Dinosaurs Before Dark
A teacher’s look at why this book belongs in the Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me stage.
Why it fits Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me (for the kindergarten-ready set, between being read to and reading alone)
The treehouse spins and Jack and Annie land among dinosaurs. The formula - real facts inside a light adventure - launches a fifty-book reading habit. Every teacher knows a child whose reading life started here.
What makes it special
Osborne's formula — real facts smuggled inside a brisk adventure — has launched more reading habits than perhaps any series alive. The pencil illustrations keep one foot in chapter-book seriousness, flattering the reader's new status. Fifty-plus sequels mean the child who finishes this one has somewhere to go tomorrow.
From the publisher
Eight-year-old Jack and his younger sister Annie find a magic treehouse, which whisks them back to an ancient time zone where they see live dinosaurs. ###German-language description: Ein Baumhaus mitten im Wald, wie…
About Mary Pope Osborne
Mary Pope Osborne has written the Magic Tree House series for over three decades — 100+ million copies, the best-selling chapter-book series in American history — and has donated millions of books to under-resourced classrooms.
A military kid who moved constantly, then a young woman who traveled Asia in a van, Osborne says the tree house is just her childhood habit of escaping into somewhere else — systematized, researched, and shared.
Also by this author: The Knight at Dawn · Mummies in the Morning · Pirates Past Noon
More from “Chapter One, Together”
This book is part of The Best Books for Beginning Readers: 30 Teacher Picks (Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me) in our guide The Best Children’s Books by Age — 120 books chosen by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX. Come see how we build readers →
Nobody paid for this review — not the author, not the publisher — and the store link above earns us nothing. Our only interest is the reader this book fits.