ISABEL ALLENDE

Meted colors and sharp black outlines characterize Molinari’s full-page illustrations for this brief biography of the noted Chilean author. The text, rendered in Spanish and English, focuses on the warm togetherness of Isabel’s extended family and her love for reading and telling stories. The key reference to her writing is the link between the séances that her grandmother conducted, when Isabel was just a girl, and La casa de los espíritus (The House of the Spirits), conceived, according to Benatar, as a sort of farewell letter to Isabel’s dying grandfather. The Chilean political instability that led to Allende’s flight from the country is mentioned, but the thrust of the narrative is family and imagination. Now that Allende has begun writing for adolescents as well as adults, her name will be more familiar to young readers than it would have been just a few years ago, and biographies of role models for girls are always in short supply. Appropriate for all elementary school collections, but especially in areas with Latino populations. (Picture book/biography. 6-9)