Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark Review By: Ayisha Hernandez

Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark (Action/Adventure)

Osborne, Mary Pope. (1992). Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark. New York, New York:  Scholastic, Inc.

Jack and Annie are two children from Frog Creek, Pennsylvania. Jack’s seven-year-old sister Annie was shouting there was a monster. Jack, who did not believe his sister, was trying to coax her into going back home because it was starting to get late. While looking for the “monster,” Jack and Annie saw a rope ladder which led to a tree house in a tree. The tree house is full of books. While in the treehouse they found a book with a picture of Frog Creek and a book about dinosaurs. Jack opened the dinosaur book and wished he could see a real like Pteranodon. The tree house began to spin and shake. When the tree house stopped spinning, Jack and Annie discovered they were in the time of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. They met a real Pteranodon, which Annie named Henry. Jack finds a gold medallion with the letter “M” on it. This makes him think someone else has been to this land before. When looking for Annie, he came across nests full of dinosaur eggs and baby dinosaurs. He sees Annie crouching in the tall grass and then notices she is hiding from a Tyrannosaurus Rex. They both start running as fast as they can back to the tree house to get away from the T-Rex!

Pope Osborne's character’s Jack and Annie’s adventures in a time-traveling tree house are both engaging and enticing. Pope Osborne does a wonderful job with getting readers engaged with the text. From the very beginning she starts the story with action. The reader is thrown into a story that seems to already be happening. The descriptive language in the story helps the reader get a good image of what is happening in the story, even with the illustrations provided. The language of the text is easy to follow but does provide great vocabulary and information for the reader to learn. In this particular book, the reader is able to learn about different types of dinosaurs, characteristics of certain dinosaurs, and vegetation in the prehistoric times. Overall, the story is a great adventure read and provides many clues to a mystery that must be solved by reading more of the Magic Tree House books. I would recommend this book for students as young as Kindergarten if the story is being read. Independent readers up to Third Grade will enjoy this book and struggling or reluctant readers up to Fifth Grade will benefit from being exposed to this series.