I've seen them mentioned a few times here. My MIL bought Luke the first one and he just read the whole thing in 45 mins while eating breakfast and playing a board game. I guess he liked it. Can anyone give me a review. I quickly skimmed it and quizzed him on some reading comprehension to make sure he really read it. I didn't like the line "I'm gonna kill her." But other than that I didn't see anything too horrible. I'm pretty picky when it comes to current literature as there can be a lot of slang and words I don't want my kids to use. Also defiant attitudes and kids vs. grown up stuff I don't like. I don't want them reading books that set a bad example for them. How are these books with that in mind? TIA
I think it depends on which title you choose (which one was that, by the way?). B&N bookstores call those books K-2nd, and Scholastic calls them 3rd-5th. Personally, I'd call them 2nd. I think the content can be cool for some of them, but the grammar isn't. I've never let my kids read those, and they've never seemed interested, anyway. There are just SOOOOO many truly great books out there, that I don't want them wasting their time on something mediocre unless it's purely entertainment, like Star Wars graphic novels or Peanuts cartoons. MSH books are a little too "school-ish" to call entertainment.
My sons went through a short phase where they enjoyed them. They got through #16 I think and haven't shown interest beyond that. They aren't well written from a grammatical standpoint and there are a lot of sentence fragments. That bothered me. Although, it seemed to get better as the series went along. I don't recall kids vs. adults but they do keep the treehouse and their adventures a secret from their parents and there is an element of sneakiness because of that. However, the attitude found in a lot of modern children's books isn't there, that I recall anyway. As it turns out the treehouse magic is linked to Morgan le Fay and Merlin. Some people take issue with that, I personally didn't. There is some value to the history and the books do take kids to adventurous places. My boys learned some from them.
Well, I for one am a big fan of them. Or, I should say my son is a big fan of them and he HATES to read. So, we have been using them for our reading this year. If the interest is not there, I hear complaining the whole time. They are magic based and it is true, the kids keep the secret from their parents. I love that there are non-fiction companion books that go along with about half of the books. Right now, we are reading "Sunset of the Sabertooth" along with the non-fiction "Sabertooths and the Ice Age". I read the non-fiction book, and we read the actual story together. My ds is 7, and for him, the non-fiction would be too frustrating (not because he CAN'T do it, it is all in his mind). We love each Friday after we read the last few chapters to go on to www.magictreehouse.com to complete the "passport stamp" for that particular title. They ask a few questions about the book. You can answer the questions until you get them right. The added bonus is if you get them right the first time, you get a bonus item to decorate your treehouse with. There are also curriculum guides on that page that you can print worksheets out for or link to other subjects through different activities. I do have to say I am jealous that your son can tear through one in 45 minutes. Some day I hope to have a child who WANTS to read.
I also noticed the phrase, "I'm going to kill her" in the second book. I bought a few hoping they would spark Em's interest in me reading her chapter books. She really liked the first one, but she's not as interested in the second. The only complaint I've heard is that they can be very repetitious after a while because there are so many books in the series.
We are using them this year with their fact checker companions for unit studies in the geography/history/social studies part of our schooling with my 2nd grader. When he was a baby/toddler I nannied for a little boy and read a few with him as his after school reading. I liked them and am happy to have something that he can read himself and enjoy while learning.
My daughters both read some of the Tree house books. I did not like certain things about them. I had to remind the kids that it was not okay for kids to go to a secret hiding or play place that their parents did not know about. I had to remind them that it was not okay to leave with adults of older kids that we parents do not know for any advanture etc. There were other things like that that had to be discussed, like the iffy morals in some stories etc. Neither kid stayed with them for long thank goodness. They were also a tiring repeat after the first few being that all are written with the same plot formula.
My DS10 and DD9 LOVED the Magic Tree House Books and DS even loves the Nonfiction companions that go along with most of them. I didn't have any issues with them and I liked the fact that most of them dealt with "real life" things that actually happened i.e. General Washington and the Revolutionary War, in Revolutionary War On Wednesday. I liked how she brought some big ideas (History, Science, ect.) for kids to be able to research father on the subjects they are interested in. They got my DD who HATES to read into Reading
We have them all and my son loves them. He was in school last year (2nd grade) and his teacher didn't approve of them. I did because it was what he would actually sit down and read and be excited. I think the reading level is along the same lines of American Girl books which also I own all of them. On the back of some I think there is a level around 2.6. I could go to the back of the house and look but I am too lazy to do so.
