diff --git a/json-path-assert/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonassert/JsonAssert.java b/json-path-assert/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonassert/JsonAssert.java
index 921b0cf0..22277d2b 100644
--- a/json-path-assert/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonassert/JsonAssert.java
+++ b/json-path-assert/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonassert/JsonAssert.java
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ package com.jayway.jsonassert;
 import com.jayway.jsonassert.impl.JsonAsserterImpl;
 import com.jayway.jsonassert.impl.matcher.*;
 import com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.JsonProvider;
-import com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.impl.DefaultJsonProvider;
 import org.hamcrest.Matcher;
 
 import java.io.*;
@@ -19,12 +18,7 @@ import java.util.Map;
  */
 public class JsonAssert {
 
-    private static JsonProvider jsonProvider = new DefaultJsonProvider();
-
-    public final static int STRICT_MODE = 0;
-    public final static int SLACK_MODE = -1;
-
-    private static int mode = SLACK_MODE;
+    private static JsonProvider jsonProvider = JsonProvider.getInstance();
 
     public static void setJsonProvider(JsonProvider jsonProvider) {
         JsonAssert.jsonProvider = jsonProvider;
@@ -61,7 +55,7 @@ public class JsonAssert {
      * @return a JSON asserter initialized with the provided document
      * @throws ParseException when the given JSON could not be parsed
      */
-    public static JsonAsserter with(InputStream is) throws ParseException, IOException {
+    public static JsonAsserter with(InputStream is) throws IOException {
         Reader reader = new InputStreamReader(is);
         return with(reader);
     }
diff --git a/json-path/pom.xml b/json-path/pom.xml
index 30dddb6b..93bdb756 100644
--- a/json-path/pom.xml
+++ b/json-path/pom.xml
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@
   ~ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
   ~ limitations under the License.
   -->
-<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
     <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
     <parent>
         <groupId>com.jayway.jsonpath</groupId>
@@ -28,6 +29,11 @@
     <name>json-path</name>
     <url>http://code.google.com/p/json-path/</url>
     <dependencies>
+
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.codehaus.jackson</groupId>
+            <artifactId>jackson-mapper-asl</artifactId>
+        </dependency>
         <!--
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.googlecode.json-simple</groupId>
diff --git a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JsonModel.java b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JsonModel.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d0b3f570
--- /dev/null
+++ b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JsonModel.java
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+package com.jayway.jsonpath;
+
+import com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.JsonProvider;
+
+/**
+ * Created by IntelliJ IDEA.
+ * User: kallestenflo
+ * Date: 11/8/11
+ * Time: 7:40 PM
+ */
+public class JsonModel {
+
+    private Object jsonObject;
+
+    private JsonProvider jsonProvider;
+
+    private JsonModel(String json) {
+        this.jsonProvider = JsonProvider.getInstance();
+        this.jsonObject = jsonProvider.parse(json);
+    }
+
+    private JsonModel(Object jsonObject) {
+        this.jsonProvider = JsonProvider.getInstance();
+        this.jsonObject = jsonObject;
+    }
+
+    public static JsonModel create(String json) {
+        return new JsonModel(json);
+    }
+
+    public <T> T read(String jsonPath) {
+        JsonPath path = JsonPath.compile(jsonProvider, jsonPath);
+        return (T)read(path);
+    }
+
+    public <T> T read(JsonPath jsonPath) {
+        return (T) jsonPath.read(jsonObject);
+    }
+
+    public JsonModel get(String jsonPath) {
+        JsonPath path = JsonPath.compile(jsonProvider, jsonPath);
+
+        return get(path);
+    }
+
+    public JsonModel get(JsonPath jsonPath) {
+        Object subModel = jsonPath.read(jsonObject);
+
+        return new JsonModel(subModel);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JsonPath.java b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JsonPath.java
index fe252c3a..acda6937 100644
--- a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JsonPath.java
+++ b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JsonPath.java
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ package com.jayway.jsonpath;
 import com.jayway.jsonpath.reader.PathToken;
 import com.jayway.jsonpath.reader.PathTokenizer;
 import com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.JsonProvider;
-import com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.impl.DefaultJsonProvider;
 
