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| Home >> Book Reviews >> Magic Tree House Boxed Set, Books 1-4: Dinosaurs Before Dark, The Knight at Dawn, Mummies in the Morning, and Pirates Past Noon | ||||||
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Magic Tree House Boxed Set, Books 1-4: Dinosaurs Before Dark, The Knight at Dawn, Mummies in the Morning, and Pirates Past Noon Review
Jack and his little sister Annie are just two regular kids from Frog Creek, Pennsylvania. Then they discover a mysterious tree house packed with all sorts of books...and their lives are never the same! Soon they are traveling through time and space in the magic tree house and having amazing adventures. Whether it's watching baby dinosaurs hatch, finding a secret passage in a castle, helping a ghost queen in an Egyptian pyramid, or finding pirate treasure readers won't want to miss a single story! User Submitted Magic Tree House Boxed Set, Books 1-4: Dinosaurs Before Dark, The Knight at Dawn, Mummies in the Morning, and Pirates Past Noon ReviewsAugust 10, 2008 We like the stories, but the grammar gives this teacher-mom a serious headache! Pros: Fine for read aloud. Exciting stories for young (K-1st) grade children who are ready for chapter books. Cons: Serious grammar and usage problems that may rub off on the children's own writing. Poorly-developed plotlines with not enough "meat" for the age level of children they are meant to target. I have used these books as read-aloud for my two children. Currently I am reading them aloud at nighttime to our daughter, age six. Our daughter reads on a second-grade level, however, and has started reading these books independently, only coming to me for help with words she cannot sound out. I didn't mind the grammar and phrasing problems when using these books strictly as read aloud, because I could correct the problems on my own as I read. However, Mary Pope Osborn seems to really enjoy the use of incomplete sentences, particularly those starting with "and". As a former second grade teacher this really, really gives me a nervous twitch in my eye! This is only the most egregious and obvious of the grammar and phrasing problems that, for whatever reason, go unnoticed by Ms. Osborn's editors and by Ms. Osborn herself. I won't go ahead and give specific examples, since this has been well covered by previous reviewers. However, I do want to add my voice to the voices of those parents and educators who worry that this modeling of incorrect grammar may well rub off on young fans of the series. When I was teaching second grade, the students would have been expected to catch and then edit these type of mistakes out of their Writer's Workshop stories by about mid-January. I certainly expect a published author to be able to have as much respect for grammar and readability as my second grade students! I can respect an author's "style" to a degree, but I do believe that an author of children's literature should at least use correct grammar rather than "dumbing down" the sentences in what I suspect is a misguided attempt to make them easier for the children to read. (Children are smarter -- and better educated -- than you think, Ms. Osborn!) On a positive note, the stories do keep our daughter engaged and excited, as they did our son when he was her age. However, the plots are extremely simplistic, bare bones, just plain not well developed. The actual reading level appears to be that of an average late first to second grade reader, yet my experience is that second graders expect a bit more "meat" to their stories. I know that by late second grade our son had, for example, moved on to the Chronicles of Narnia. The Magic Tree House set is, in my opinion, excellent for read aloud for kindergarten and first grade readers and perhaps as independent reading for first graders, struggling second graders, or those children who have problems with attention span. However, the teacher or parent of any independent reader will have to take care that Ms. Pope's writing style does not negatively impact the emerging writing skills of the child. In short... Ms. Osborn, please correct your grammar! July 1, 2008 Love these Books!!!!!!! This is an excellent series to interest struggling readers in beginning chapter books. The series also has an educator's activity guide that is helpful. May 28, 2008 Great Read Aloud for young kids (4+) that teaches history The Magic Tree House series is a great stepping stone between picture books and chapter books. Most books written for a pre-k listening level take place in a realistic setting, like school. Not so with the magic tree house, it takes Jack and Anne throughout time and space: from the time of the dinosaurs to the future when men have colonized the moon. The books are exciting to read: Jack and Anne are often in real danger, though you know they will always make it back home. These books are also available in an audio format. I recommend reading at least the first four books. If you, the adult reader, gets bored, try playing the audio versions. I also think this box set makes a great birthday present for 4 and 5 year olds. At first the child can be read aloud to, and when they start reading, they can use it as an early reader. The audio version of these books (read aloud by the author) is also worthwhile. May 20, 2008 mixed feelings I have mixed feelings about