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Fledgling Jason Steed, otherwise known as Fledgling A Jason Steed Adventure, is the first novel in the Jason Steed series written by British author Mark A. Cooper. The book, about an 11-year-old martial arts expert and spy, was voted Top Young Adult Book for 2009 by Fictionreviewer.com.

The book
Fledgling A Jason Steed Adventure was published in September 2008. The 214-page "young adult" novel follows the life of a British-born boy called Jason Steed, from his tragic babyhood to the adventures he encounters as an 11-year-old Sea Cadet. Set against the background of a failed military mission, with the threat of a nuclear attack hanging over the world, Jason is tasked with trying to save the day. The book has been compared by reviewers to the Alex Rider and Young Bond books, as well as to a young Jason Bourne.

The fictional father of Jason Steed, Royal Navy officer Raymond Steed, is written as a tribute to a real-life British war hero. Raymond Victor Steed was a galley boy on a Merchant Navy ship when it was blown up and sunk after hitting a German mine off the African coast in 1943. Raymond, from Newport, was 14 years and 207 days old when he died - just five months after joining up. Raymond and his 20 crew mates died on 26 April 1943, after their ship, Empire Morn, exploded after hitting a U-Boat mine near Casablanca, Morocco. Raymond has been officially recognised by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as the youngest recorded fatality of the British service war dead.

Fledgling A Jason Steed Adventure has been reviewed by several notable publications. "You will laugh, cry and get hooked on this exciting coming of age adventure," wrote the Navy News. Soldier, a British Forces monthly magazine, called it "A page-turning fast read," the Yorkshire Evening Post said "Jason Steed is James Bond as a boy" and Fictionreviewer.com wrote: "A coming of age heart wrenching story packed with laughs and fast paced action."

The book has also been voted as Fictionreviewer.com's Top Young Adult Book for 2009. It "narrowly beat" the Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer in a poll of readers. The award citation reads: "The magnetic appeal for most young teens is the simplicity of the book, fast action and drama. The new ‘Text Age’ teens find it easy to read and fast; something fitting for the modern world they now live in." The possibility of Fledgling being made into a film is also discussed on the same website, and the idea was reported in the Cornish and Devon Post newspaper in November 2008 too. However, no confirmation of this proposal is yet available.

The author
Mark A. Cooper was born in Battersea, South London in 1963, where he attended Battersea Grammar School. He moved to Launceston, Cornwall, as a teenager and went on to study at Plymouth University in Devon. Cooper worked at a local factory and bank for several years after leaving university, before moving to Sarasota, Florida with his wife and son in 2003.

Mark A. Cooper is also the author of Moving to the United States of America and Immigration, and A Movement in Time with Breitling & Rolex an Unauthorized History. The second book in the Jason Steed series, Boudica, Jason Steed, is now being edited. It is expected to be published in May/June of 2009.