Land of the Last Wildcat

Puffin Lau (Chinese Dad, Portuguese Mum) has been feeling that her Mum has been too busy for her, and she spends a lot of time, by arrangement, with Grandad Moe, who is her friend Lance’s grandfather. She is disappointed when her class, 5C, is visiting the Pokko Science and Research Museum, her Mum’s workplace, and Mum does not turn up to give the promised talk in the Linger Island Gallery about the mysterious wildcat, the kuri.  The CEO of the Museum, Roger Smoult, gives the talk instead, and Puffin is worried. She manages to get down to the lab, dragging her friend Lance with her, and finds a captive kuri, kept by Roger Smoult for investigation into its alleged healing properties, and her reluctant Mum under a lot of pressure.

An exciting adventure follows, as the children, with some unexpected help, try to get the kuri back to Linger Island where it belongs, pursued by the devious Smoult.  Puffin finds that she has a birthbond with the kuri, and she needs to be very resourceful, with Lance a brave and helpful sidekick. Of course, all is well in the end, and the mother/daughter relationship will evidently be much improved.

Lui Sit, born in Hong Kong, writes in multiple genres – children’s middle grade, adult short fiction and non-fiction. Land of the Last Wildcat is her debut novel, and the first in a two-part series illustrated by David Dean, whose occasional illustrations do bring the headstrong Puffin to life.