Dinosaurs

Magic Tree House Fact Tracker #1

by Will Osborne, Mary Pope Osborne, Salvatore Murdocca (Illustrations)

The #1 bestselling chapter book series of all time celebrates 25 years with new covers and a new, easy-to-use numbering system! Getting the facts behind the fiction has never looked better.

Track the facts with Jack and Annie!!

When Jack and Annie got back from their adventure in  Magic Tree House #1: Dinosaurs Before Dark,  they had lots of questions. When did the dinosaurs live? What other animals lived at that time? Which dinosaur was biggest? How do we know about dinosaurs? Find out the answers to these questions and more as Jack and Annie track the facts.

Filled with up-to-date information, photos, 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 discovered 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.
 
Did you know that there’s a Magic Tree House book for every kid?
Magic Tree Adventures with Jack and Annie, perfect for readers who are just beginning chapter books
Merlin More challenging adventures for the experienced reader
Super A longer and more dangerous adventure
Fact Nonfiction companions to your favorite Magic Tree House adventures

Have more fun with Jack and Annie at MagicTreeHouse.com!

Genres: Nonfiction, Childrens, Dinosaurs, Science, History, Chapter Books, Middle Grade

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[♥ Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My five year old insists on giving a review (she's dictating ;-):

"This book is awesome for us! I LOVE dinosaurs. My favorite dinosaur is Tyrannosaurus Rex. There are so many different kinds of dinosaurs. Tsintaosaurus is my other favorite. On its' head it has a horn like a unicorn horn."

[Jenny Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

These short field guides tie into one of the Magic Tree House books. This is the first one and ties into the first in the series, Dinosaurs Before Dark. There are several illustrations and photographs. It was a quick read, and while not that informative for me, for the age it is meant for, it would be. It also has helpful tips on how to take notes, a list of other books to check out, as well as a list of DVDs and websites. There are pronunciation guides for the dinosaur names, as well as their meanings, and pronunciations of other words that may be difficult. There are also definitions clearly marked, to help a young reader fully understand the book.
As a jumping on point for a subject, both these and the main series are good, as well as being entertaining.

[The_Sunflower_Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it ! Even as a sixteen year old I still thought this book was really fun !! Will be reading more of these !

[Karine · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️ Good book, this book give great facts about Dinosaurs, has pictures and give great research tips. To love this book you should probably also love dinosaurs 🦕

[Sharon🔮👽]

Absolutely fascinating!!

[Seung Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this book to Alex for about a month here and there. It is a good book, but, just like for all the books in this series, colors would have helped in the illustrations. Still informative for my 5 year-old.

[Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

a lot of facts in this book

[demondelusions · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this over and over as a kid. I almost considered being a paleontologist after reading this when I was younger.

[Rachel Olive · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Dinosaurs (Magic Tree House Research Guide, #1) by Will Osborne is a hand in hand book to the Magic Tree House series book Dinosaurs Before Dark. This book is after the return of Jack and Annie when they are still left with questions. They want to know when the dinosaurs lived, what other animals lived during this time, and how do we know about dinosaurs. This book follows Jack and Annie as they track facts about dinosaurs through information, illustrations, and pictures regarding their hunt for answers.
Analysis: This is a perfect pair to the first fiction book on dinosaurs in this series. I loved how Osborne allows children to feel like they are hunting for clues alongside Jack and Annie. The Magic Tree House fact Trackers are a great way for kids to become more familiar with the topic that was in the fiction book.
How I would use this book: I would definitely recommend this book to teachers to have in their classroom, because they offer an entertaining alternative to finding facts. Kids will want these in the classroom after they read the fiction counterpart they along with Jack and Annie might have some of the same questions.

[Naureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

While working on reading with one of my students I had her reading the Magic Tree House Series because I remember how much I loved going on adventures with Jack and Annie in my own time. Only now, I have discovered these companion books for each adventure and I read this book with my students for extra knowledge on where the magic treehouse took Jack and Annie (and my students) for their first adventure. I truly loved this guide, it was quite informational and fun to see a mix of real photos and cartoon drawings of dinosaurs. My only thing is my student is quite a good reader and has good comprehension skills for only a 2nd grader and these research books were obviously meant for a lot older elementary kids (judging by the vocab and level of detail provided). Nonetheless, we read it together so they had someone guiding them through the book. I can't wait to read other magic tree house fact tracker books with my students; it's a refresher of info for me as well!

[Rangga Sukmawijaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buku ini merupakan buku pendamping dari buku Dinosaurs Before Dark yang merupakan nomor pertama dalam serial Magic Tree House. Dinosaurs adalah buku nonfiksi untuk anak-anak dengan narasi dan kata-kata yang sederhana. Di dalam buku ini, Mary Pope Osborne dan suaminya, Will Osborne, memperkenalkan dunia dinosaurus. Jenis-jenis dinosaurus, kapan dinosaurus hidup di muka bumi, sejarah penelitian tentang dinosaurus, termasuk arti dari nama-nama dinosaurus yang terkenal dijelaskan di sini. Gambar ilustrasinya memang tidak berwarna namun sudah memadai sebagai pengantar bagi anak-anak yang tertarik pada dinosaurus. Di bagian akhir buku ini kita bahkan menemukan beberapa buku atau situs internet yang bisa kita jelajahi apabila anak-anak ingin lebih banyak tahu tentang hewan purba ini.

