Terence Blacker | Introducing Ms Wiz

What more can I say about my old friend Ms Wiz? I thought of her in a picture book first of all - she was called Miss Heccatty until my daughter Alice told me that the name had been used in another story. Twenty years and eighteen books later, Ms Wiz is still going strong - and getting weirder with every book. Of all the characters I have written, I think that she's my best friend (although she can be quite impossible sometimes).

Here's how I described her in my first Ms Wiz story Ms Wiz Spell Trouble:

There was something different about Ms Wiz. She was quite tall, with long black hair and bright green eyes. She wore tight jeans and a purple blouse. Her fingers were decorated with several large rings and black nail varnish. She looked as if she were on her way to a disco, not teaching at school.

"My name is Miss Wisdom," she said in a quiet but firm voice. 'So what do you say to me every morning when I walk in?"

"Good morning, Miss Wisdom," said Class Three unenthusiastically.

"Wrong," said the teacher with a flash of her green eyes, "You say 'Hi, Ms Wiz!"

"Why Wiz?" asked a rather large boy sitting in the front row. It was Podge, who was probably the most annoying and certainly the greediest boy in the class.

"Wiz?" said Ms Wiz with a mysterious smile. "Just you wait and see..."

Paranormal Operative Ms Wiz seems to have a knack of turning up just when there's a problem on the horizon for the children at St Barnabas School. And when Ms Wiz is around there's only one thing that's guaranteed - total mayhem!

Here's how newspaper reviewers have described the Ms Wiz stories:

'Funny, magical. with wicked pictures by Tony Ross, it's the closest thing you'll get to Roald Dahl' ---- The Times

'Hilarious and hysterical' ---- Sunday Times

'Ms Wiz is everyone's favourite' ---- Young Calibre Library"

'Wonderfully funny and exciting' ---- Books for Keeps

'The fantastic Ms Wiz books' ---- Malorie Blackman