Rebecca Brown Lit Review #4

Children’s Literature Review #4: Historical Fiction

Title: Magic Tree House: Tonight on the Titanic

Author: Mary Pope Osborne

Age Group: 3^rd Grade

This book is part of the Magic Tree House Series; the series is about a brother and sister, and their treehouse that takes them to different places in history. In this story, Jack and Annie follow a dog named Teddy to the Titanic, and continue on an adventure there. They work to rescue another brother and sister since they are the only ones on the ship that know it will sink.

One activity that could be done to incorporate literacy into a historical book is to have students write a newspaper article about the sinking of the Titanic from that time. They would be able to think from someone else’s perspective, and develop a better understanding of this major occurrence in history. Another activity would be to write a journal entry from the perspective of Jack, Annie, or one of the other characters in the story.

I chose this book because the Magic Tree House series was my very favorite as a child. I read and reread all of them for years, and I loved learning about things of the past. The book holds a lot of suspense for children in the primary grades, and could be read to students starting in Kindergarten or first grade in chapter segments. The older primary grades could read this book on their own, as well as the others in the series.