Magic Tree House Boxed Set, Books 1-4: Dinosaurs Before Dark, The Knight at Dawn, Mummies in the Morning, and Pirates Past Noon

Grandson has read all the books but doesn't have copies of them, so I purchased them for him.

First off, ignore the people giving one or two stars or criticizing the grammar. They are full of it. Only the types of English teachers that made you spend hours diagramming sentences in high school would have an issue, and they would probably give "Huckleberry Finn" one star for the atrocious grammar too, if they dared.

Far from an illiterate mess, the stories are well put together and very entertaining for my 4 and 5 year old children. The tie-ins to historical events and people are interesting and lead to lots of asides and explanations (I'm a history buff). The main focus has to do with the two protagonists learning leadership, courage, patience, honesty, commitment, and all the other virtues. And there is just enough magic and fantasy to make it all lively and interesting for children.

I highly recommend this series for ages 4 through 6. Older than that, and the stories may seem a little simple and the vocabulary rather plain, depending on the child.

The non-fiction books that accompany many of these titles (focusing on the time period of that paticular book and what really happened) are also a treat, and much more in the line of the austere educational materials sought by dour school-marms. :)

I bought these for my five & six year olds. I decided to have them be a read aloud instead of letting them read them on their own. The stories are interesting to them, my son especially enjoys the adventures, but the grammar is so choppy that you really must read ahead and re-word 85% of the time. I think we will pass on the rest of the series and look for something else.

It is unfortunate that zero stars is not an option.

So, when did children's book publishers decide it was a good idea to throw out basic rules of grammar, such as writing in complete sentences? These books abound in fragments of all sorts. Moreover, the author and publisher decided that helpful punctuation, like commas, are similarly unnecessary. Mary Pope Osborne and Random House ought to be ashamed of themselves.

As a guest artist, I teach writing to a host of public school kids grades 7-12. Many of the students I work with think that they know what a sentence is, but they don't. If they read trash like The Magic Treehouse series when they were younger, it is no wonder. But don't just take my word for it. Compare these books with the writing of Antonia Barber in The Mousehole Cat (Book & CD). It is recommended for the same age range, has complete sentences, and with lively use of assonance and alliteration, is fresh and fun (and the illustrations are vastly superior!).

If you want your kids to read pulp that will likely leave them more confused about writing and grammar than they were before breaking the books' spines, look no further. These books are for you! But, if you think that they ought to be reading something of substance that makes them more intelligent and enriches their lives, try elsewhere.

I have spent many hours with Jack and Annie.These books are so interesting and my favorite one is number 14.I have almost completed the whole series.I have been reading them for 2 years.I wish I could live in the magic tree house too.I love Magic tree house.