Dinosaurs+Before+Dark+(Magic+Tree+House+1)



**Summary/Review **
Where did the tree house come from? Before Jack and Annie can find out, the mysterious tree house whisks them back to the prehistoric past. Now they have to figure out how to get home. Can they do it before dark...or will they become a dinosaur's dinner? This enjoyable time-travel fantasy is a successful beginning chapter book. Jack and his younger sister find a tree house filled with books. When he wishes he could really see the Pteranodon pictured in one of them, it appears at the window. The children have been transported back to the Cretaceous period. They begin to explore and are soon threatened by a Tyrannosaurus. The Pteranodon comes to their rescue, and they figure out enough about the magic that carried them back in time to be able to use it to return home. (1)

**Author Bio **
Mary Pope was born in Fort Still, Oklahoma, the daughter of William Pope, a United States Army Colonel, and Barnette (nee Dickens), a homemaker. Osborne has a twin brother, Bill, a younger brother, and an older sister, Natalie, who has collaborated with her. Until she was 15, Osborne's family relocated often for her father's career; the family lived in Oklahoma, Austria, Florida and on four different Army posts before ending up in North Carolina where the family settled once her father retired. Osborne credits her lifelong peripatetic tendencies and love of adventure to this nomadic childhood. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Osborne traveled extensively around the world before settling in New York City. In 1976, she married Will Osborne, actor and children's playwright. He is Osborne's occasional collaborator. From 1993 to 1997, Osborne served as the 27th president of the Authors Guild, the oldest organization for writers in the United States. (2)



**Other Works **
**//Series://** Dear America, My America, Magic Tree House //**Novels:**// Dinosaurs Before Dark (1992) Knight at Dawn, the (1993) Mummies in the Morning (1993) Pirates Past Noon (1994) Haunted Waters (1994) Night of the Ninjas (1995) Afternoon on the Amazon (1995) Sunset of the Sabertooth (1996) Midnight on the Moon (1996) Dolphins at Daybreak (1997) Ghost Town at Sundown (1997) Standing in the Light: The Captive Diary of Catherine Carey Logan, Delaware Valley, Pennsylvania, 1763 (1998) Lions at Lunchtime (1998) Polar Bears Past Bedtime (1998) Vacation Under the Volcano (1998) Day of the Dragon King (1998) Viking Ships at Sunrise (1998) Hour of the Olympics (1998) Tonight on the Titanic (1999) Buffalo Before Breakfast (1999) Tigers at Twilight (1999) My Secret War: The World War II Diary of Madeline Beck, Long Island, New York, 1941 (2000) My Brother's Keeper: Virginia's Civil War Diary, Book One (2000) Dingoes at Dinnertime (2000) Civil War on Sunday (2000) Revolutionary War on Wednesday (2000) Twister on Tuesday (2001) Earthquake in the Early Morning (2001) Christmas in Camelot (2001) After the Rain: Virginia's Civil War Diary, Book Two (2002) Stage Fright on a Summer Night (2002) Good Morning, Gorillas (2002) Thanksgiving on Thursday (2002) Time to Dance, a: Virginia's Civil War Diary, Book Three (2003) High Tide in Hawaii (2003) Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve (2003) Summer of the Sea Serpent (2004) Winter of the Ice Wizard (2004) Season of the Sandstorms (2005) Carnival at Candlelight (2005) Night of the New Magicians (2006) Blizzard of the Blue Moon (2006)

**Awards **

 * #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list in 2006
 * Ludington Memorial Award
 * Lifetime Achievement Award

Historical Context
First Scholastic printing, Published July 28, 1992

**Major Themes**

 * Imagination
 * Adventure
 * Learning

**Citations**
1)[]

2) []