The Magic of Maria Celeste

— -- There's no doubt that children live in the spectacular house in Miami owned by María Celeste Arraras. Aside from the big playground set in the front yard and the crystal clear pool in the back, part of the marvelously decorated living room is equally dedicated to elaborate dollhouses and Pokemon toys. Being a mother of three kids – Julian, 8, Adrian, 7, and Lara, 5 – forces Arraras to keep her feet firmly planted on the ground. As a television anchor and editor of Telemundo's "Al Rojo Vivo with María Celeste", she dedicates a large part of her day to reporting on current events. But when she decided to write her first children's book, El bastón mágico (The Magic Cane), published by Scholastic in October, she wasn't thinking of real life: "I wanted to enter a magical world, in which there would be good and bad, but the good would always win," says the 46 year old journalist, Emmy award winner, and author of a book on the life of the singer, Selena. Before heading out to the studio for a busy working day, María Celeste sat down to have a conversation with Selecciones about her career, her family and her life.

SRD: How did the idea to write this new book come about?María Celeste: The story came up before the idea to make a book. When I was getting home, I would be exhausted from work. I think that the most stressful moment for all moms is having more than one child; you get home and all these arms come at you and they want to corner you. And you go, with the best of intentions, and hug one. And then the others start to cry. Nobody's happy. I felt desperate. I felt like there was no way to do things well. And then I would start to tell a story and one of them would say: "No! Tell me a mermaid story"; and the other would say: "No, tell me a super hero story…". And I would say to myself: How in the world can I combine a story that makes all three happy?" I thought, fine, I'll invent a story that includes all three of them and that has a little bit of the things each one likes. And with that, the editors at Scholastic asked me to write a children's book.