Pip is everything that Olive isn’t. Olive is an only child. She lives by the sea in a ramshackle old house full of bric-a-brac and oddments with her eccentric yet highly successful mother, Mog.Mog is a high-flying lawyer with ambition who is hardly ever home, leaving Olive to fend for herself. Olive is a very pale and very quiet child who doesn’t seem to quite fit in at school. What matters however is that she has a best friend, Mathilda. Everything changes when Mathilda decides to become someone else’s best friend. Can life get any worse for Olive?

 It is at this point that Pip appears. Pip is loud and brash, fearless and brave. She may look just like Olive, in fact they could be twins, but she is all the things that Olive isn’t. Pip’s sudden arrival causes lots of trouble for Olive but at the same time it opens up a whole new world of possibilities. ‘

Pip; The Story of Olive’ is a highly original story about finding the strength to be yourself.. The story is at times heartbreaking, but it is told with a warmth and humour that are refreshing and at the same time surprising. Kim Kane’s approach may be unconventional and hard-hitting for a book aimed at children aged 9+ but it is softened with a gentle humour that makes the reader cringe with embarrassment for Olive, laugh at her antics and wish the very best for her. The truth about Pip may become clear for some readers from the moment of her appearance, other may take longer to understand the full implication -  but does anyone really know the truth about either of the girls?

2008-07-13