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Maria Celeste Arrarás
Biography
Maria Celeste Arrarás is an Emmy award-winning journalist and investigative reporter. She became an international success for her exclusive coverage of the death of the music star Selena and her best-seller, Selena's Secret (1997). Her newest book, The Magic Cane (Scholastic, 2007), for young readers, will be released in both English and Spanish. As one of the most popular Spanish language television news personalities, she is host and managing editor of Telemundo/NBC's Al Rojo Vivo con Maria Celeste. She lives in Miami, Florida.
The Scoop
1. What sparked your imagination for The Magic Cane?
As a working mother, I would come home from the office to find my three kids desperate for my attention. I would try reading them a story, but they all had different interests and would end up fighting when they couldn't agree on which particular story I should read! So I began to make up stories that incorporated all the elements that all of them wanted to listen to, and one of those stories evolved into The Magic Cane.
The story is about three kids, very similar to my own three children, each blessed with a special "gift." At the time I wrote The Magic Cane, my daughter was into mermaids, so her equal in the story has the power of Water. My sons were fascinated with Pokemon, Naruto and Inuyasha, so I gave one of the boys the power of Fire and the other one the power of the Wind…soon, they all got into the story and started contributing to the plot. Then the fights became about who could have more input!
2. What challenges do you face in your writing process? How do you overcome them?
My main challenge with The Magic Cane was finding time to get in the right frame of mind to write this kind of book. At the time, I was going through a divorce, and it was difficult to shake off the stress and pain that comes with that process and jump into the fantasy world of a magical fable. So I put the book in hiatus and after a few months, my oldest son told me, "Mama, a family that stays united is invincible," and I said "Yes!" That became the central idea for The Magic Cane. So I sat down with a clear head and a specific idea and wrote the entire story in five hours on my Blackberry.
3. What tips or advice can you share with young students who hope to start writing?
My advice is simple: write everything down! Many people with great imaginations spend their lives "writing" books in their heads...but they never put those great ideas in black and white. What a waste of great talent. So my advice is, get it on paper and share all those wonderful stories with the rest of the world! Discipline is key in every profession, writing included.
4. What is your list of favorite children or teen books?
I love The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. I read it for the first time in elementary school, and then I received a copy in college as a present. Years later, I bought another copy to read to my kids. I read it during three completely different stages of my life, and every time, I discovered new meanings in the same story. I hope The Magic Cane accomplishes the same.
I also like King Midas: A Golden Tale by John Warren Stewig. I wanted my book to be a magical fable in the style of King Midas with a similar lesson: that possessions and power do not equal happiness. I'm a firm believer that in this materialistic and consumer-oriented society, children need to be taught what is really important in life, such as family values and doing the right thing. So this was an important element that I wanted to include in my story.
When I was growing up, my father was the Chancellor of the University of Puerto Rico and one of his good friends was a Greek mythology professor who would visit us every afternoon and tell me stories from Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey. I grew up with all these fantastic stories that challenged my imagination. When I wrote The Magic Cane, I wanted to convey a bit of that feeling as well…so both the Old Lady with the Golden Cane and Mocconoco, the Evil Emperor/Monster, in my book were influenced by elements of Greek Mythology. For kids who would like to experience these stories, I recommend, The Adventures of Ulysses by Charles Lamb and A Wonder Book: Heroes and Monsters of Greek Mythology by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Matun, El Manati by Maria Teresa Arraras Mir. This book was actually written and illustrated by my aunt, and it revolves around a manatee named Matun that was raised by an indigenous tribe in a river of my native Puerto Rico. It's a beautiful story that talks about the kindness of these noble giants and the perils they face at the hands of men. My aunt financed the whole project and donated the proceeds to an organization dedicated to saving the manatees.
5. Do you think The Magic Cane will be interpreted differently by English versus Spanish readers?
Absolutely not. The Magic Cane has a universal message that transcends not only language and culture but also age and gender. I wanted it to be a magical fable like the classic stories that my grandparents used to read to me in bed. I missed those "Once upon a time" tales that you can pass on from generation to generation, so I wanted to write one for my children and for other kids as well.
Maria Celeste Arrarás
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Last Updated: 08/27/2008