Magic Treehouse

by Mary Pope Osborne

Genres: Childrens, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Chapter Books, Young Adult, Audiobook, 2nd Grade

Unknown Binding

First published October 1, 2009

About the author

Mary Pope Osborne is an American author of children's books and audiobook narrator. She is best known as the author of the Magic Tree House series, which as of 2017 sold more than 134 million copies worldwide. Both the series and Osborne have won awards, including for Osborne's charitable efforts at promoting children's literacy. One of four children, Osborne moved around in her childhood before attending the University of North Carolina. Following college, Osborne traveled before moving to New York City. She somewhat spontaneously began to write, and her first book was published in 1982. She went on to write a variety of other children's and young adult books before starting the Magic Tree House series in 1992. Osborne's sister Natalie Pope Boyce has written several compendium books to the Magic Tree House series, sometimes with Osborne's husband Will Osborne.

Reviews

[Devon Flaherty · Rating 2 out of 5]

My son has been reading The Magic Treehouse series by Mary Pope Osborne for some months, now. He is what is termed a reluctant reader, so we take his reading interest where we can find it, even with comic books or the Jack Stalwart series (see previous review). I’m not super fond of the Magic Treehouse, but my son is determined to read his way through the entire 57 (and counting)-book series, and it has been a favorite with elementary-age kids and new readers for years.

My main issues with the series are the stripped-down nature of the writing and the complete lack of plot. Maybe I should say complete lack of plot sophistication. Even for a new reader, I think that a story with some twists and turns is needed. Even fairy tales involve some complexity. These stories? Let’s just say that Osborne reuses whole phrases and paragraphs at the beginning and end of each and every book because, yes, they all start and end exactly the same. That wouldn’t be so horrible, but the middle part is also shamelessly predictable. Jack and Annie go in the treehouse and through a book to a new place and time (from the dinosaur age to the Revolutionary War). They have to retrieve something determined by the magical Morgan le Fey, and they encounter one or two simply-cast obstacles on the way back to the treehouse. As far as I could pay attention (I often slide out of consciousness), this is all there is to every book. We are on number eleven.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention: if you think that these books will help your children with grammar, you are sorely mistaken. Osborne is very fond of writing in sentence fragments and of too-short paragraphs, which drives a homeschool mother crazy. I spend half the day reminding my son to capitalize, punctuate, and complete his thoughts, and then hand him a grammatically farcical book before bed? Oi.

And the illustrations. Not a fan. Simply okay, but not great and definitely nothing special. (See what I did with the sentence fragments there?)

I suppose that one of the up-sides to this series are the information books that you can get to supplement the fiction books. Although not tremendously deep with knowledge, these books seem to be easy to access and interesting for children and would be a great resource for a project or paper. However, my son—and I am sure plenty of other kids—refuses to read the Fact Tracker series in lieu of reading yet another Magic Treehouse adventure. I think he does glean some history and maybe even science from the books, but I’m not sure it’s completely worth it.

At any rate, I’m not going to stop my son, or other children, from devouring these books like I did The Babysitters’ Club. Many children love them, and they have only increased literacy, even for “reluctant readers” (which does make me reluctant to be harsh in my review). But although extremely popular, they are not literary classics, and I would recommend trying Beverly Cleary or E.B. White first to see what happens.

_______________

My son has read out to me the first twelve, around-75-page books from Random House. The series is listed here. (Note: The official Magic Treehouse website’s list of books was down, so I looked to fan lists.):

Dinosaurs Before Dark
The Knight at Dawn
Mummies in the Morning
Pirates Past Noon
Night of the Ninjas
Afternoon on the Amazon
Sunset of the Sabertooth
Midnight on the Moon
Dolphins at Daybreak
Ghost Town at Sundown
Lions at Lunchtime
Polar Bears Past Bedtime
Vacation Under the Volcano
Day of the Dragon King
Viking Ships at Sunrise
Hour of the Olympics
Tonight on the Titanic
Buffalo Before Breakfast
Tigers at Twilight
Dingoes at Dinnertime
Civil War on Sunday
Revolutionary War on Wednesday
Twister on Tuesday
Earthquake in the Early Morning
Stage Fright on a Summer Night
Good Morning, Gorillas
Thanksgiving on Thursday
High Tide in Hawaii

Merlin Mission Books (Advanced series)

