Children’s Fantasy Author Coming to Barnes & Noble

South Bay Area resident Peter Adler, who uses the pen name A.R. Silverberry, fell in love with fantasy, fairy tales and suspenseful stories at an early age.

In Adler’s bio, he says, “My love for fantasy fiction was sparked by a babysitter, who, with a seemingly endless supply of Oz books, read me to sleep.”

That, and growing up in a family of writers, actors, artists and musicians, set Adler onto his own creative path and the eventual writing of his first novel, Wyndano’s Cloak, which has won numerous awards including Gold Medal Winner in the 2010 Readers Favorite Awards in Preteen Fiction.

As described on the author’s website, Wyndano’s Cloak is “a tale of madness, friendship, and courage,” which “reveals the transformative power of love and forgiveness, and the terrible consequences of denying who you really are.”

With the help of a magical cloak that changes the wearer into animals, the heroine, Jen, defends her family against a dangerous “shadowy figure from her past.”

Reviews of Wyndano’s Cloak include such praise as “constant suspense,” “a powerful coming-of-age story” and “a tale of intense imagination and wonder.”

Adler says the creative bug bit him early on, and throughout his childhood and adult years he played in rock and jazz bands, competed in classical music competitions and painted watercolors.

But his love of storytelling began before he could even write, when he and his mother “stole away to a secret place where I dictated a story.” His parents—both actors—encouraged Adler’s talents and inspired his own creativity. Growing up in Northern California allowed his imagination to blossom as he hiked the local forests “where pixies or fairies seemed to lurk beyond the next bend.”

A psychologist for adults and children, Adler began writing seriously in 1998. He’s working on a historical novel as well as a prequel and a sequel to Wyndano’s Cloak.

If you go:

What: Author appearance, A.R. Silverberry

When: 1-4 p.m. Saturday 

Where:

Cost: Free