Magic Tree House

The children's library in Fayetteville is really amazing. Last month we discovered books on CD, and we checked out a whole bunch of Magic Tree House books, by Mary Pope Osborne. Alana is not quite ready to read them yet, they are just above her reading level and too frustrating, but she loves listening to them.

Since checking them out, Alana pretty much listens to the CDs nonstop. Whenever she has a spare moment, she is in her room listening to the stories. She has probably "read" 20 of the books at this point.

Esther's primary teacher is named Sister Osborne. When Alana discovered this, she exclaimed "that is the name of my favorite author!" I'm really glad she has a favorite author. I think the fun of Magic Tree House books is that the author incorporates lots of historical facts in the story line. The characters travel through time solving mysteries via the Magic Tree House.

The best part of these books is the information sharing. Alana is constantly astounding us with facts about Mozart and Cleopatra. Last night I went in and she said "Mom! Jack and Annie got to meet George WASHINGTON! That is so cool!"

At first when Alana was sharing these facts I would ask "oh, did you learn that in school?"

"No, the Magic Tree House!" I don't ask anymore, but I sure am glad that she is learning something, since school either teaches things like states of matter and other basic facts that she already knows. Oh, and they practice taking multiple choice tests.

Maybe this summer we can make our own Magic Tree House and travel through time to solve mysteries.