Magic Tree House 01 Dinosaurs Before Dark

SAL MURDOCCA has illustrated more than 200 children's trade and text books. He is also a librettist for children's opera, a video artist, an avid runner, hiker, and bicyclist, and a teacher of children's illustration at the Parsons School of Design. Sal lives and works in New York with his wife, Nancy.

When they are in the tree house, Jack and Annie only have to say those simple words and the tree house starts to spin, faster and faster. . . . And then, poof!—the kids find themselves flying on the backs of dinosaurs, exploring the surface of the moon, and slipping down the deck of the Titanic.

Jack and Annies first 28 adventures are now together in a collectible box that looks like the magic tree house itself!

What do the Magic Tree House, Junie B. Jones, A to Z Mysteries, Andrew Lost, and Nate the Great series have in common? Not only are the main characters spunky and lovable kids whose exciting adventures have captivated readers for decades—theyre also all found in one place in the Favorite Series Starters boxed set. This is the first-ever sampler of its kind, introducing young readers to five favorite series through the first book in each. Kids will be clamoring to read more—and will have five different series to pursue—after theyve read the “favorite firsts” in this collection.

Jack and his little sister Annie are just two regular kids from Frog Creek, Pennsylvania. Then they discover a mysterious tree house packed with all sorts of books...and their lives are never the same! Soon they are traveling through time and space in the magic tree house and having amazing adventures. Whether it's watching baby dinosaurs hatch, finding a secret passage in a castle, helping a ghost queen in an Egyptian pyramid, or finding pirate treasure readers won't want to miss a single story!

Where did the tree house come from?

Before Jack and Annie can find out, the mysterious tree house whisks them to the prehistoric past. Now they have to figure out how to get home. Can they do it before dark . . . or will they become a dinosaur's dinner?

Visit the Magic Tree House website!

MagicTreeHouse.com

* After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the early 1970's, Mary traveled all over Europe, and spent the first six weeks of her trip living in a cave on the island of Crete.  She then joined up with a group of European young people and traveled in rickety vans through sixteen Asian countries, including Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal.

* She was a bartender, an acting teacher, a waitress, a travel agent, a window dresser, and a medical assistant -- all before becoming an author!  Now she is the author of many highly acclaimed picture books, early chapter books, middle-grade biographies, and young adult novels.

* In February 1993, Mary was elected the 27th president of the Author's Guild, the oldest, most established organization for writers in the United States.

* Mary her husband Will spilt their time between an apartment in Greenwich Village, New York and a cabin in Pennsylvania.  They own a terrier named Bailey, who sleeps on the top of Mary's desk every day while she writes!