What do you think?
Rate this book
Secret Agent Jack Stalwart #3
El misterio de la Mona Lisa: Misión Francia
La Mona Lisa, el cuadro más famoso de la historia, ha desaparecido. ¿Podrá Jack Stalwart encontrar el cuadro más famoso de todos los tiempos antes de que un ladrón sin escrúpulos lo haga desaparecer para siempre? Una historia en la que se mezclan aventura, emoción y arte.
128 pages, Paperback
First published May 4, 2006
35 people are currently reading
205 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 8, 2019
A book for early readers. I haven't read the first two books in the series. It starts with a guide to Paris and the series so far. This part could be considered educational.
Once the story starts it turns out to be a fun caper around Paris. The plot did feel a bit rushed and I felt it could have been spread out into another ten to twenty pages without being too long for an early reader.
The series seems to have some great ideas behind it. I would read more of it.
Once the story starts it turns out to be a fun caper around Paris. The plot did feel a bit rushed and I felt it could have been spread out into another ten to twenty pages without being too long for an early reader.
The series seems to have some great ideas behind it. I would read more of it.
September 16, 2016
I think our interest may be waning with this series (reading with my second grade son). I'd really like to get into saving Max, if he needs saving. There was barely any mention of it. An overarching mystery could really pull this series together.
June 7, 2021
Nine year old secret agent Jack Stalwart is called to action (in France) when a famous painting, the Mona Lisa, is stolen! With the aid of several super cool spy gadgets, his training with the GPF (Global Protection Force), and his own wits and intelligence, Jack must solve the crime before the Mona Lisa is lost forever!
Full review of the book/series is below, but the TL;DR is this: Great book series for introducing young readers to longer chapter books with engaging characters and action-packed plots. Bonus - good educational value in helping youngsters start to learn about world geography.
CAUTION: From book two on, the books get a bit violent. There is always a villain, and they are often actively trying to kill Jack or someone else. There are guns, knives, and even threat of death by Komodo dragon. One book talks about beheadings (that was a fun conversation I wasn't expecting to have). So just a word of warning to those who may not want their kids exposed to things like that yet.
********
This is the third book in the Secret Agent Jack Stalwart series (14 books in all). I originally discovered this series as a way to explore geography with my 6 year old son who loves learning, but not being taught (if that makes sense). He also loves reading, so finding engaging books that also have accurate educational value cleverly mixed in is key in our home. This book series seems to fit the bill nicely.
This was another fun addition to the Jack Stalwart series. My son would undoubtedly give every book is this series an enthusiastic 5 stars, so take that into consideration. As the mom, I gave the first book 4 stars (a pretty solid rating from me), and subsequent books have gotten 3 star ratings (the drop in stars is entirely due to the fact that from book 2 on, there is, in my opinion, too much violence for this age group - guns, knives, assault with a baseball bat, someone always trying to kill Jack (a 9 year old boy!) - it just seems excessive and unnecessarily violent).
Overall, this book series is entertaining and engaging - each book catches my 6 year old son's attention very quickly and holds it. At around 120 pages, it usually takes us 1-2 sittings to finish one of these book (it was difficult getting my son to bed the first night because he wanted just one more chapter..one more page..one more sentence!). I had initially checked out books 1-3 from the library, and we finished them within a week. I immediately logged back onto the library website and requested all of the remaining books.
There are lots of things I'm loving about this book series. As stated, my son loves reading, or more accurately, being read to. He can read at a 2nd grade level currently, but prefers someone else to read to him. This series is helping to change that. When picking what to bring on a car ride, he now chooses whatever Jack Stalwart book we're currently reading. When I have to put his baby sister to bed, he'll sit in his room patiently for quiet reading time and read, what else, Jack Stalwart of course! At this point, he's reading more of the book than I am (so unfortunately I'm missing a lot of the plot and action...haha).
I also really appreciate the geographical focus - each book takes place in a different country. At the beginning of every book, there are a couple of pages devoted to fun facts about whatever country Jack is going to be visiting, along with a map showing where the country is located. Admittedly, my son does groan a bit when I read those pages to him (see above regarding his dislike of being taught), but if I give big reactions ("Oh, wow, I didn't know this!" "This is so cool, listen to this..."), he instantly becomes more interested. Again, the whole reason I even found these books is because I was looking for a way to introduce my son to world geography in a fun and engaging way. Success.
Overall, this book (and series) are a great segue into chapter books for young readers. It does a great job of really fostering a love of reading-for-pleasure by featuring a relatable main character (young boy) doing heroic and adventurous things, being independent, and exhibiting creative problem solving. It's also simple enough that young readers can follow along and start to read them independently. The fact that each book focuses on a different country with lots of great educational tidbits about that country peppered throughout is a huge bonus.
There is an underlying subplot of these books wherein Jack is trying to discover what's happened to his older brother, 11 year old Max. His family has been told that Max (who also works for the GPF) has been accepted to a fancy boarding school in Switzerland but Jack knows it's all a farce. There is always some mention of the mission to find Max, and in I think two of the eight or so books we've read so far there have been clues found, but I would still say you don't necessarily need to read these in chronological order. Though ideally I would prefer to read them that way, we have skipped around a bit based on what the library has had available and it hasn't been a problem. When mentioning a clue found in a previous book, a thorough enough recap is given that you don't feel like you're missing anything.
Full review of the book/series is below, but the TL;DR is this: Great book series for introducing young readers to longer chapter books with engaging characters and action-packed plots. Bonus - good educational value in helping youngsters start to learn about world geography.
