Rating: Needs Parent Supervision

Reading level: Mid-Late Elementary

Mac is recruited by the queen of England to recover lost treasure in a silly spy story.

Possible Concerns (including spoilers).

  • At one point Mac has no pants on.
  • Mac is not excited about his mother’s boyfriend and makes several grouchy or unimpressed comments about him. (No explanation as to what happened to his dad, who is never mentioned)
  • Mac is not invited to a birthday party and feels a bit sad about it.
  • The enemy is from the KGB, the security agency of the Soviet Union. It might be good to have conversations with your kid about how not all people with a Russian accent are evil, as this book leans into stereotypes a bit that way.
  • The dedication page has some honest reflection about a poor father. See image below.

Generally we have good clean humor in an exciting and a bit satiric spy story. I like that there is no serious violence, with no romance, and the audiobook has wonderful silly accents.

The good outweighs the bad for me on this one. See also my reviews of Book 2 and Book 3.