Meet the Animagicals with author Paula Harrison
About Author
Paula Harrison's Animagicals series takes us to a world where children can turn into animals and she joins ReadingZone to tell us more about them!
Paula has written more than 50 books, including the Kitty series, The Rescue Princesses and the Secret Rescuers. She wanted to be a writer from a young age but spent many happy years being a primary school teacher first.
She loves walks and sandy beaches, and is always dragging her family off to the seaside.
Interview
January 2025
Meet the Animagicals with author Paula Harrison
Travel to the Wild Haven School in the land of Animagia, and meet children who can turn into animals! The new Animagicals series by author Paula Harrison begins with Mia's Tiger.
ReadingZone caught up with Paula to find out about her fantastical new series for readers aged seven years plus, and to discover what inspired the series, her top tips for world-building - and what kind of animal she would love to turn into!
ReadingZone review: "The perfect choice for any child who loves, animals, nature and adventure."
Read an extract from Animagicals: Mia's Tiger
Q&A with Paula Harrison
"The stories are about realising that we're part of nature not separate from it.
Most animagicals believe that animals are just as special as humans."
1. Can you tell us a little about yourself - what brought you into writing for children and the kinds of stories you enjoy writing? What have been your writing highlights so far?
I was a primary school teacher who always loved reading stories to my class. Now I get the chance to create those stories! My highlights are meeting readers of my books in schools, book shops and festivals. I've written more than fifty books now and millions of them have been sold across more than thirty countries worldwide. It's an incredible honour to reach so many readers!
2. What is your new series, Animagicals, about, and what happens in the first book, Mia's Tiger?
Animagicals is about a group of children who can transform into animals. They have to find out which animal they are truly meant to be or their powers will fade. In the first book, Mia reaches Wild Haven School in the land of Animagia where she'll learn to use her powers. At the beginning she's so nervous she keeps turning into a mouse.
3. What inspired this world where some children have the ability to turn into animals? Can you tell us about the school they go to?
I think we all have a lot more animal inside us than we admit! The starting point for the world was wondering 'what animal would I be?' Wild Haven School is inside a treehouse style castle but a lot of the children's lessons happen in the forest nearby. Mia and her friends learn forest skills like reading animal tracks and den building, as well as working on their animal transformations.
The world of Animagia, illustrated by Erwin Madrid
4. How did you create the setting of Animagia; did it start with the map?
I had a picture in my head of a place that had every kind of habitat and creature within it. The map came later and was improved by the designer at Nosy Crow, my publisher, who made it look so much better!
5. What are your top tips for building an alternate world and how to make it convincing?
I like to ask myself lots of questions about the world. How does everything fit together? What's it like to live here? What can you eat, where can you go, what's it like at night? And so on.
6. In Mia's Tiger, we meet this young character as she finds the animal she is linked with. What does she learn about herself through her adventures?
At the beginning, Mia is really unsure of herself. But she's actually a lot braver than she realises and she also has great instincts. She just needs to learn to trust them. Finding their true animagical form is crucial for every new student at Wild Haven. Which animal are they truly meant to be?
7. What else do you have planned for the series, and the children your readers will be meeting?
Each of Mia's friends faces a different challenge as they seek out their true animagical form - the animal that matches them best. But there is a deeper peril inside Animagia. There are enemies both inside and outside the land that want to take power for themselves and rule Animagia.
8. As well as a great adventure, is there also a serious message in Animagicals about how we connect with nature and its wildlife?
The stories are about realising that we're part of nature not separate from it. Most animagicals believe that animals are just as special as humans.
Students arrive at Wild Haven School in Animagia, illustrated by Erwin Madrid
9. If you found yourself in Animagia, which part of it would you want to visit - and what kind of animal would you want to turn into?
I'd want to visit Wild Haven School and climb the wooden rope bridges between the treetop towers to look at the view of Animagia spread out below. I'd love to transform into a creature that can fly like an owl or an eagle. But I think my true form is probably something else - maybe a squirrel.
10. Where do you go for inspiration in everyday life - and what is at the top of your travel destination wish list?
Walking in the woods and fields - anywhere out in nature - has been a great inspiration for this series. There are many, MANY places in the world I'd like to go from the Brazilian rainforest to the Himalayan mountains! But at least I get to go in my imagination.
Animagicals: Mia's Tiger
