Re-read before lending to a friend's children. I still love these books. In this one, Dinah goes to the final of a computer competition, but it is really the Demon Headmaster trying to take over the country by hacking the Prime Minister's computer. It is the same dilemma at the end - is it better to die than to allow someone terrible to take over the whole country - but with lots of fun on the way. This is the book that taught me to foot-and-back up rubbish chutes, and the bit where Harvey gets put with the spaghetti always makes me laugh. And it's notable for having a cast of 'genius' children, and so having to have the talkative-genius, the shy-genius, the angry-genius etc etc. Reading as a grown up, I found the bit at the start, where Dinah is addicted to the octopuses, and yells at her parents, and then afterwards lies on her bed and carefully examines her emotions particularly interesting. And obviously I will always have a soft spot for the sweet, dated,' I am writing a program for what to do in the summer holidays in BBC BASIC and I wish people would leave me alone because this is fun' scene. ( )