I read this book with my ten-year old son. It's a simple, exciting adventure story about a school-aged spy that was fun to read. However, as a Brit (we live in the U.S.) I must have a little moan on behalf of Britain- England specifically; my issue, which my son also picked up on, is that the author, who is clearly American, doesn't know how English people talk! On page 2 Jack's mum says to him, "The Book of the Month book club sure does send you quite a few books." I think a little research would show that an English person would never use the word 'sure' in that sentence. Replace it with certainly. It's such a small thing, but it is jarring. Jack, who has lived in England since he was 2, seems to speak with an American accent as well, which is surprising. There are too many examples to note, but most included that oh-so-American word "sure", such as "sure thing", "sure do" etc. Okay, I know it's a kid's book, but still, a little authenticity would be nice (ok, you tell me, a dog turned into a dinosaur after a kid stole a toe from a museum and you want authenticity??? Well, I believe that could happen, so yeah ;) ) ( )

A great book for kids who have outgrown the Magic Treehouse books and want a little adventure in their lives. Jack is smart, earnest, brave -- and has cool gadgets! What could be better? ( )

In The Escape of the Deadly Dinosaur, Jack zooms to the city that never sleeps to try to solve the mystery of the missing Allosaurus toe. Starting at the Natural History Museum, Jack's detection takes him to a competitive grade-schooler determined to win the science fair with his experiment crossing his own dog with the DNA from the bone of a dangerous, carnivorous dinosaur. Soon the gargantuan creature is terrorizing New Yorkers and Jack must stop him before he devours the animals in the Central Park zoo!