name, what overlap did you find between the children’s emotions and approach to their challenges?
Anita in The Wind Knows My Name and Nico Rico in the kids’ book experience fear. Anita is separated from her mother, her situation is tragic. Nico is bullied at school. Different circumstances but a similar emotion. They both use fantasy to cope with reality. Anita invents the planet Azabahar and Nico uses magic dust.
What lessons have you learned from your dog Perla along the way that you wanted to share with young readers?
Size, looks and gender don’t matter. What matters is courage and attitude. And my Perla has a lot of both.
Do you have plans to write more children’s books in the future?
I have written two more Perla adventures with Sandy’s illustrations: Perla and the Pirate, and Perla and the Princess. They will be published in the next couple of years.
Books by Isabel Allende
The Wind Knows My Name
In the paperback release of The Wind Knows My Name, follow young Samuel as he flees Nazi-occupied Austria, and Anita, as she escapes violence in modern-day El Salvador. Generations apart, both carry the weight of lost family and seek home. This story is a tribute to hope and resilience in the face of unimaginable hardship.
Perla the Might Dog
In Isabel’s first children’s picture book, Perla The Mighty Dog, Perla teaches her human brother, Nico Rico, how to use his superpowers to stand up to a bully.
Isabel Allende is joining Book Passage in Corte Madera in celebration of both works on Saturday, June 1st at 11 a.m for an in-person and online event.
More Great New Reads
The Comfort of Ghosts
The incomparable Jacqueline Winspear releases the finale of her award-winning Maisie Dobbs series, where the psychologist and investigator unravels a profound mystery from her past in a war-torn London grappling with its future.
Jacqueline Winspear will be at Book Passage in Corte Madera on June 5th at 6 p.m. for a free in-person event.
Farewell, Amethystine: An Easy Rawlins Mystery
National, award-winning author Walter Mosley brings Black 1970s LA detective, Easy Rawlins, back to tackle a missing person case that turns deadly, forcing him to confront his own troubled past and navigate a changing world filled with racial tension.
Walter Mosley will be at Book Passage in Corte Madera on June 22nd at 4 p.m. for a free in-person and virtual event.
