Parent reviews for Dinosaurs Before Dark: Magic Tree House, Book 1

The siblings, Jack and Annie, are a great team. Short chapters keep young readers engaged. I love that Jack keeps a notebook and is constantly referring to books to anticipate what to do next. Three books into the series and my first grader wants to keep a journal to make notes about each adventure.

This book is called Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne. The main characters of this book are Jack and Annie. They are brother and sister. The story takes place in Pennsylvania in a magic tree house. Jack and Annie found a magic tree house and they went back in time to when the dinosaurs were alive. Will they come back home before night? Or will they become the dinosaur's dinner? Dun dun dun!!!! We like this book because it's a very cool fantasy book. For example, in the book, Jack and Annie get to see dinosaurs in real life! This book is fantastic because it's an adventure book. For example, during one part of the book, they found nests of dinosaur eggs! Another reason is because the chapters are short so it's easy to read. For example, most chapters have less than 10 pages. People who love dinosaurs and kids from grade 2 to grade 4 should read this book!

This book and the whole series are great for beginning readers. They really helped my child enjoy reading because the words are short and simple, while the story is exciting and compelling. The author usually throws in a long word or two that she explains the meaning of. Each book has a bit of history from somewhere in the world.

This series is an absolute keeper. We used this as the first "Chapter Book" for reading to our kids over multiple nights when they were 4. They also are reading it to themselves. The stories provide a great education on a broad set of topics throughout history in a very entertaining setting. Loved it.

I highly recommend this for those kids ready to start reading their first series.

The Magic Treehouse series is a fun "read to" for early readers. The series has been very popular with our first grader for a snuggle bedtime story. The adventures of Jack and Annie are fun to follow, sentence structure is easy and some cultural education is woven into each story.

My daughter started the Magic Treehouse book series when she was 4 (she's 5 now.) She loves the stories and we end up reading whole books in just a couple of nights. (The website is great, too - You can print out your Magic Treehouse Passport and earn "stamps" as you "travel" from place to place via the books by answering multiple choice questions about the books. ) I think this series is a great series to choose for kids just starting out with chapter books.