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -87,7 +86,7 @@ public class JsonPath {
      * @param jsonPath the path statement
      */
     private JsonPath(String jsonPath) {
-        this(new DefaultJsonProvider(), jsonPath);
+        this(JsonProvider.getInstance(), jsonPath);
     }
 
 
diff --git a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/PathReader.java b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/PathReader.java
deleted file mode 100644
index de69768e..00000000
--- a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/PathReader.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,45 +0,0 @@
-package com.jayway.jsonpath;
-
-import com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.JsonProvider;
-import com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.impl.DefaultJsonProvider;
-
-/**
- * Created by IntelliJ IDEA.
- * User: kallestenflo
- * Date: 11/8/11
- * Time: 7:40 PM
- */
-public class PathReader {
-
-    private Object jsonModel;
-
-    private JsonProvider jsonProvider;
-
-    private PathReader(String json) {
-        this.jsonProvider = new DefaultJsonProvider();
-        this.jsonModel = jsonProvider.parse(json);
-    }
-
-    private PathReader(Object jsonModel) {
-        this.jsonProvider = new DefaultJsonProvider();
-        this.jsonModel = jsonModel;
-    }
-
-    public static PathReader create(String json) {
-        return new PathReader(json);
-    }
-
-    public <T> T read(String jsonPath) {
-        return (T)JsonPath.compile(jsonProvider, jsonPath).read(jsonModel);
-    }
-
-    public <T> T read(JsonPath jsonPath) {
-        return (T)jsonPath.read(jsonModel);
-    }
-
-    public PathReader get(String jsonPath){
-        Object subModel = read(jsonPath);
-
-        return new PathReader(subModel);
-    }
-}
diff --git a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/JsonProvider.java b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/JsonProvider.java
index 7902379e..af49f810 100644
--- a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/JsonProvider.java
+++ b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/JsonProvider.java
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 package com.jayway.jsonpath.spi;
 
 import com.jayway.jsonpath.InvalidJsonException;
+import com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.impl.JacksonProvider;
+import com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.impl.JsonSmartProvider;
 
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -21,6 +23,11 @@ public abstract class JsonProvider {
 
     public abstract List<Object> createList();
 
+    public static JsonProvider getInstance(){
+        //return new JsonSmartProvider();
+        return new JacksonProvider();
+    }
+
     /**
      * checks if object is <code>instanceof</code> <code>java.util.List</code> or <code>java.util.Map</code>
      *
diff --git a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/impl/JacksonProvider.java b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/impl/JacksonProvider.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..728f60db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/impl/JacksonProvider.java
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+package com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.impl;
+
+import com.jayway.jsonpath.InvalidJsonException;
+import com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.JsonProvider;
+import com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.Mode;
+import org.codehaus.jackson.map.ObjectMapper;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.LinkedList;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+/**
+ * Created by IntelliJ IDEA.
+ * User: kallestenflo
+ * Date: 11/8/11
+ * Time: 10:34 PM
+ */
+public class JacksonProvider extends JsonProvider {
+    @Override
+    public Mode getMode() {
+        return Mode.STRICT;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Object parse(String json) throws InvalidJsonException {
+        try {
+            return new ObjectMapper().readValue(json, Object.class);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            throw new InvalidJsonException(e);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Map<String, Object> createMap() {
+        return new HashMap<String, Object>();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public List<Object> createList() {
+        return new LinkedList<Object>();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/impl/DefaultJsonProvider.java b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/impl/JsonSmartProvider.java
similarity index 81%
rename from json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/impl/DefaultJsonProvider.java
rename to json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/impl/JsonSmartProvider.java
index 8bd87b87..718731ef 100644
--- a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/impl/DefaultJsonProvider.java
+++ b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/impl/JsonSmartProvider.java
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ import net.minidev.json.JSONObject;
 import net.minidev.json.parser.JSONParser;
 import net.minidev.json.parser.ParseException;
 