CAUTION: From book two on, the books get a bit violent. There is always a villain, and they are often actively trying to kill Jack or someone else. There are guns, knives, and even threat of death by Komodo dragon. One book talks about beheadings (that was a fun conversation I wasn't expecting to have). So just a word of warning to those who may not want their kids exposed to things like that yet.
********
This is the third book in the Secret Agent Jack Stalwart series (14 books in all). I originally discovered this series as a way to explore geography with my 6 year old son who loves learning, but not being taught (if that makes sense). He also loves reading, so finding engaging books that also have accurate educational value cleverly mixed in is key in our home. This book series seems to fit the bill nicely.
This was another fun addition to the Jack Stalwart series. My son would undoubtedly give every book is this series an enthusiastic 5 stars, so take that into consideration. As the mom, I gave the first book 4 stars (a pretty solid rating from me), and subsequent books have gotten 3 star ratings (the drop in stars is entirely due to the fact that from book 2 on, there is, in my opinion, too much violence for this age group - guns, knives, assault with a baseball bat, someone always trying to kill Jack (a 9 year old boy!) - it just seems excessive and unnecessarily violent).
Overall, this book series is entertaining and engaging - each book catches my 6 year old son's attention very quickly and holds it. At around 120 pages, it usually takes us 1-2 sittings to finish one of these book (it was difficult getting my son to bed the first night because he wanted just one more chapter..one more page..one more sentence!). I had initially checked out books 1-3 from the library, and we finished them within a week. I immediately logged back onto the library website and requested all of the remaining books.
There are lots of things I'm loving about this book series. As stated, my son loves reading, or more accurately, being read to. He can read at a 2nd grade level currently, but prefers someone else to read to him. This series is helping to change that. When picking what to bring on a car ride, he now chooses whatever Jack Stalwart book we're currently reading. When I have to put his baby sister to bed, he'll sit in his room patiently for quiet reading time and read, what else, Jack Stalwart of course! At this point, he's reading more of the book than I am (so unfortunately I'm missing a lot of the plot and action...haha).
I also really appreciate the geographical focus - each book takes place in a different country. At the beginning of every book, there are a couple of pages devoted to fun facts about whatever country Jack is going to be visiting, along with a map showing where the country is located. Admittedly, my son does groan a bit when I read those pages to him (see above regarding his dislike of being taught), but if I give big reactions ("Oh, wow, I didn't know this!" "This is so cool, listen to this..."), he instantly becomes more interested. Again, the whole reason I even found these books is because I was looking for a way to introduce my son to world geography in a fun and engaging way. Success.
Overall, this book (and series) are a great segue into chapter books for young readers. It does a great job of really fostering a love of reading-for-pleasure by featuring a relatable main character (young boy) doing heroic and adventurous things, being independent, and exhibiting creative problem solving. It's also simple enough that young readers can follow along and start to read them independently. The fact that each book focuses on a different country with lots of great educational tidbits about that country peppered throughout is a huge bonus.
There is an underlying subplot of these books wherein Jack is trying to discover what's happened to his older brother, 11 year old Max. His family has been told that Max (who also works for the GPF) has been accepted to a fancy boarding school in Switzerland but Jack knows it's all a farce. There is always some mention of the mission to find Max, and in I think two of the eight or so books we've read so far there have been clues found, but I would still say you don't necessarily need to read these in chronological order. Though ideally I would prefer to read them that way, we have skipped around a bit based on what the library has had available and it hasn't been a problem. When mentioning a clue found in a previous book, a thorough enough recap is given that you don't feel like you're missing anything.
June 14, 2017
Back to not being too scary and we're all happy about that!
January 1, 2018
I like the beginning when Jack goes into the map 🌎
July 13, 2020
High interest series for early readers that was a lot of fun and had a lot of great art history in this mission!
April 5, 2024
It was good. It wasn't the best book I've ever read. But it was still good. I highly recommend this series.
January 17, 2020
A boy traversed through a machine to the past, but the machine broke down halfway through the place, and finally returned home.
May 28, 2013
Your life will be ruined if you do not read, "Jack Stalwart -The Mystery of the Mona Lisa." Elizabeth Singer Hunt is the author of this book. I thought this book was action packed. Jack is a secret agent of the spy club. At 7:50 p.m. Jack gets a call. He goes on a top secret mission. Read this book to see if he will complete the mission. My favorite part was when Jack was chasing the thief. This book was fun to read. I would give this book a five star rating. I would recommend this book to everyone!
June 18, 2012
Pretty good, except I'm not sure that the French pronunciations given in the book are accurate.
Same lines as before - secret mission, seriously cool (and unrealistically convenient) gadgets, traveling to a new place.
This one had a bit more to it - not so straight forward, but did end with the capture of a disgusting villain. It also had a bit more violence and malevolence than previously seen.
Same lines as before - secret mission, seriously cool (and unrealistically convenient) gadgets, traveling to a new place.
This one had a bit more to it - not so straight forward, but did end with the capture of a disgusting villain. It also had a bit more violence and malevolence than previously seen.
June 30, 2009
I read this early chapter book to my 5 and 7 year old. Lots of great visuals to keep their attention: flip book animation on the bottom of each page, illustrations, and lists of gadgets with pictures. I think the way this book is set up is perfect for reluctant boy readers. The mysteries are not complicated and 9 year old Jack's gadgets keep him out of serious trouble.
May 3, 2010
I really liked this book. It's very James Bondish, but appropriate for the younger kids. If a child wants to read an action/suspense book, this is one to recommend. I'd recommend it to students in 3rd/4th grade, but I've had a student in 6th grade who read all of the books, so who knows!
May 12, 2010
Same as the last one.
October 20, 2020
De mis favoritos de niña
June 18, 2009
Fast paced plot; maybe level O?; teaches a bit about Mona Lisa and France
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews