China: Land of the Emperor's Great Wall: A Nonfiction Companion to Magic Tree House #14: Day of the Dragon King

Magic Tree House Fact Tracker #31

by Mary Pope Osborne, Natalie Pope Boyce, Salvatore Murdocca (Illustrations)

Track the facts with Jack and Annie!
 
When Jack and Annie came back from their adventure in Magic Tree House® #14: Day of the Dragon King, they had lots of questions. Who was the Dragon King? How did he build the Great Wall? What is Chinese New Year? What are some other Chinese traditions? Find out the answers to these questions and more as Jack and Annie track the facts about Chinese history and culture.
 
Filled with up-to-date information, photographs, illustrations, and fun tidbits from Jack and Annie, the Magic Tree House Fact Trackers are the perfect way for kids to find out more about the topics they discover in their favorite Magic Tree House adventures. And teachers can use Fact Trackers alongside their Magic Tree House fiction companions to meet common core text pairing needs.
 
Have more fun with Jack and Annie on the Magic Tree House® website at MagicTreeHouse.com!


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Childrens, Historical, China, Asian Literature, School

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 23, 2014

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

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't like this book because I don't like China. I also didn't this book because I don't like fact trackers. I also didn't like this book because I don't like emperor's.

[Sarah - All The Book Blog Names Are Taken]

Eleanor has decided she does not want to review the fact trackers anymore. But we did enjoy this book and learned a lot of things about China that we didn’t know before.

[Jeremy Manuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my two experiences with the Magic Tree House series, I've not been super impressed. When it comes to these companion books though, I have been impressed both times. These are non-fiction books that go along with a certain story in the Magic Tree House series, for example this one goes with Day of the Dragon King. It basically talks about the history and culture of China.

The book basically gives a historical/cultural overview of China. It starts with where China is and what it is like geographically, and then goes into the ancient history of China and how the first dynasties were established. It works its way to modern day China and talks about various aspects of their culture like family life, education, and celebrations. It's a very brief overview of all of these things and it's focus is for kids, but even adults can learn a few things here, it's just not quite as detailed as some of those books would be.

The one interesting thing to note with this book is that it really avoids any political aspects of today's China. The only real mention of government today is how the Chinese government only really wants families to have one child. This isn't a dig at the book, it's just an interesting omission. I would have thought it would have been good to mention how the dynasties of old are no longer in place today, but that China has a different governmental structure.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a children's history book, so know what it is, but it still provides some good information and does it in a way that is very accessible. I may not be a big fan of the main series of Magic Tree House books, but I am a fan of these non-fiction companions.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 2014, Mary Pope Osborne and her sister Natalie Pope Boyce published China: Land of the Emperor’s King. This book is a nonfiction research guide to the book entitled Day of the Dragon King by Mary Pope Osborne which was published in 1998. The first chapter is on the geography of China and an introduction to Chinese culture. The second chapter is about the first Emperor of a unified China, Qin Shi Huang. The third chapter is on “the Terra-Cotta Soldiers” (Osborne & Boyce 43-56). The fourth chapter is on inventions in Imperial China. The fifth chapter is on daily life in modern China generally speaking. The sixth chapter is about the Chinese holidays. Chapter seven is about “Chinese people Around the World” (Osborne & Boyce 103-107). The book was written with the advice of a historian of China and an educational advisor. The professor of Chinese history, Kenneth Hammond, is at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. The book has wonderful black-and-white illustrations. The book has wonderful black-and-white photographs. The illustrator for this book was Carlo Molinari. The book has an index. Similar to the other books in the Magic Tree House Fact Trackers series, the book has a section on how to do more research for young readers about China and Chinese culture. Osborne’s and Boyce’s book should be read with other books about China for young people since China is a complex place.

[Jenny Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual with this, some good basic information, enough to get a taste of the subject. There is, also as usual, a good list of other books, dvds, websites and museums. There is also a list of chinatowns in this one. This goes with Day of the Dragon King

[Yaren Koç · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it was a great book for a general overview of China. I know that when we were learning academic English and when we were in prep school, we saw the same facts in almost every paragraph exercise. For that reason, I am also familiar with this knowledge, of course. However, if I were younger, I believe that I would have liked this book so much more.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel a whole new appreciation for the things my kids learn in Chinese immersion. I guess I should have read this book when Emma was in first grade. Oh well. Better late than never. I feel like I have a lot better understanding of Chinese culture and history.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Fact Tracker that accompanies "Day of the Dragon King" tries to cover China, ancient and modern - kind of a tall order! But it does what is possible in the constraints of the space and the audience of young children.

[Molly Carrigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is a great book with lots of great facts, but without already knowing the main idea of Chinese history, this might be hard to comprehend.

[melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's pretty good. LOT of cultures.

[c wylie misselhorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love children's history books.

[Dillon An · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was really helpful because I am writing a research project about china, so I learned a lot about china history and china today.

[blueygurl2016 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty interesting but it didn’t blow me away. I was pretty interested in the festivals of China though.

[Jtimko · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book accompanies Magic Tree House #14: Day of the Dragon King. Background facts are presented that will aid in the comprehension of the book for young readers.
Similar to the other books in the Fast Tracker series, this one explores and explains the mysteries of ancient China. In this volume, we explore the Great Wall, the first emperors, the Terra-Cotta soldiers, inventions, daily life, and celebrations as well as resources on China history. Short chapters, plenty of illustrations and updated resources will keep the interest of the reader. This would be a good addition to your magic tree house collection. Recommended. Grades 2 through 5.

[Marya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would probably title this book "a taste of China", since this book barely scratches the surface of the multifaceted topic of an ancient and modern land. Still, at least they picked the kid cool parts (Great Wall, Terra Cotta soldiers, brilliant inventions) to get the kids interested. These are the parts that the kids are likely to encounter in immediate future literary works. Mao and Communism probably don't come around until middle grade reading, right?

[Bmack · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this idea of pairing a fiction Magic Tree House title with a non-fiction factual book! This "Fact Tracker" book on China was very interesting with just the right amount of facts and information about China. The only thing that would have made it even better would have been if the photographs and illustrations were in color instead of black and white.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book for children about China. Part of
a great series.

[Jaden John]

I like how they told me about ancient China. And modern China.