Kip Boowitt is desperate for a best friend. So, when she rescues a tiny creature that looks like a kitten but isn’t a kitten, she names him Buffel and loves him with all her heart.
With a distracted dad and mean kids at school, all Kip wants is someone with two ears and time for her. And Buffel is the best listener. But when he’s kidnapped, there is only one thing to do – go from mountain to sea to get him back.
Like Kip, Emma Gourlay grew up with a black dad and a white mum and a buffel in her head (in Afrikaans, ‘buffel’ is the word for a special, rare creature). Gourlay has had this imaginative world sitting in her mind, and now it’s found its way to paper in her debut novel, Kip of the Mountain.
As the novel begins, we quickly get to know Kip’s present world: she’s about to receive her ‘Something Odd’ for turning twelve (it’s tradition), she’s being bullied and teased by the kids at school, and lives in a manor with her dad – despite their socioeconomic status. Albeit the manor is haunted, with some extra ghosts for housemates, she and her dad don’t mind.
But Kip longs for a real, true friend… Enter: Buffel. He’s the perfect friend for Kip, and so she’s devastated when he’s kidnapped. His abduction sparks a story filled with magic and adventure, expertly told with true heart.
This may be Gourlay’s debut, but her world-building is expertly told. I could vividly imagine every scene from Constantina Nek, a mountain town in Africa filled with squirrels, deer and apparitions, right through to Kip’s journey to the sea.
Kip is wonderful protagonist, who you hold a special spot for right from page one. She’s fun and relatable yet also complex and full of heart. Her home life is complicated. With her mother out of the picture, she often feels like she’s the adult, and her dad is the child. As she endeavours to get Buffel back, we see Kip’s character grow, tackling her insecurities by letting her strength, determination, courage and resilience shine, all while remaining true to herself.
Kip of the Mountain is an action-packed fantasy adventure full of astonishing magic. It’s a debut that’s perfect for children aged 8+, while inciting thought-provoking conversations. I can’t wait to see what Gourlay delivers next.
The most beautiful cover and illustrations but overall a disappointing read. The characters were lovely albeit her Dads mental illness and you feel empathy as a reader for Kip as she struggles to make sense of this and to find her place in her world. She then connects with a much needed friend Buffel. The story had great potential but was disjointed and chaotic at times and lacked editing to bring it all together. Our 9 year old is an avid reader and we also read to her and whilst the beginning of Kip is engaging the story then loses its thread and our daughter often lost interest and I was reading the book just to finish it!
I also thought the comments re apartheid were definitely relevant to the past but not current to the situation in South Africa and its people now and unfortunate as it doesn’t make the book very modern.