ESCONDIDO -- Sandra Cisneros felt alienated and alone when she wrote "The House on Mango Street," she said Thursday night at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.

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As a graduate student in Iowa, Cisneros felt far from the Chicago neighborhood where she had been raised, she said. She missed her family's small, crowded brownstone where "every room had a bed except the kitchen," and realized she couldn't relate to many of the books she was reading, Cisneros said.

"Then I got angry and thought, 'How come I've never seen my house in a book?' " she said.

That feeling led her to write "The House on Mango Street," an acclaimed novel about a Mexican-American girl growing up in Chicago that has sold more than 2 million copies.

The book is the featured novel this year in the annual Escondido Reads One Book community reading project, which encourages Escondido residents to read the same book and offers many special events related to the book's themes.

More than 600 people showed up at the arts center Thursday to hear Cisneros speak for the culminating event of Escondido Reads. The Center Theater was filled to capacity with 400 people, while another 200 watched video of the event in another room.

The audience sat transfixed as Cisneros, 52, read passages from her books or talked about the significance of "The House on Mango Street" in a world full of new immigration and "xenophobia."

The vibrant, expressive Cisneros kept the audience laughing with stories about the inspiration behind her books or her own life growing up as a Chicana.

Much as she easily weaved together Spanish and English in her story-telling Thursday, Cisneros said she had blended two writing forms to create "The House on Mango Street."

She was a "border crosser," Cisneros joked, mixing the genres of poetry and fiction.

Cisneros, who now lives in San Antonio, Texas, likened being a writer to being in prison because "you don't see anybody."

"Being a writer means being very quiet and listening to the things inside your heart," Cisneros said.

The things we do "from our 'corazones,' " our hearts, are the most valuable, she said.

During a question-and-answer session with the audience, one young girl asked the author if any of the events that affect Esperanza, the main character of the book, had happened to Cisneros. Only the embarrassing moments, she replied.

"Whenever she's so silly, and so naive and young, that's me," Cisneros said.

One audience member told Cisneros in Spanish how much Escondido needed a visit from someone like her after illegal immigration controversies have divided the community.

Cisneros admitted that when she first received the invitation to come to Escondido, she didn't want to because of the bad "chismes," or gossip, she had heard about the city.

In a brief interview after her reading, Cisneros said that by going to cities such as Escondido, she hopes to bring to light the "big picture" of illegal immigration and how it is caused as much by the policies of developed countries as anything else.

And the media has helped create too many negative images of the immigration issues, she said.

"I hope that my stories can help bring humanity to the hysteria," Cisneros said.

After the event, the theater's foyer filled as people waited in line to have their books signed by Cisneros.

Many said she and her books are an inspiration to Latinos and others.

Vista High School student Gina Berdugo, of Oceanside, was moved to tears as she talked about what "The House on Mango Street" means to her as a Latina.

"It helps me understand how my people grew up, and how important it is for us to make it in the world," the 15-year-old said. "Our story needs to be told, too."

Stephanie Osowski, an English teacher at Orange Glen High School, said she has read the book at least a dozen times.

"Anybody can relate to it," Osowski said. "It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from."

Contact staff writer Paul Eakins at (760) 740-5420 or peakins@nctimes.com.