[Bess · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this with my kiddo because he likes the Magic Treehouse series. I have to say though that there were a number of things that were either poorly expressed ideas or wrong. I have a background in biology, and there were some thing that were just basic bio 101 that I had to correct on the fly while I was reading aloud.

That said, it was the first of the companion fact-tracker series, so maybe they got a better technical editor along the way. I'll probably try reading another with my kiddo, because I want to encourage his interest in non-fiction, and it doesn't hurt to let him know that books can get things wrong sometimes.

I did appreciate that they aimed the information at a young crowd and made big concepts approachable.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, after my kids read the first book of the Magic Treehouse series ("Dinosaurs Before Dark") for themselves, I read to them from this "fact tracker" companion - a purely "educational" book putatively narrated by Jack and Annie. This clarified the known facts and science about dinosaurs, as encountered by Jack and Annie, and encourages the children reading the book to research the topic for themselves. I like this. It is a bit heavy, though, compared to the light reading of the Magic Treehouse book - it probably needs to be split up over several reading sessions, or their eyes will glaze over after a while!

[alana · Rating 3 out of 5]

We've read so. many. dinosaur. books. So this isn't full of new info nor are the illustrations especially spectacular. But it has earned the honor of being the first full length chapter book we've actually finished. The photos of fossils provided good discussion points, and we frequently pulled up other maps or books to connect with other things we've learned. I appreciate the research tips at the end. I'll seek out more of these fact finders for the kid (who is pushing to add yet another titanic book to our library), but we've yet to read the related storybooks together.

[Elpida Cervantes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dinosaurs (Magic Tree House Research Guide, #1) by Will Osborne is a fun way to teach students about the dinosaur era. This book has several pictures and facts about the accurate dinosaur era. Students will enjoy Jack's and Annie's adventure as they learn new information on a topic they were interested in. The book is great for storytime or for students who can read independently. Sentences are more complex but easy to read.

[Nikhil Math]

I read this book while I was at the jail waiting for someone. I really liked it, I learned a lot. I was pronouncing all the dinosaur names outloud in the jail lobby and I thought that was funny for the other people. I learned a lot more about dinosaurs than I thought I would. Turns out they are wayyyy more interesting than I original thought, which is insane because dinosaurs are already so crazy interesting.

[Kimberly R · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 Stars for this Children’s non-fiction book! I really loved this. It it’s full of awesome illustrations, silly notes and commentary, and really awesome facts about dinosaurs. It’s just enough to learn about the different species in the fictional “Dinosaurs Before Dark” without getting too complex. This book makes learning really fun. I really enjoyed the section at the end of the book explaining how to research!

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The magic of nonfiction! Started reading this to Sam after two of the regular Magic Treehouse books and thought there was no way we’d finish it... but he was THERE for every chapter. If we actually read all the accompanying fact trackers and make our way through the whole series, the kid will essentially have finished his liberal arts education.

[Stephanie Joelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good info about dinosaurs for kids! It goes along with Dinosaurs Before Dark, which is Book #1 in The Magic Treehouse series. I think this is a great educational series for young readers and love that there are nonfictional books to go with the fiction stories! Will continue to read through this series as I never read it as a child.

[Amaris ✿ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't speak on the accuracy of the facts presented, since I am no expert on dinosaurs, but I really liked the way information was organized. It was interesting and easy to follow. Thumbs up for the real photographs and cute illustrations, but I agree with other reviewers—it would be nice if these pages were in color! (Of course, printing that would be MUCH more expensive so I get why it's not.)

[blueygurl2016 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actually a good, informative book about dinosaurs and I learned something about meat eaters: they ate everything including bones, brains, eyeballs, and guts. But, I wish she would’ve cited her sources. It’s bad research etiquette to not cite her sources. It was interesting that the two guys would steal each others’ bones.

[Diallo Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Magic Tree House Dinosaurs book is about dinosaurs and fun facts about them. In this book, dinosaurs have been here for millions of years. It tells all the dinos´ weaknesses and strengths. If your not interested in the world before humans, then dont read it. If you like dinos, then I recommend that you read the magic tree house series.

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a little dry for me but my four year old is dinosaur obsessed so he still wanted to read it. It's a bit of an information dump so he didn't want to read it all in a sitting, but still. He knows so many random dinosaur facts now.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like this book. I like that it takes a subject that kids read about in the Magic Treehouse book and expand on it. I learned a lot and found it very engaging and informative.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book because I like dinosaurs. I did not like this book because I do not like nonfiction books.

[Sherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introduction to dinosaurs for children, and adults.

[Nam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the information is out of date, but it is still a very interesting read.

[Darinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A research guide on dinosaurs. This book goes along with the first book in the Magic Tree House series, Dinosaurs Before Dark. A lot of good information for dinosaur loving kids.

[Tim Sormin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The facts and unresolved mysteries are all layed out in a fun and engaging format.

[Heidi Kuipers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't necessarily agree with everything in the book but the pictures and illustrations we're good, good companion to MTH #1.