Q&A with Abiola Bello about her book, Wild Magic

My Book Corner’s infamous Q&As! Today we are delighted to welcome Abiola Bello discussing where she got the inspiration for her fabulous new book, Wild Animals, and there are some bonus ‘just for fun’ questions at the end.

You can read our review of Wild Animals here.

How did you come up with the idea of the twin’s superpowers?

I’ve been obsessed with superpowers since I was a kid and after I wrote my last book in my fantasy MG series Emily Knight, I wanted to write more superpowers and then came up with Misha and Ziggy. I couldn’t decide what was cooler – speaking to animals or shapeshifting so I kept both.

If there was an animal you could talk to or shapeshift into, which one would you choose?

I would have picked my cat Fergie. He passed last year but he was the best cat. Sometimes I would wake up and he would just be staring at me like a weirdo or if my mum fell asleep on the couch, he would watch her for ages! I always wondered what he was thinking. I also would like to know why he didn’t like when I hugged him for too long, considering everyone tells me I give the best hugs.

Why did you choose to focus on endangered animals?

I love an animal documentary, and I find it so interesting learning about their lives but also how we as humans are affecting them, sometimes in a negative way. The more education the kids get, the better choices they will hopefully make for the future and look after these endangered animals, who are endangered because of humans.

Do you have a favourite children’s story?

The Illustrated Mum by Jacqueline Wilson and Are you there God, it’s me Margaret by Judy Blume.

Which authors inspired you to write?

I grew up on the Babysitters Club series, Jacqueline Wilson and Judy Blume. I loved the way they created young people, and I wanted to write my own and hoped someone would love the way I did it.