this series. My children (boys 5 & 3) love the books. They are easy enough for the younger one to follow, but exciting enough that the older one isn't bored. My biggest problem with them is the grammar. I would never let my children read these books themselves because I would never want them to think that the writing is correct. Luckily, by reading them aloud I can correct the mistakes without them even realizing it. Seriously though, the grammar is so poor that had not all the books been that way I would have assumed it was just something wrong with the printing machine. The author literally does not know what constitutes a sentence and she has no concept of the comma. Here are just a few examples (all found a single page no less!!): 1. "Let's leave the scroll on floor. And go," he said. 2. They walked together. Across the room. To the glowing gold box. 3. They stopped in front of the box. And they peered inside. In all those cases she created fragment sentences instead of one regular sentence. She does this all the time. I think it was either in the first book or the second that I couldn't find a single page that didn't have a grammatical error. Both the author and the publisher should be ashamed of themselves. May 11, 2008 Great Books! My four year old son LOVES the "Magic Treehouse" series. He begs me to read it to him daily. The adventures Jack and Annie go on are both fun and educational. April 27, 2008 great for the imagination I bought the set as a gift for my nephew, whom is in second grade. Hoping to spark his interest in reading. The Magic Tree House books were the first books that grabbed my own sons interested when he began reading. He would devour a book in a couple of days and couldn't wait to began a new one. His imagination would grow as he traveled along with Jack and Annie on one fictional adventure after another. I like that there is also research guides for a few of the books. They go into detail about some of the actual settings of the books. April 20, 2008 Gets them pumped! I bought these books with bedtime stories in mind. My grandkids are early 4yr. and alomst 6yr. I was a little leary introducting 'chapt. books' that have minimal pictures. But, the boys ate up the excellent writing and want more every evening. This is a great series with just enough excitement not to be scary, but interesting. March 26, 2008 My son loves these books! My eight year old son hates reading! In an attempt to interest him in reading, I bought these books. He loves for me to read them to him. This is a definite step in the right direction and a first for him. He has even borrowed some of the other books in the serious from classmate and checked out six of them at the library the other day. You may think it is having me read to him, but I have offered before and always been turned down. Now he is asking! March 25, 2008 classic These books, which come as sets, have been loved for years. For the younger ones, someone must read it aloud but the adventure is always terrific and a relevent geography lesson at the same time. Don't hesitate to get these little books..which may well be in your child's classroom now (or certainly should be). March 20, 2008 OK to read a couple, but quickly becomes repetitive My son was introduced to these books in kindergarten (he was 5) by his teacher. In the beginning, he loved these books and wanted to get the whole set. But, as time went on, he realized - rather quickly - that the stories in each of the books was the same, the writing style is the same, the plot devices are the same, and the dialogues are the same. By the middle of his first grade year, he was done. He flat out told me that it's not worth reading the new ones, "because I already know what's going to happen, Mama." I would also say that I was a bit frustrated by the repetitiveness and also by the lack of imagination in the writing. I feel the authors do not challenge the children enough to make them want to keep coming back and they don't make it interesting enough for an adult and child to have a conversation about the books. The vocabulary is very bland and predictable. When the two main characters talk to each other, the dialogue is flat and unimaginative. The authors don't use any descriptive words to show the reader how the children feel when they are talking. (For example, it will almost always be: `Jack said.' or `Annie said.' without any adverbs or anything.) Since these books are being used to introduce children to the wonderful world of fiction and literature, I'd like for the authors to broaden the kids' horizons a bit. Let the child get into character and feel what Jack and Annie are feeling.... Also, bring in words like "replied" or "answered" or "responded". There are other words for "said" - get the authors a thesaurus. These books are rather expensive when you start adding the total costs (particularly if you buy them in hardcover). So, I would say: save your money and only buy a couple for your kids. Then, if they want more, get it from a local library. Because they will outgrow these rather quickly and you'll wish you spent that money on classics that would actually be re-read in the future. For more Magic Tree House Boxed Set, Books 1-4: Dinosaurs Before Dark, The Knight at Dawn, Mummies in the Morning, and Pirates Past Noon reviews click here.
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