204 of 209 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
GREAT EARLY CHAPTER BOOKS, February 7, 2005
This review is from: Magic Tree House Boxed Set, Books 1-4: Dinosaurs Before Dark, The Knight at Dawn, Mummies in the Morning, and Pirates Past Noon (Paperback)
When My son was younger these were among his most favorite books. He made sure we saved these so he could pass them on to his little brother to read to him once he is old enough. These are simple chapter books. They range in page count from about 68 to 96 pages I believe so they are relatively quick reads that can be read in a few nights depending upon your child's reading level. This set contains the first four books in the series:
Book #1, DINOSAURS BEFORE DARK
Book #2, THE KNIGHT AT DAWN
Book #3, MUMMIES IN THE MORNING
Book #4, PIRATES PAST NOON
The First, Dinosaurs Before Dawn tells the story of how jack and Annie (the series stars) first find the Magic Tree House and learn how the books can transport them to magical lands and worlds. The first takes them to the Cretaceous period. Through clues and reading the book in hand they learn and discover things about dinosaurs.
In the "Knight at Dawn", jack and Annie are transported back to medieval times. They find a castle and go exploring and find themselves on the run from the castle guards and worry they will never get back to the magic tree house.
"mummies In the Morning" Jack has always been fascinated by and pick up a book that has them traveling back to ancient Egypt. Jack and Annie enter a pyramid and get lost inside. Inside they find the ghost of an Egyptian queen whose been trapped inside the pyramid for ages and Jack and Annie try to set her free.
"Pirates Past Noon" Jack and Annie picture a wonderful beach and are transported to the times of Pirates where they are capture by Captain Bones who is seeking the treasure of Captain Kidd.
These books are geared for kids from the 2nd to the 5th grade I would say. They are entertaining, imaginative reads that help teach kids about history while being fun to read as well. Some have commented that the writing, technically speaking is weak. That may be in some spots but I feel this is mostly intentional as they are writing for 6 - 10 year olds.
These books are really a joy to read and I loved reading them along with my son. I'm glad we saved them!
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78 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Chapter Books for First, Second & Third Graders, December 14, 2003
This review is from: Magic Tree House Boxed Set, Books 1-4: Dinosaurs Before Dark, The Knight at Dawn, Mummies in the Morning, and Pirates Past Noon (Paperback)
This is the first series of chapter books my son actually wanted to read by himself. While many of the reviewers complain about grammatical errors, etc., I feel these can be overlooked as these delightful stories keep a child's interest from start to finish. Each chapter is fairly short and has frequent pictures (a must for beginning chapter readers). The main characters have all sorts of adventures and the reader actually learns some historical facts. While the books are probably too easy for advanced readers, they should appeal to most beginning chapter readers. I think it is very important that children think reading is fun and the books from The Magic Tree House Series provide a wonderful introduction to chapter book reading!
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163 of 176 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good intro to the next level of chapter books, March 14, 2002
This review is from: Magic Tree House Boxed Set, Books 1-4: Dinosaurs Before Dark, The Knight at Dawn, Mummies in the Morning, and Pirates Past Noon (Paperback)
This series is an interesting mix of fiction & nonfiction. Each book takes the characters (siblings Jack & Annie) to another place and/or time to get a clue to solve a mystery or challenge. The mysteries come in 4 book units, so this box set gives one full story unit. Our kids didn't really get that involved in the 'mystery' aspect, in part because we were getting them mostly from the library, which never seemed to have all 4 of a given mystery group. What they enjoyed was that it was a good easy chapter book, with many subjects or topics that were interesting to them.
I would agree with the reviewer who complained about the standard of writing- it's not great- and would add that if your child is particularly well-versed in a topic in one of the books they are likely to find that they know more than is presented in the story. I would put these squarely at 1st grade level... The Boxcar children are regularly threatened by rather sinister types, and because the stories are seen to be more current, it can seem more frightening than something that is clearly happening in another time- Pharoic Egypt, dinosaurs, etc.).
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