Magic Tree House Boxed Set, Books 1-4 By Mary Pope Osborne

When I was little, these books were some of my first chapter books. I remember them as being huge at the time, but not dauntingly so. I do remember being proud and bragging that the first one was the biggest book I’d ever read. Now I’m older, and am ready to pass these stories on to the next generation. As a child, reading a chapter felt like an accomplishment, not because it was long or difficult, but because it was a *chapter.* Looking at the books now, the chapters are short — only about two or three pages on average. I think the longest chapter in the first four books is something like six or eight pages, though that might be later on. The font is large, but not overwhelmingly so. It’s small enough to give it a “grown up” feeling, while still being large enough for young eyes to focus on and track easily. There are pictures every couple pages, as well. Again, spread out enough to give a feeling of reading a “real” book, like an adult, while still acknowledging that the readers are still very much children.

The stories are fast paced, which is perfect for keeping the attention early readers, especially when you’re bridging them from picture books to chapter books. In the first ten pages of the first book, Jack and Annie are introduced and given basic characterization (Jack is the older brother and an academic, his younger sister Annie is the adventurer). The children discover a tree house full of books, and accidently end up in pre-historic times with dinosaurs outside the window. The explore the area, take notes, and meet the big baddy, all within the first sprint of pages.

Throughout the books, Jack has his handy dandy notebook that he fills with notes on his adventures. In the first book, he takes basic notes on each dinosaur or strange event that happens. This helps set up a foundation for learning *how* to take notes, and why they are useful. In the beginning, Jack’s notes are short and simplistic. “Friendly” and “Eats grass” being good examples. Later on, his notes become slightly more complex, though it takes several books for this to occur. Even then, it’s not a sudden jump — it’s gradual. In later books (I think starting in book two, but not really coming into play until book four) Jack actually refers back to the notes he’s taken so far and uses them to put together the pieces to a puzzle. Jack also makes a habit of carrying the book they wished on in his backpack every time they go on an adventure. Any time the children encounter a new word, something new or strange, they open up the book in question and look up information. Rather than saying “They flipped through the book until they found what they were looking for,” the author makes a point of saying *how* they found it. For example, showing Jack and Annie looking through the table of contents, or searching under “K” for knight. The author doesn’t write a sermon on how to take notes or look up information — remember, the stories are fast paced. Instead, she shows glimpses of the children doing this overtime until a clear pattern emerges on how to do these things.

The stories are based around the children going someplace far away from home and encountering strange and new things they had never seen or heard about before, expanding their knowledge. There’s also a high level of risk involved. When they go to Pompeii, for example, they need to get back to the tree house before the volcano explodes. These two elements paired with the fast pace of the stories provide a grand feeling of adventure, which is exactly what you want when trying to get kids hooked on reading books. In addition to being fun, they also do a good job of sneaking in basic study skills, all while providing a basic foundation for learning about whatever time and place the children go to in whichever book. In The first one, for example, they learn about dinosaurs.

Definitely a well rounded series and a great starter set for transitioning kids into chapter books. Even if the books are a bit beyond your child’s reading level at the moment, read the books to them anyway. Odds are that they will get hooked on the story, and when they are able to read them on their own, they’ll already have a head start. If nothing else, they will still be learning while you read to them, even if they don’t follow along with their eyes. There’s no way to lose.

These are a wonderful way to get kids started studying historical eras and English. Love the illustrations to help younger readers, just wish there were more and in colour like the Geronimo Stilton books!

I read these to my kids as their first ‘chapter’ books. It’s a good start for a book that keeps their attention, but teaches them to not see pictures on every page. Words they can understand and plots that they can comprehend. Just bought another set.

Bought these for my 7 and 8 year Olds and they love this book series!

My son loves these books. Easy to read and also small enough to fit in his backpack to share at school for Show and Tell

Great books and my 8 year old loves them. A good length and bigger font size with images so likely good for younger ages as well.