Doing the Write Thing: Vivian Teo (2nd Edition)

Author Vivian Teo sure has been hustling this year! After the publication of the first book in her debut middle grade series, My BFF Is an Alien, in March earlier this year, she's back with its sequel, My BFF Is an Alien: Sabotage.

After winning the war on her home planet of Viridis, teenage alien Octavia travels back to Earth to reunite with her best friend, Abriana. However, their happiness is short-lived as a video displaying Octavia's powers has gone viral on the Internet! Can the BFFs take it down before Octavia's true identity is exposed to the people on Earth?

Vivian gives a sneak peek into her new sequel in her second edition of Doing the Write Thing.

What is My BFF Is an Alien: Sabotage about?
This series centres on the adventures and friendship between a 13 year old Singaporean girl called Abriana and another girl called Octavia, who is really an alien with superpowers, disguised as a foreign student. The second book in the series picks up from the first book, where at the end of it, Abriana was left wondering if Octavia would ever return to Singapore after Octavia went back to her planet to help with the war effort there. In this second book, Octavia does return to Singapore and there is a happy reunion between the two girls.

But the peace and happiness they enjoy is short-lived because a video which showed Octavia using her powers to save the both of them from a wild animal surfaces on the internet. So in this book, the two girls have to race against time to find the culprit who posted the video, and get the video removed before Octavia’s real identity is exposed.

What was the inspiration behind this book?
As a mother of two primary-school going children, I’ve always been interested in parenting issues and challenges that children face, like bullying, social media usage and gender stereotypes. So the inspiration of My BFF is an Alien: Sabotage really came from that. In this book, we actually see how the two lead characters deal with a situation where a video which they don’t want the world to see is on the Internet. What the two girls face in this second book of the series is very relevant to children, especially now with YouTube and TikTok where you have children filming themselves dancing and doing challenges, and becoming TikTok or YouTube stars.

What kind of lessons can young readers take away from this book?
I believe this book, along with the overarching themes of friendship and courage in the entire series, would be something children would find relatable and exciting, especially when they see how Abriana and Octavia tackle and face this problem.

In this second book, there is a recurring theme about sacrificing for the greater good which has the two girls in the story making tough decisions. I suppose, with the entire series, I like the characters to face such moral dilemmas and when readers finish reading the book, I hope it challenges them to think about whether the decision that one character makes is the right thing to do or should they have done it otherwise.

With the first book of My BFF is an Alien, I’m really pleased with the feedback I got from children and parents who told me how much they had enjoyed the book and how they found the plot really exciting. So I think readers will find this second book still as exciting, if not even more exciting. I’m pretty confident this second book will be a real page turner and I just can’t wait for all of you to read My BFF is an Alien: Sabotage.

Get My BFF Is an Alien: Sabotage here.