Christmas in Camelot
Haunted Castle on Hallow’s Eve
Summer of the Sea Serpent
Winter of the Ice Wizard
Carnival at Candlelight
Season of the Sandstorms
Night of the New Magicians
Blizzard of the Blue Moon
Dragon of the Red Dawn
Monday with a Mad Genius
Dark Day in the Deep Sea
Eve of the Emperor Penguin
Moonlight on the Magic Flute
A Good Night for Ghosts
Leprechaun in Late Winter
A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time
A Crazy Day with Cobras
Dogs in the Dead of Night
Abe Lincoln At Last
A Perfect Time for Pandas
Stallion at Starlight
Hurry Up Houdini!
High Time for Heroes
Soccer on Sunday
Shadow of the Shark
Balto of the Blue Dawn
Danger in the Darkest Hour
Night of the Ninth Dragon
A Big Day for Baseball

Fact Trackers (formally called Research Guides)

Dinosaurs
Knights and Castles
Mummies and Pyramids
Pirates
Rain Forests
Space
Titanic
Twisters and Other Terrible Storms
Dolphins and Sharks
Ancient Greece and the Olympics
American Revolution
Sabertooths and the Ice Age
Pilgrims
Ancient Rome and Pompeii
Tsunamis and Other Natural Disasters
Polar Bears and the Arctic
Sea Monsters
Penguins and Antarctica
Leonardo da Vinci
Ghosts
Leprechauns and Folklore (or Auguste Bartholdi, unsure)
Rags and Riches: Kids in the Time of Charles Dickens
Snakes and Other Reptiles
Dog Heroes
Abraham Lincoln
Pandas and Other Endangered Species
Horse Heroes
Heroes for All Times
Soccer
Ninjas and Samurai
China: Land of the Emperor’s Great Wall
Sharks and Other Predators
Vikings
Dogsledding and Extreme Sports
Dragons and Mythical Creatures

[Macy Woods · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read every single one of these books during my childhood. I loved all of them so much. They made me love reading even more than I already did, and they got me through some rough times. My love for fantasy and adventure grew after reading all of the Magic Treehouse books. These books will always have a special place in my heart.

[John R · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Magic Treehouse is series of adventure books. The volume reviewed is #21 Civil War on Sunday. The story begins, as all in the series do, in suburban Frog Creek, Pennsylvania. Annie and her brother Jack are called to a a magical tree house in the woods near there home by a flash of lightning. They have already been inside this tree house, full of books, that magically transports them to another place and time. In this specific journey they travel to a location near a civil war battlefield. Before the tree house transports them, in writing they have received a mission to fulfill for a magical librarian. The book contains a prologue for new readers explaining how Jack and Annie have come to learn of the magic powers in the tree house and who Morgan le Fey is, and how her role as a magical librarian plays a part in this and a larger part involving Merlin and Camelot.
In this story and as others when the two children arrive to their "destination", magically, their clothing is changed to match the time and place. In this story their clothing changes to fit the 1860's. Several times during their adventure Jack will take out a book that he brought along from the tree house that pertains to the given situation. He reads aloud to Annie to help make themselves aware of the environment- the events, famous people if any, possible dangers, etc. Jack then makes a few notes in his own notebook. These are presented in his own handwriting.
In Civil War on Sunday they first encounter wounded soldiers and accompany them on their way to a field hospital. They meet Clara Barton and when they ask how they can help, they receive a list of recommendations that complete their mission. They don't return right away to the treehouse, but accompany Ms. Barton to another field hospital helping more soldiers along the way. They personally attend to a drummer boy suffering from heat exhaustion. As in all the stories in the series, they return safely home. In a conversation with their father they find they may have interacted with one of their ancestors. After the the story follows a short factual account of Clara Barton and drummer boys.

This series is highly recommended for libraries and for parents to visit their local branch twice per week to get copies for their children. Publishers recommended ages: 6 - 8.

[Kevin Bottom · Rating 5 out of 5]

In these epic books, readers follow the children through a plethora of adventures. Growing up, every week when my class would go to the library I would end up checking out the next book in the series. The cover art of these books instantly catches the readers attention. The reader is then drawn into a new world full of suspense and adventure. Each book in the series goes to teach some new lesson along the way as well. The books make readers have a love for nature through advanced plots and vivid imagery.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first grader and I have been reading this series in order since this summer. We just finished #28, and we are both still enjoying them. He likes them because they are adventures. I like them because they introduce history in a fun way. We have learned so much since we started reading them together. My four-year old is starting to listen in with us, but for the most part it's been a great mom/son reading time. Now on to the next one in the series!

[Summer Cyr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magic TreeHouse Dinosaurs Before Dusk, is a great book that takes readers off into the greatest lengths of their imagination. Following 2 main characters that adventure into the dinosaur period through a tree house and book. This is a great series and book for readers just getting started with chapter books, and allows for kids to dive into different adventures in each story!

[Samuel Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved these as a child!

