 Hi everyone, my name is Steph, this is Little Bookish Teacher, and today I'm here to review an Australian fantasy middle grade title, The Bother with the Bond Killenock Beast, which is book three in the Miss Mary Kate Martin's Guide to Monster series by Karen Foxley. This one was sent to me for review by Alan and Unwin. It does come out on the 3rd of January, so thank you very much to the publisher for sending it to me. I have been reading and reviewing this series over the last couple of years, and it's always very interesting to come back to the series, and particularly to Mary Kate as a character. This is a middle fiction title, so it is intended for readers from six to ten years of age. You could go a little bit older on the scale and depending on the reader and their interests, and it is just shy of 300 pages. The series as a whole has been long listed for the Best Design Children series by the Australian Book Design Award. There are illustrations by Frida Chu within the text, so it is a very immersive kind of book, and we follow Mary Kate, who is a young girl who deals with anxiety, who ends up finding herself investigating mysteries involving various monsters when she grows travelling with either her mother or her grandmother. In this case, in the third book she is going with her grandmother to a monster hunters convention. There she discovers that her grandmother is quite a famous monster hunter, and Mary Kate is being initiated and trained while she's there. And she gets to make two new friends, Millicent and Simon, particularly as they begin to uncover the mystery of a strange beast that seems to be haunting the Scottish castle where they're staying. This series is really fun. Each chapter is preceded by a bit of advice from a famous monster hunter that exists in this world, and that advice then informs sort of what's coming in the chapter. This one does explore Mary Kate's anxiety. Every book starts off with her being very nervous about travelling to some place new, and the things that she's put into place to help her cope with that, whether it's lucky items or in particular, if she likes to dress in a very coordinated way, and it gives her a sense of confidence and safety. And so every book starts off like that, and this book was no exception. But she also has a very supportive family network who understand that that is what she does to cope. And we see that in the way that her grandmother interacts with her. It also explores friendship. Mary Kate finds it difficult to make friends, and so she's unsure of connecting with Millicent and Simon initially. And so the three of them have to work at developing a friendship and a relationship with one another. And also Mary Kate develops her courage through the series as she begins to share her thinking and her research and her theories about what is truly going on. The mystery element is really fun. There's always this sort of fantasy paranormal element with all of the creatures, in this case, the bonkilly knock beast. And there are a lot of clues and hints along the way, as the characters are unraveling the secret behind the mystery. It's fun. It's fast paced. There's some humor woven into it, while also dealing with the heavier topics of living with anxiety. And it was overall a really enjoyable read. This would make a great read aloud for third, fourth, or fifth graders. And it's a really great way to sort of start thinking about legends from different parts of the world. And could be a great jumping off point for kids who are interested in sort of the legends of beasts from myth. I will leave a link to where you can find out more information about the book and the author down below. In the comments, I'd love to know if you have read this book or if you have recommendations for books that are similar. If you'd like to let me know that you're here but you don't want to leave a comment for free to leave a paw print emoji down below, otherwise I hope that wherever you're on the world you're staying safe and healthy. And I will see you in my next video. Thanks so much for watching. Bye everyone.