-import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 
@@ -18,17 +17,17 @@ import java.util.Map;
  * Date: 11/8/11
  * Time: 3:56 PM
  */
-public class DefaultJsonProvider extends JsonProvider {
+public class JsonSmartProvider extends JsonProvider {
 
     private Mode mode;
 
     private JSONParser parser;
 
-    public DefaultJsonProvider() {
+    public JsonSmartProvider() {
         this(Mode.SLACK);
     }
 
-    public DefaultJsonProvider(Mode mode) {
+    public JsonSmartProvider(Mode mode) {
         this.mode = mode;
         this.parser = new JSONParser(mode.intValue());
     }
@@ -46,8 +45,6 @@ public class DefaultJsonProvider extends JsonProvider {
             return parser.parse(json);
         } catch (ParseException e) {
             throw new InvalidJsonException(e);
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            throw new InvalidJsonException(e);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JacksonProviderTest.java b/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JacksonProviderTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..349aba66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JacksonProviderTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+package com.jayway.jsonpath;
+
+import com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.impl.JacksonProvider;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+/**
+ * Created by IntelliJ IDEA.
+ * User: kallestenflo
+ * Date: 11/8/11
+ * Time: 10:40 PM
+ */
+public class JacksonProviderTest {
+
+    public final static String ARRAY = "[{\"value\": 1},{\"value\": 2}, {\"value\": 3},{\"value\": 4}]";
+
+    public final static String DOCUMENT =
+            "{ \"store\": {\n" +
+                    "    \"book\": [ \n" +
+                    "      { \"category\": \"reference\",\n" +
+                    "        \"author\": \"Nigel Rees\",\n" +
+                    "        \"title\": \"Sayings of the Century\",\n" +
+                    "        \"price\": 8.95\n" +
+                    "      },\n" +
+                    "      { \"category\": \"fiction\",\n" +
+                    "        \"author\": \"Evelyn Waugh\",\n" +
+                    "        \"title\": \"Sword of Honour\",\n" +
+                    "        \"price\": 12.99\n" +
+                    "      },\n" +
+                    "      { \"category\": \"fiction\",\n" +
+                    "        \"author\": \"Herman Melville\",\n" +
+                    "        \"title\": \"Moby Dick\",\n" +
+                    "        \"isbn\": \"0-553-21311-3\",\n" +
+                    "        \"price\": 8.99\n" +
+                    "      },\n" +
+                    "      { \"category\": \"fiction\",\n" +
+                    "        \"author\": \"J. R. R. Tolkien\",\n" +
+                    "        \"title\": \"The Lord of the Rings\",\n" +
+                    "        \"isbn\": \"0-395-19395-8\",\n" +
+                    "        \"price\": 22.99\n" +
+                    "      }\n" +
+                    "    ],\n" +
+                    "    \"bicycle\": {\n" +
+                    "      \"color\": \"red\",\n" +
+                    "      \"price\": 19.95,\n" +
+                    "      \"foo:bar\": \"fooBar\",\n" +
+                    "      \"dot.notation\": \"new\"\n" +
+                    "    }\n" +
+                    "  }\n" +
+                    "}";
+
+
+    @Test
+    public void parse_document() throws Exception {
+
+        JacksonProvider provider = new JacksonProvider();
+
+        Object o = provider.parse(DOCUMENT);
+
+        System.out.println(o);
+
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void parse_array() throws Exception {
+                JacksonProvider provider = new JacksonProvider();
+
+        Object o = provider.parse(ARRAY);
+
+        System.out.println(o);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/PathReaderTest.java b/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JsonModelTest.java
similarity index 93%
rename from json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/PathReaderTest.java
rename to json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JsonModelTest.java
index 8b00d1db..ea45ca83 100644
--- a/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/PathReaderTest.java
+++ b/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JsonModelTest.java
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import java.util.Map;
  * Date: 11/8/11
  * Time: 7:52 PM
  */
-public class PathReaderTest {
+public class JsonModelTest {
 
         public final static String DOCUMENT =
             "{ \"store\": {\n" +
@@ -50,11 +50,11 @@ public class PathReaderTest {
     @Test
     public void a_path_can_be_read() throws Exception {
 
