City of the Beasts

• Genre: Fiction; young adult adventure
• Originally Published: 2002
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 1030L; grades 8-12
• Structure/Length: 20 chapters; approx. 406 pages; approx. 8 hours, 45 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Fifteen-year-old Alexander Cold has the chance to join his fearless grandmother, a magazine reporter for International Geographic, an anthropologist, a guide and his daughter Nadia, and a doctor on an expedition to the Amazon to document the Beast—the legendary Yeti of the Amazon. The hidden world of the rainforest offers Alexander and Nadia more than they ever thought possible when the Invisible People of the Mist lead them to an unforgettable discovery.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Parent with cancer; death; violence; colonization of Indigenous people; ceremonial drug use

Isabel Allende, Author

• Bio: Born to Chilean parents in Peru in 1942; author of 25+ critically acclaimed works; feminist, human rights advocate, and philanthropist; popular TED Talks presenter; began The House of the Spirits (her first published novel) as a letter to her ailing grandfather; awarded 15 honorary doctorates as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2014)
• Other Works: Paula (1994); Island Beneath the Sea (2009); The Japanese Lover (2015); A Long Petal of the Sea (2019)
• Awards: Time Magazine 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time; Book Magazine Best of List for Young Adults (2002); San Francisco Chronicle Best Young Adult Science Fiction Novel (2002)