Friday, March 27, 2009

Dinosaurs Before Dark- Magic Tree House- By Mary Pope Osborne, illustrated by Sal Murdocca- Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction and a Chapter Book


This book is an example of modern fantasy and science fiction, and it is also a chapter book. The book includes time travel, magic, and encounters with dinosaurs. A boy named Jack and his littler sister Annie find a very high tree house in the woods. Up in the tree house, there are tons of books. Jack loves dinosaurs, so Annie hands him a book about dinosaurs. He sees a picture of a dinosaur called a Pteranodon and says that he wishes he could see a real one. Suddenly, it got windy and the tree house spun around. Jack and Annie have just traveled back to the time of dinosaurs! They see a Pteranodon, a Triceratops, lots of Anatosauruses, and a Tyrannosaurus rex. Some of the dinosaurs are nice, and the Pteranodon even saves Jack from the T-rex in the end. Jack uses the dinosaur book to learn about the dinosaurs, and they learn things such as not to be afraid of the Triceratops because it only eats plants! Jack has to escape a T-rex in the end. The T-rex is about to get them, even though they are in the tall tree house. Jack finds a book about their hometown, Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, and he wishes to be back home. Sure enough, the tree house spins and takes them home! Jack and Annie decide to not tell anyone about their adventure because no one will believe them. Them know their adventure was not a dream because Jack found a gold medallion during their trip and it was still in his pocket when he got home. Jack and Annie decided to come back to the magic tree house the next day.
This book would be great for any students who like action and adventure. What is more adventurous than running from dinosaurs? It would also be great for students interested in dinosaurs. There are facts about dinosaurs throughout the book that help the children deal with the dinosaurs. If a student is interested in time travel, they would find this book interesting too. The book is a pretty quick and easy read considering it is a chapter book, so it could be a great way for struggling readers to begin reading chapter books. There are also lots of pictures in the book that add to the book, showing what various dinosaurs look like and guiding the story. Reading this book would probably inspire students to use their creativity and write action stories. The characters in this book loved to read, so this could inspire students to want to read. They see that they can have adventures by reading books. Even though they obviously will not actually travel through time, they can feel as though they were traveling anywhere in time or in the world just by reading!

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