A while ago Caramel reviewed a fact checker book from Mary Pope Osborne’s Magic Tree House series: Knights and Castles. Today he shares his thoughts on the fifth book of the main series: Night of the Ninjas. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions.
Sprinkles: So tell us a bit about this book Caramel.
Caramel: It’s a book about ninjas. You probably already know that from the title.
S: That’s true. But how do the ninjas come into the story? Why don’t you start by telling us about the main idea of the magic tree house books?
C: They are about two siblings, Jack and Annie. They find a tree house in the woods near their home. They then find out that the tree house is magical.
S: How so?
C: There are many books in the tree house and when the kids look into one and wish they were in the place the book is talking about, they go there.
S: That is a neat idea! So the magic tree house takes them anywhere.
C: And any time too! So it is like the TARDIS of Doctor Who, a time machine and space travel machine. Except I don’t know if it goes into space. Oh wait, there is the eighth book, which is Midnight on the Moon, so they do go into space too.
S: That sounds exciting. And in this fifth book you wanted to talk about, they go to …
C: The time of the ninjas. And the samurai.
S: So that is in Japan, a few centuries ago probably, right?
C: Right. In an earlier book they even went to the time of the dinosaurs.
S: That’s cool! So in the time of the ninjas and the samurai, Jack and Annie have an adventure?
C: Yep. They are trying to help their friend Morgan Le Fay.
S: And you learn something about ninjas in this book too, right?
C: Yes, I learned the three ways of the ninja: Use nature. Be nature. Follow nature.
S: Hmm, those sound kind of cryptic. But the kids make good use of these three rules in the book, right?
C: Right.
S: There are some samurai in this book, besides the ninjas, right? You have read and reviewed a book about samurai before. How do the samurai in this book differ from the ones in your earlier reading?
C: Yes, in that book I learned that samurai are honorable warriors. But in this book, the samurai are the enemies of the ninja, who are helping Jack and Annie. So here, samurai are scarier. There is even a picture of a samurai on one of the first pages and he looks scary.
S: Yes, I guess there are different ways to think about many historical events and groups of people. So did you enjoy reading about Jack and Annie’s adventures in old Japan?
C: Yes.
S: And we should probably continue reading the next few Magic Tree House books, right? I know Marshmallow really enjoyed reading them all.
C: Yes. I am going to read book 6 next: Afternoon on the Amazon.
S: Hmm, that sounds intriguing. But for now, we can stop here. What do you want to tell our readers?
C: Stay tuned for more book bunnies adventures!
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