The bother with the Bonkillyknock Beast by Karen Foxlee

Miss Mary-Kate is back but this time she is off on holidays with her Granny and her Granny’s old friends to the Scottish Highlands or so she thinks.  Mary-Kate is longing for a quiet holiday, drinking tea and eating scones while her mum is away but instead finds herself included in the World Society of Monster Hunters’ conference. 

As shy Mary-Kate and the two other novice monster hunters are about to discover all is not well at the castle they are staying in and a beast is causing havoc.  The village of Bonkillyknock is well known for the Loch Morgavie Monster who is silent and does not leave the water.  However, this beast is breaking into the kitchen, howling at night and wrecking the cushions.

As Mary-Kate and her new friends start to investigate they uncover an old tragedy and a missing fortune that could be attributed to the howling.   While they are investigating they are delayed by the castle owner who seems more interested in destroying the beast rather than solving the problem and this is not what the Monster Hunters code allows.  One of her new friends must decide between family and his new friends and they must all work together to prove that children can sometimes achieve great things even when the adults around them think they are too young.

This book is a brilliant stand-alone read, however, readers who enjoy this book will love the first two in the series.  Mary-Kate is an extremely likable character, especially as she talks herself into being brave and discovers the monster in each story. 

The Bother with the Bonkillyknock Beast is a fabulous book for young readers and will keep them reading long after they should have been asleep, and although this is a book about monsters it isn’t scary, the reader will be sympathising with the monster and wanting Mary-Kate to solve the mystery. 

This book and the other two in the series would be perfect for a class read aloud, a read alone or even as a class novel.  It is a fabulous book and one that I can see become a favourite that is read more than once.

Themes: Monsters (not-scary), Mystery, Friendships, Famiy.

Mhairi Alcorn