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are not fantastically written pieces of writing that an adult is going to want to sit down and reread. However, they fill a gap in the reading spectrum between the horrid (for parents) early readers where the child is learning to read and longer chapter books where the child is able to read to learn. Some kids need more material to work with to give them confidence before moving on to books with smaller print and there aren't a ton of options out there. My first reader didn't need this series, but it was really great for my second reader. Though there wasn't a ton of educational material in them, my son did pick out little tidbits that would come up in our other studies. He liked that each one was only 10 chapters long and that he could feel accomplished when he would finish one within a week instead of feeling like it would never end.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Magic Treehouse is a series of children’s books. The series follows siblings Jack and Annie from the town of Frog Creek, Pennsylvania. Jack and Annie discover a tree house that whisks them away to faraway lands and far away times. The books follow Jack and Annie on their time travelling adventures to new places. This fantasy series is perfect for students in first and second grade. Magic Treehouse books could also make a great read-aloud to your young children at night. I enjoyed reading these books because they were easy to follow along and provided some educational opportunities. Each book covers a different topic and time period, allowing children to learn about new things in an exciting way. I also like this series because there is so many to read. If your student takes an interest in this series, you can provide access to the entire series and keep them reading for a long time.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Magic Treehouse series, was almost like the start of my reading journey. I remember hearing this in a read aloud and since then I just kept diving in to the deep pit of obsession with this series. I just couldn't stop myself. I really loved Jack and Annie's adventures and the ultimate quest/goal in the end. I also felt that it was so fun to go back in history and to interact, maybe even affect the famous people in history. Although I now do not read this series, partly because, a downside is that each books storyplot (not including the historical part) is quite repetitive; I will credit The Magic Treehouse series for igniting my love for books. A great book for young children!
*warning they might become obsessed*

[Lauren Kuhlman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found so many of the books in this series so exciting when I was younger! There were always so many of them in my grade school library, each with an epic cover. These books taught me all about historical events in such a fun way as I got to see it through the eyes of someone who was young just like me. They were the first chapter books I read and it was such a good transition from the picture books I had read, since they are not too difficult to read. Such an amazing way to introduce kids to chapter books.

[Mike Z · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to rate this series. On the 1 hand, my kid’s preschool introduced this series to the class and got my kids into reading. Still a great reader today. Loves solving mysteries and adventure stories. But on the other hand, the series is really formulaic and weirdly obsessed about Merlin assigning dangerous missions to children. I had to read about 20 of these to my kid at bedtime and it got very tiring. Maybe it was worth it, and children like repetitive plots, but the stories could definitely be better.

[Mila · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first experience with reading avidly. I absolutely adored them as a child and they fostered my fast reading habits. Soon I would devour one per day. A great introduction for children into reading. Magic and time traveling? What else!

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read these first few with my kids this month and have enjoyed them along with them. These take me back to my first love of reading Nancy Drew as a kid. I love the adventures and sweet sibling relationship.

[alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

i remember reading one of these books for the first time when i was very very young and i immediately went back to the library and signed out multiple at a time. i’m honestly so tempted to pickup the newer ones and relive my childhood

[Sydney Higa · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE BEST KIDS BOOK SERIES EVER. i read nearly all of the magic treehouse books. this series got me into reading as a kid. i loved these books so much, i did my project on mary pope osborne in the third grade.

[Lizzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series even now but I would suggest this for more of the 1st - 3rd grade readers

[Séamus Fanning · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a series, amazing. I read all these books when I was really young (6-8 years old?), and I loved them. As separate books, they were all . . . ok. Good books for beginners.

[Bond · Rating 3 out of 5]

amazing, unbeleivable, and intellegence - giving

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic series! My second grader is reading these books and they hold his attention.

[Parker Satterfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

These were my childhood and I still read them at 25 years old I get excited when a new one comes out

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are good books I read up to book 20 and liked all the aspects of them

[Madison Wichers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to have the entire series, but I'm not adding 54 individual books to my list

[Dan Assisi · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a great series for early readers. Fun historical adventures small humans will enjoy.

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The girls and I listened or read over 50 Magic Treehouse books in 2020, and they were all amazing...so that should be represented in my Goodreads!

[Jacki Manley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish the children didn't lie to their parents....but otherwise pretty good

[Julie Swartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

My girls love these books and have learned so much history and geography from them!

[Jarret Shelton · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite childhood memories were reading these books

[Colin Hinshelwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is full of adventure, and is fun and exciting. Appropriate for 6-year-olds upwards.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was in love with these books as a little kid! So absorbed in the amazingly interesting stories, and would get these books for Christmas!! ❤️❤️❤️