-        PathReader pathReader = PathReader.create(DOCUMENT);
+        JsonModel pathReader = JsonModel.create(DOCUMENT);
 
         Map<String, Object> book = pathReader.read("store.book[1]");
 
-        PathReader pathReader1 = pathReader.get("store.book[1]");
+        JsonModel pathReader1 = pathReader.get("store.book[1]");
 
         String author = pathReader1.read("author");
 
diff --git a/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/PathTokenizerTest.java b/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/PathTokenizerTest.java
index 9f5052c5..413ee7f0 100644
--- a/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/PathTokenizerTest.java
+++ b/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/PathTokenizerTest.java
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package com.jayway.jsonpath;
 import com.jayway.jsonpath.reader.PathToken;
 import com.jayway.jsonpath.reader.PathTokenizer;
 import com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.JsonProvider;
-import com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.impl.DefaultJsonProvider;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import java.util.List;
@@ -20,7 +19,7 @@ import static org.junit.Assert.assertThat;
  */
 public class PathTokenizerTest {
 
-    private JsonProvider jsonProvider = new DefaultJsonProvider();
+    private JsonProvider jsonProvider = JsonProvider.getInstance();
 
     public final static String DOCUMENT =
             "{ \"store\": {\n" +
diff --git a/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/SplitPathFragmentsTest.java b/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/SplitPathFragmentsTest.java
index 4f044988..d782dae0 100644
--- a/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/SplitPathFragmentsTest.java
+++ b/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/SplitPathFragmentsTest.java
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package com.jayway.jsonpath;
 
 import com.jayway.jsonpath.reader.PathTokenizer;
 import com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.JsonProvider;
-import com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.impl.DefaultJsonProvider;
 import org.hamcrest.Matcher;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
@@ -18,7 +17,7 @@ import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
  */
 public class SplitPathFragmentsTest {
 
-    private JsonProvider jsonProvider = new DefaultJsonProvider();
+    private JsonProvider jsonProvider = JsonProvider.getInstance();
 
     @Test
     public void valid_path_is_split_correctly() throws Exception {
diff --git a/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/util/ScriptEngineJsonPath.java b/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/util/ScriptEngineJsonPath.java
index 8f80ba05..9118c64c 100644
--- a/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/util/ScriptEngineJsonPath.java
+++ b/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/util/ScriptEngineJsonPath.java
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ public class ScriptEngineJsonPath {
     private static String readScript(String script) {
         InputStream is = null;
         try {
+
             is = ScriptEngineJsonPath.class.getClassLoader().getSystemResourceAsStream("js/" + script);
 
             return new Scanner(is).useDelimiter("\\A").next();
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index fd39fe71..32291405 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@
   ~ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
   ~ limitations under the License.
   -->
-<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
     <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
     <parent>
         <groupId>org.sonatype.oss</groupId>
@@ -31,7 +32,7 @@
     <inceptionYear>2011</inceptionYear>
     <issueManagement>
         <system>GitHub Issue Tracking</system>
-        <url />
+        <url/>
     </issueManagement>
     <licenses>
         <license>
@@ -164,7 +165,13 @@
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>net.minidev</groupId>
                 <artifactId>json-smart</artifactId>
-                <version>1.0.6.3</version>
+                <version>1.0.9</version>
+            </dependency>
+
+            <dependency>
+                <groupId>org.codehaus.jackson</groupId>
+                <artifactId>jackson-mapper-asl</artifactId>
+                <version>1.7.1</version>
             </dependency>
 
             <dependency>