Review of Isabel Allende's Young Adult Books
City of the Beasts and Kingdom of the Golden Dragon Open Series
Mar 20, 2009
Remote jungles, lost tribes, shamanistic magic and mythical beasts that actually exist await teen adventurers Alexander Cold and Nadia Santos in Isabel Allende’s first series for young readers.
Best-Selling Author of Adult Novels
Allende is best known for her adult novels, including The House of the Spirits, which follows several generations of a Latin American family up through the tragic events following a military coup in an unnamed South American country. Among her other well-known titles are Eva Luna, Paula, Daughter of Fortune, and Portrait in Sepia.
Born in Peru and raised in Chile, Allende writes in Spanish and most of her books have been translated into numerous languages. She has become a best-selling author around the world.
Young Adult Series Launched With City of the Beasts
Allende’s first book for young people, City of the Beasts, introduces Alexander Cold, a 15-year-old American boy who accompanies his journalist grandmother, Kate, on a trip to the heart of the Amazon to find a yeti-like beast that has been sited there. In a remote town on the edge of the jungle, Alexander meets Nadia, the 12-year-old daughter of the guide who will accompany the party of journalists.
Nadia and Alexander become fast friends and soon find themselves on a dangerous mission to save an indigenous tribe from the murderous intent of a greedy businessman. Their adventures will have them climbing up a waterfall, winding through a maze of caves, being kidnapped, and ultimately meeting the legendary beasts.
From Nadia, Alexander learns to use the powers of his totemic spirit, the jaguar, and to trust the magic of the local shaman.
In the course of the story, he grows from a self-centered adolescent into a budding man.
Kingdom of the Golden Dragon
Just a year after returning from the Amazon, Alexander is reunited with Nadia and the two again accompany Alex’s grandmother on a journalistic expedition—this time to a remote kingdom in the Himalayas. On their very flight are the thieves who have been sent by a wealthy foreigner to steal the kingdom’s golden dragon, a bejeweled statue that also provides oracles to guide the tiny nation.
Alexander and Nadia again find themselves on a mission to stop the thieves with help from a young Buddhist apprentice in line to inherit the kingdom’s throne. Again they call on their totemic spirits to aid them.
Forest of the Pygmies
In this final adventure, Alexander, now 18 and Nadia, now 15, accompany Kate to Kenya, where she is reporting on the first elephant safari in Africa. But again, there is high adventure when the two young people must help save a tribe of pygmies from the corrupt tyrants who have enslaved them.
Each of the three books stands alone, though the first most thoroughly introduces the characters and explains how they come by their totemic animal spirits.
Of the three books, the first, City of the Beasts, is probably the most satisfying. The characters are insightfully drawn and the plot convincing. Allende uses the South American concept of “magical realism” in her storytelling, which draws on the supernatural, but in a way that appears believable within the story.
Young people speaking or learning Spanish may also want to read the books in their original language. They are published in Spanish as Ciudad de las Bestias, El Reino del Dragón de Oro and Bosque de los Pigmeos.
Book Details
City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende, Harper Collins Publishers, 2002.
Kingdom of the Golden Dragon by Isabel Allende, Harper Collins Publishers, 2004.
Forest of the Pygmies by Isabel Allende, Harper Collins Publishers, 2005.
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