I have always been fascinated with spies and secret agents,
so it’s no accident that I grew up to write about them.
I was raised on cartoons like Inspector Gadget, Danger Mouse
and Secret Squirrel and watched Bond films as soon as I was old enough to get into
a PG film. (And earlier on TV.) I loved the mystery. I loved the intrigue. I
loved the danger. I definitely pretended to be James Bond and spent lots of
time playing ‘Charlie’s Angels’ in the back yard. (Which mostly involved lots
of running and some unbelievably bad Karate moves.)
I didn’t really read any spy novels as a kid but I loved the
Encyclopaedia Brown, Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series so I had a taste for
mysteries.
As I got older, I started to love funny special agent shows,
movies and books too. Things like Get Smart on TV and Men in Black at the
movies took the secret agent troupes and turned them on their head. Spies that
take themselves seriously, but that we CAN’T take seriously, are the best.
When I wrote the script for Agent Moose, I didn’t really set
out to write a spy book though. I just came up with this character, Anonymoose,
who was a moose that was a master of disguise. He wasn’t a criminal mastermind
or anything, so I thought he would use his skills to be a really effective spy.
Then I created the secret agency of Woodland HQ and gave him his own version of
M. (Who, by no coincidence, Jess Bradley has drawn as a squirrel with more than
a passing resemblance to Dame Judy Dench. Check it out. 😊 It’s honestly one of my
favourite illustrations in the whole book.)
But I wanted my secret agent to be funny. Not a tough guy
James Bond or a Karate chopping Charlie’s angel, but a hero with heart who
maybe wasn’t as good at his job as he thought he was, but always got his man
(or animal) anyway.
He also needed to have the perfect sidekick and friend. I
love writing Owlfred because he is always outshined by Anonymoose, yet he is
loyal, brave, and incredibly clever. And as soon as I saw Jess Bradley’s
drawings of Owlfred I was smitten all over again. He is a real pocket-sized
hero.
Oh, and then there are the gadgets! One of the best things
about special agent stuff is that they get to use cool gadgets. I wanted to add
an animal twist to my gadgets though so instead of having a secret message pod self-destruct
in five seconds we have them be sucked up by an anteater in five seconds or
chewed by a chipmunk. 😊
As a real secret agent fan, I’m super excited to be writing
in this genre. And I can only hope someday there will be a kid somewhere in
their own back yard playing Agent Moose with their friends.
Agent Moose by Mo O’Hara and Jess Bradley is out now!
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