We asked the authors and illustrators of our current and upcoming titles about their favorite childhood book...and as a bonus we asked for photos of them as kids. Meet Mariana!
Mariana, age 3
Mariana Llanos was born in Lima, Peru, to two journalists. She developed an early passion for writing and studied theatre at the prestigious CuatroTablas school in Lima. She has lived in Oklahoma since 2002, where she worked as a teacher in a preschool center. In 2013 Mariana self-published her first book, Tristan Wolf, which was a Finalist in the 2013 Readers’ Favorite Book Award. Since then, she has published seven books independently in English and Spanish and through virtual technology has chatted with students from more than 150 schools around the world to promote literacy. Penny Candy Books will publish Mariana's bilingual picture book, Luca’s Bridge/El Puente de Luca, in Spring 2018. Luca's Bridge/El Puente de Luca is the emotional story of a boy coming to terms with his family’s deportation from America to Mexico.
Mariana Llanos
Mariana writes, "I had so many favorite books when I was growing up, but I'll have to say that The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery had the biggest impact in me. I wanted to be like that boy who lived on a faraway planet and loved a rose. His wisdom and tenderness inspired me to write my own stories when I was just a young girl. Also, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll was another book I always came back to. Ah, the humor, the wit! I just had to write my own stories inspired by the wonder-full land of the White Rabbit."
