“It even said on page two of the very first book — animals always came to him.”

That’s David, catching that Christopher’s biggest moment was set up from the very start of the series.

This week we reach the climax of The Neverfear, book three of Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures series: a lawless race on a wild, golden-antlered hind, Nighthand’s impossible choice between duty and love, and Christopher rallying a whole island of animals for the Battle of Glimt — ending on our biggest cliffhanger yet. Christopher, alone, with the tiger.

A note for families: this series doesn’t shy away from intense moments and difficult themes. We explore them together and keep the grim details light — and we trust each reading pair to decide whether it’s the right fit.

📖 This week: pages 222–271 (“A Snake for a Starting Line” – “Sculptures That Bite”)
📖 Next week — the finale: pages 272–311 (“Anya’s Fight” – “The Wedding”)

This week’s question: Astor Morax wants the immortal alive — what do you think he wants him for? Tell us your theories before the finale: write or comment at hello@ourbookbench.com or @ourbookbench.

Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, so every episode lands in your feed.

📚 Join the adventure at ourbookbench.com
💌 Email us at hello@ourbookbench.com
📷 Follow along on Instagram: @ourbookbench

“He doesn’t fear anything — so he can’t fear what other people think of him.”

That’s David commenting on Nighthand — the fearless berserker who, in the middle of a life-or-death quest, stops to write Irian the most wonderfully honest love poems you’ve ever read (“My love is like a red, red rose… thorny, and attractive to bees and other pollinators”).

This week on Our Book Bench we’re reading pages 180–221 of The Neverfear, book three of Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures series — and it may be our most intense section yet. In the orchard of the Hesperides, the kids finally outwit the ever-hungry snake… and then it all goes wrong: Anya is bitten, the golden tree catches fire, and Christopher has one second to choose between the apple they came for and his friend’s life. He chooses Anya — and they fail.

What comes next is the heart of the episode. Back on the Neverfear, a devastated Christopher gets a lesson from Ratwin about how Nighthand rebuilds the ship stronger every time it’s broken — and how the same is true of people. (We wander into kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with gold, along the way.) Then Anya remembers that Hercules picked three golden apples — so the hunt turns toward a lawless, high-stakes Race of Thieves and a wild, golden-antlered creature called a hind. David also catches something lovely: Christopher doesn’t get sick from the golden thread anymore — he’s learning to stay grounded.

A note for families: this is a rich, beautiful series that doesn’t shy away from intense moments and difficult themes. We explore them together and keep the grim details light — and we trust each reading pair to decide whether this book, and this series, is the right fit for them.

This week’s reading: pages 180–221 (“The Garden is a Trap” through “I Could Bite Them”).
Next week’s reading: pages 222–271 (“A Snake for a Starting Line” through “Sculptures That Bite”).

This week’s question for you: Nighthand writes love poems that are sweet and hilariously honest — “a red, red rose… (thorny, and attractive to bees).” Write us a two-line poem about something you love, honest parts included.

Email hello@ourbookbench.com or find us on Instagram @ourbookbench — we read every one.

Enjoying the season? Follow Our Book Bench on Apple Podcasts or Spotify so every new episode lands in your feed — it’s the easiest way to keep reading along with us, and it helps other families find the bench.

📚 Join the adventure at ourbookbench.com
💌 Email us at hello@ourbookbench.com
📷 Follow along on Instagram: @ourbookbench

“It’s kind of sad, her backstory — even though she’s evil, and she let it define her.”

That’s David, reacting to the reveal we’ve been waiting for all season: who is Carla, and what is her history with Nighthand?

This week on Our Book Bench, we’re reading pages 136–179 of The Neverfear, the third book in Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures series — and it may be our most adventurous section yet. Anya challenges the pirate Vigo Nex to a duel for the belt of Hippolyta (with Jacques boldly offering himself up as the stake), and when her blades burst into fire, she beats a berserker twice her size — then says the line that may define her whole journey: “What if I was born to be brave?”

Meanwhile, a tiger watches the children through their own mirrors, Nighthand loses a battle with baby Teren and a diaper, Ratwin makes a quiet and costly sacrifice, and the kids reach the orchard of the Hesperides — a maze of magical apples guarded by a snake they trap with, of all things, Anya’s petticoat. We also sit with Carla’s heartbreak, and why a villain’s sad past doesn’t excuse her choices but does make her human — one of our favorite conversations yet.

A note for families: this is a rich, beautiful series that doesn’t shy away from intense moments and difficult themes. We explore them together and keep the grim details light — and we trust each reading pair to decide whether this book, and this series, is the right fit for them.

This week’s reading: pages 136–179 (“Fire Blades” through “Apples to Apples, Dust to Dust”).
Next week’s reading: pages 180–221 (“The Garden is a Trap” through “I Could Bite Them”).

This week’s question for you: The orchard is full of magical apples — one makes bubbles, one turns to stone, one tastes like your favorite thing ever. If you could invent a magical apple, what would it do?

