Recently Read with the Boy Wonder: "Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House #1)"

Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was my 6 year old son's first step into the world of chapter books. It has been a long time for me, as I no longer really read children's or young adult literature for my own amusement. We read it together, as he still occasionally needs help with the bigger words, proper nouns and rule breakers. I had forgotten how chapter books are prone to fragments masquerading as complete sentences. Other than that, though, we both enjoyed the experience.

For my son, this was an amazing new adventure. At first he was put off by the fact that there wasn't a picture on every page, and that the pictures were not in color. However, he was still fascinated by the content and detail of the drawings and how well they illustrated what he just read. The story kept him engaged, and was just the right length not to lose his interest. It didn't hurt that the story involved the characters interacting with dinosaurs. We would sit down to read one chapter, and at the end of each chapter my son would declare "Just one more." When we were done with the entire book, he declared that he not only wanted to buy his own copy, but also the entire "Magic Tree House" series. That is the best kind of recommendation for a chapter book possible, I think.

As the mom, I was thrilled to see my son so engaged in the book. The premise and subject matter is much like the type of books that attracted me as a child, and I look forward to exploring the series with him. As an avid reader and amateur writer, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of writing. I have been disappointed in books that reinforce poor grammar, such as the Junie B Jones series. In sharp contrast, the "Magic Tree House" restores my faith in children's literature by illustrating beautifully that you do not need to write in poor grammar for young readers to understand and enjoy a good story. The writing in "Dinosaurs Before Dark" was age appropriate, yet witty and clever. The story, though short, was filled with surprises and a couple clever plot twists. As a well seasoned reader, I of course knew that Jack would have to go back for his backpack, but the way he escapes back to the tree house was not at all predictable, unless one looks at the illustrations.

All in all, this is an excellent book to be shared by parent and child. There is nothing quite like escorting a young reader into the beginning of a life of reading, and this is an excellent series to facilitate it. They are engaging and clever stories with an educational element. They are fun for the young reader, and pleasant for the parent. Some books for young readers are banal, predictable and boring for the parent. This is not one of those books. I look forward to sitting down with my son and diving into #2.


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