Dinosaurs Before Dark
Read Dinosaurs Before Dark Online
Authors: Mary Pope Osborne
Here's what kids have to say to
Mary Pope Osborne, author of
the Magic Tree House series:
WOW! You have an imagination like no other.
âAdam W.
I love your books. If you stop writing books, it will be like losing a best friend.
âBen M.
I think you are the real Morgan le Fay. There is always magic in your books.
âErica Y.
One day I was really bored and I didn't want to read â¦Â I looked in your book. I read a sentence, and it was interesting. So I read some more, until the book was done. It was so good I read more and more. Then I had read all of your books, and now I hope you write lots more.
âDanai K.
I always read [your books] over and over â¦Â 1 time, 2 times, 3 times, 4 times â¦Â
âYuan C.
You are my best author in the world. I love your books. I read all the time. I read everywhere. My mom is like freaking out.
âEllen C.
I hope you make these books for all yours and mine's life.
âRiki H.
Teachers and librarians love
Magic Tree House
®
books, too!
Thank you for opening faraway places and times to my class through your books. They have given me the chance to bring in additional books, materials, and videos to share with the class.
âJ. Cameron
It excites me to see how involved [my fourth-grade reading class] is in your books â¦Â I would do anything to get my students more involved, and this has done it.
âC. Rutz
I discovered your books last year â¦Â WOW! Our students have gone crazy over them. I can't order enough copies! â¦Â Thanks for contributing so much to children's literature!
âC. Kendziora
I first came across your Magic Tree House series when my son brought one home â¦Â I have since introduced this great series to my class. They have absolutely fallen in love with these books! â¦Â My students are now asking me for more independent reading time to read them. Your stories have inspired even my most struggling readers.
âM. Payne
I love how I can go beyond the [Magic Tree House] books and use them as springboards for other learning.
âR. Gale
We have enjoyed your books all year long. We check your Web site to find new information. We pull our map down to find the areas where the adventures take place. My class always chimes in at key parts of the story. It feels good to hear my students ask for a book and cheer when a new book comes out.
âJ. Korinek
Our students have “Magic Tree House fever.” I can't keep your books on the library shelf.
âJ. Rafferty
Your books truly invite children into the pleasure of reading. Thanks for such terrific work.
âS. Smith
The children in the fourth grade even hide the [Magic Tree House] books in the library so that they will be able to find them when they are ready to check them out.
âK. Mortensen
My Magic Tree House books are never on the bookshelf because they are always being read by my students. Thank you for creating such a wonderful series.
âK. Mahoney
Text copyright © 1992 by Mary Pope Osborne.
Illustrations copyright © 1992 by Sal Murdocca.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Osborne, Mary Pope. Dinosaurs before dark /
Mary Pope Osborne; illustrated by Sal Murdocca. p. cm. â (The Magic Tree House) A First Stepping Stone book
SUMMARY
: Eight-year-old Jack and his younger sister Annie find a magic tree house, which whisks them back to an ancient time zone where they see live dinosaurs.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89418-3
[1. DinosaursâFiction. 2. Time travelâFiction.
3. MagicâFiction. 4. Tree housesâFiction.]
I. Murdocca, Sal, ill. II. Title. III. Series.
PZ7.O81167Di 1992 [Fic]âdc20 91-51106
v3.0
For Linda and Mallory,
who took the trip with me
     Â
Cover
     Â
Title Page
     Â
Copyright
     Â
Dedication
 Â
2. The Monster
 Â
4. Henry
     Â
Special Preview of
Magic Tree House #2:
The Knight at Dawn
“Help! A monster!” said Annie.
“Yeah, sure,” said Jack. “A real monster in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania.”
“Run, Jack!” said Annie. She ran up the road.
Oh, brother.
This is what he got for spending time with his seven-year-old sister.
Annie loved pretend stuff. But Jack was eight and a half. He liked
real
things.
“Watch out, Jack! The monster's coming! Race you!”
“No, thanks,” said Jack.
Annie raced alone into the woods.
Jack looked at the sky. The sun was about to set.
“Come on, Annie! It's time to go home!”
But Annie had disappeared.
Jack waited.
No Annie.
“Annie!” he shouted again.
“Jack! Jack! Come here!”
Jack groaned. “This better be good,” he said.
Jack left the road and headed into the woods. The trees were lit with a golden late-afternoon light.
“Come here!” called Annie.
There she was. Standing under a tall oak tree. “Look,” she said. She was pointing at a rope ladder.
The longest rope ladder Jack had ever seen.
“Wow,” he whispered.
The ladder went all the way up to the top of the tree.
Thereâat the topâwas a tree house. It was tucked between two branches.
“That must be the highest tree house in the world,” said Annie.
“Who built it?” asked Jack. “I've never seen it before.”
“I don't know. But I'm going up,” said Annie.
“No. We don't know who it belongs to,” said Jack.
“Just for a teeny minute,” said Annie. She started up the ladder.
“Annie, come back!”
She kept climbing.
Jack sighed. “Annie, it's almost dark. We have to go home.”
Annie disappeared inside the tree house.
“An-nie!”
Jack waited a moment. He was about to call again when Annie poked her head out of the tree house window.
“Books!” she shouted.
“What?”
“It's filled with books!”
Oh, man! Jack loved books.
He pushed his glasses into place. He gripped the sides of the rope ladder, and up he went.