Email hello@ourbookbench.com or find us on Instagram @ourbookbench — we read every one.

Enjoying the season? Follow Our Book Bench on Apple Podcasts or Spotify so every new episode lands in your feed — it’s the easiest way to keep reading along with us, and it helps other families find the bench.

📚 Join the adventure at ourbookbench.com
💌 Email us at hello@ourbookbench.com
📷 Follow along on Instagram: @ourbookbench

This week, the season takes its turn — and the kids are on their own.

Lisa and David dig into pages 46–93 of The Neverfear by Katherine Rundell, and the world cracks open. We finally meet Teren, the new immortal Nighthand went searching for at the end of The Poisoned King — and he's a toddler, carrying the memories of every life before him, including Mal's from Impossible Creatures. (David points out a tender illustration of Teren and Christopher holding hands that's worth lingering on.) Christopher starts using his mysterious "golden thread" on purpose — and nearly pays for it. And then the story turns hard: Irian is kidnapped, and the children are handed three impossible tasks to win her back — in secret, or else.

The heart of it is Anya. She fights off masked raiders with everything she has — teeth included — and afterward, when Christopher calls her brave, she says: "I was afraid. I was terrified." That's this whole season in a single line: being brave isn't the same as not being afraid.

And there's a payoff for anyone who's been with us from the start — David opened Season 3 wondering how a book could be named after a ship that got destroyed. This week, we finally got the answer. (It's very Nighthand.) Plus a couple of David's signature cross-book catches — Harry Potter's three-headed dog, a little Percy Jackson — because noticing those connections is exactly why we read together.

We also celebrated our first listener write-ins of the season this week — thank you, Kim and Laura!

A note for families: this is a rich, beautiful series that doesn't shy away from intense moments and difficult themes. This week's reading includes a death and a kidnapping. We explore them together and keep the grim details light — and we trust each reading pair to decide whether this book, and this series, is the right fit for them.

📖 This week's reading: pages 46–93 — "Teren" through "The Island of Giants."
🗓️ Next week: pages 94–135 — "The Obvious Superiority of the Small Over the Unattractively Gargantuan" through "The Vial."
📚 Full reading schedule at ourbookbench.com.

This week's question: The kids have to pluck a golden whisker from each of the three heads of a fearsome hound — and the villains call this the easiest of three tasks. What do you think the other two might be, and what are they all for?

Tell us your theories — email hello@ourbookbench.com or find us on Instagram @ourbookbench. We love hearing from you.

📚 Join the adventure at ourbookbench.com
💌 Email us at hello@ourbookbench.com
📷 Follow along on Instagram: @ourbookbench

Season 3 is here! This season, Lisa and David are reading The Neverfear, the brand-new third book in Katherine Rundell's Impossible Creatures series.

Before we start the book, David, who reread the series to get ready, walks us through the story so far. He recaps the first two books: how an ordinary kid named Christopher gets pulled into the Archipelago in Impossible Creatures, and how the runaway princess Anya joins the story in The Poisoned King. Expect phoenixes, a dragon that fits on your thumb, and one question David can't stop thinking about: how is a whole book named after a ship he's pretty sure got destroyed?

We're also introducing the question we'll come back to all season long: being brave isn't the same as not being afraid. We'll be watching for the moments when a character is scared… and does the hard thing anyway.

📖 This week's reading: pages 1–45 (American hardback edition) — from The Birth of a Unicorn through Carla Venasque.
🗓️ Full reading schedule: ourbookbench.com

This week's question: Who are you reading with this season — a kid, a grown-up, a friend? Email hello@ourbookbench.com or comment on Instagram @ourbookbench. We read every one.

Grab your copy of The Neverfear, or check it out from your library, and read along with us. New here? Welcome — pull up a spot at the bench.

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Quick note if you're new: we read these a little out of order — we did The Poisoned King in Season 1 and Impossible Creatures in Season 2. For today's recap, though, we're walking through the story the way it was written, first book first, so it all lines up before we start The Neverfear.

📚 Join the adventure at ourbookbench.com
💌 Email us at hello@ourbookbench.com
📷 Follow along on Instagram: @ourbookbench

Season 3 is (almost) here — and we could not wait to tell you what's next.

This fall, Lisa and David are heading back to the Archipelago for The Neverfear, the brand-new third book in Katherine Rundell's Impossible Creatures series.

And David has one very important question going in: last season, he was pretty sure the Neverfear got destroyed… so how does a whole book end up named after it? Time to find out.

Here's your one job this week: grab a copy of The Neverfear and get ready to read it with us. We kick off Season 3 on September 20th — whether you've been with us since book one or you're brand new, pull up a spot at the bench.

Full reading schedule coming soon at ourbookbench.com.

📚 Join the adventure at ourbookbench.com
💌 Email us at hello@ourbookbench.com
📷 Follow along on Instagram: @ourbookbench