Return to the Isle of the Lost Author Melissa de la Cruz on Why Villains Rule

In The Isle of the Lost, Melissa de la Cruz introduced readers to the children of some of everyone’s favorite Disney villains, who had been banished to an isolated island twenty years ago. Mal (the daughter of Maleficent) and her friends had to grow up quickly, and to confront the challenge of whether they were going to let their parents’ evil natures define them. On May 24 the book’s highly anticipated sequel, Return to the Isle of the Lost, finds the kids sneaking back to the island to get to the bottom of some ominous messages that could spell trouble for them—and the world at large. Since Melissa de la Cruz knows villains, we asked her to share some of her favorite fictional villains with us.
When I think of the heroes and heroines that I love from middle grade novels, my mind doesn’t rest on the usual “good” kids who feature largely in the story, learn they are special and save the world. No. I think very fondly of the ones who were stymied from their ambition, who failed in their quests, who learned, at the end, that they weren’t special, and that they weren’t going to get to end the world.
I guess I relate very much to failure. I always root for the person in the story who doesn’t get what they want, but spends the whole time arduously trying. Like them, I try as hard as I can but I never get what I want. (For instance, I wanted to go to Stanford and ended up at Columbia, I wanted to be valedictorian but had to settle for salutatorian, I wanted to write for Vogue but was published in Harper’s Bazaar. See the pattern? Heh.)

My favorite villains from middle grade books include Sophie from The School for Good and Evil series. Sophie, like me, is convinced she’s a princess and thinks of other people. However, of course it’s soon abundantly clear that she’s selfish and only cares about her face cream (you can see why I love Sophie right?). She is absolutely convinced she’s been put in the wrong school (she’s placed in evil) and tries to convince everyone she doesn’t belong there. Of course she fails.
Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter is another favorite of mine. His story is mirror opposite of Harry’s. He’s from an old and prestigious magical family and he has a great burden thrust on himself as well. But of course his ambitions are supposed to be the wrong ones (and they are, morally of course, the Malfoys stand on the wrong side of the equation). But I can’t help but feel for the guy. It’s terrible to fail at the thing you’re supposed to do. Also, he’s blonde and good-looking (as is Sophie) and I’m partial to villains who look like angels.
In Return to the Isle of the Lost, Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos try to remain true to who they are no matter where they came from. They try really hard, and whether they succeed or fail, it’s up to you to find out when you buy the book. Even if they live in Auradon now, they’re still a little wicked. I like a little villainy in my heroes.
Return to the Isle of the Lost is on shelves May 24.