Mission Microraptor

Finn makes two big mistakes on the school trip to the French Alps. Mistake number one is trying to take a selfie too close to the edge of a cliff. Luckily, the glacier is partially melted so it's like falling onto a wet mattress – more embarrassing than painful. And he does find a large sparkly egg hidden in a crevice.

Mistake number two happens later that night when he posts a video of the egg hatching on social media, clearly showing the strange creature emerging from it.

Within hours, evil-looking operatives in night-vision goggles attempt to steal the creature and abduct him and his roommate, Milo. And things only go from bad to worse...

Finn and Milo, aka the Professor (he's the human child of Google Maps and Wikipedia), are unlikely heroes but their overriding desire to protect an innocent microraptor makes them braver than they thought possible.

Despite the ever-present sense of threat from the exceptionally nasty baddies and some interesting moral and ethical dilemmas, this is a very funny book and will have wide appeal, especially to fans of Alex Rider who like a few jokes with their jeopardy – and an added tiny dinosaur.