Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osbourne, illustrated by Sal Murdocca

Siblings Annie and Jack are playing in the woods when they find the longest rope ladder they've ever seen, which happens to lead to a magic tree house. Annie is excited to explore the mysterious tree house, but her big brother Jack is a little more hesitant. When Annie races up the rope ladder and finds that the tree house is full of books Jack forgets his reservations and follows her lead. There are hundreds of books on the book shelves and many of them have bookmarks in them. Jack picks a book up about Pennsylvania and finds a picture of the very same woods just outside the tree house window. Then he picks up a book about dinosaurs and flips it open to where the bookmark was. He finds a picture of a Pteranodon and wishes he could see the creature for real. Seconds later, the prehistoric creature is flying outside the window!

Annie, always willing to befriend animals, excitedly descends the rope ladder to greet the Pteranodon when it lands and again Jack is more reserved. Annie names the Pteranodon Henry. Jack thinks she's foolish, but he descends the rope ladder and decides to explore his surroundings. He uses the book with the picture of the Pteranodon in it as a guidebook, referring to it for information about the dinosaurs he sees up close. He records his observations in a notebook.

Jack and Annie see a Triceratops, Anatosaurus babies and even Tyrannosaurus Rex. After running back to the tree house in fear of Tyrannosaurus Rex Jack realizes he left the book and his backpack on the hill overlooking the Anatosaurus nests. He races back, but finds he can't return to the tree house without passing paths with Tyrannosaurus Rex! Not knowing what else to do he tries to wait him out hoping the creature will leave peacefully. Annie has a plan though. She talks to Henry, the Pteranodon, and flaps her arms indicating that she wants him to fly over and rescue Jack. The creature obeys and Jack bravely climbs atop the creature's back for the ride of his life!

The siblings return to Pennsylvania, modern time, by finding the book Jack looked at earlier with the picture of the woods in it and wish their way back just as Jack had wished them 65 million years back in time! The children promise to keep the secret of the tree house to themselves as they think no one else will believe them. The only token Jack keeps from their adventure is a gold medallion he found marked with the letter M, perhaps a clue as to who the tree house belongs to and the mystery behind its magical powers.

This book/series appeals to 2nd-4th grade boys and girls. It's broken up into chapters and would work well for those readers who've explored early chapter books and are ready to begin the transition to chapter books. Each chapter contains a black and white illustration that corresponds to the text. This may be a series that is necessary to read in order as there is an underlying mystery tied to the gold medallion Jack finds and it may be revealed gradually as the series progresses.

Genre: Fantasy

Osbourne, M.P. (1992). Dinosaurs before dark. New York: Random House.