Reading to My Daughter

My daughter has fallen for "The Magic Tree House," and I can see why. These books recreate the past; they are not simply history lessons. By putting Jack and Annie in the middle of a dinosaur stampede, Osborne grants every child-reader an important wish. Let me actually *travel* in space and time.

The very first sentence fragment in the very first book is brilliant. "Help! A monster!" How do you beat that?

Susie demands a rereading sometimes. Twice, we have wandered through "Mummies in the Morning." There is spookiness--a tomb robber, a ghost-queen, a mirage. Occasionally, there is a villain; the "pirate" segment involves a "Captain Hook" figure. What you do not find is humor, character development, or stylistic innovation. Susie doesn't mind.

If the book is too frightening, Susie then needs to sleep with her door open. (In childhood, I always felt that if I covered my ear with a blanket, I would grant myself immunity from any villains who might come by.) The most stunning thing to me about Susie is that she is at a stage in which she actually does not *know* whether the good guys will win. She wonders aloud if a given story might be the chronicle of one rare "bad-guy triumph."

I simply say, "We'll have to see." Then: lights out.

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