We just finished reading The Magic Tree House Series: Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne, our first intentional foray into chapter books. We looked at the cover and guessed what it could be about based on the pictures, we studied how the book was set up with a table of contents listing 10 chapters, and then started reading.
And read straight through to the end, 60-some odd pages later, a very few of them illustrated. There were a few questions, a few stops to summarize, but mostly we just plowed right through, with Bud announcing each chapter's number. I tried to make it interesting with different voices and such. They guessed each dinosaur based on the clues before it was named. The T-Rex was Bud's favorite part. I think Sis liked how the tree house would spin to travel back in time, which they found fascinating.
And so, we'll keep going. Though I'm not sure if we should read them in order or choose our favorite subjects. I'm going to have to check (there seems to be a continuation to the next book but I don't know how important it is). Was it better than picture books? Actually, the narrative was compelling but there was no moral--just pure fun with lots of facts, which is just fine. And it was long. Like, I wouldn't "read it again" today. But I'd read another tomorrow . . .
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