Audio Book Review: Magic Tree House #33 - Carnival at Candlelight, by Mary Pope Osborne

Bibliographic Information:

Osborne, Mary Pope. Magic Tree House #33: Carnival at Candlelight. New York: Listening Library, 2007.

ISBN-13: 978-0739331309

 

Summary:

Siblings Jack and Annie are two normal kids from Pennsylvania who have a magic tree house that lets them travel through time.  In this adventure, they are sent by Merlin to seventeenth century Venice, Italy to save the grand lady of the lagoon – if they can figure out who that is!  Jack and Annie must work their way through the riddles of Merlin’s instructions and learn to be patient in order to complete their mission.

 

Audience:

Ages 4-12

 

Strengths:

Interesting plot

Good lessons about being patient and following instructions

Unabridged version of the original book, narrated by the author - very true to the original text

 

Weaknesses:

Narrator's voice as Annie is rather obnoxious

Some children may have trouble paying attention to an audio book, having nothing to look at

Some plot points are thin – they’re being sent back in time by Merlin and use magic, why do they have so much trouble accepting that Neptune actually exists?

 

Uses:

Audiobooks in general are a great way for kids who struggle with reading to ease their way into it and learn that books are fun.  Struggling readers could read along in a print copy with the audio book and have an easier time recognizing different words, as this audiobook follows the print copy exactly.

This book is also a great introduction to Venice, as the kids read about the history and layout of the city in their research book, learning about canals, gondolas, St. Mark’s Square, and more.  This could be used as part of a geography or history unit.  Kids could also illustrate scenes from the book in an art class.  It could also be used with an English unit, as the kids spend much of the text trying to decipher the riddles Merlin has set them – children could write their own riddles and have others solve them, or read existing riddles and try and figure out the answers.

 

Read-alikes:

Bailey School Kids series, Debbie Dadey

The Magic School Bus series, Joanna Cole

Time Warp Trio series, John Scieszka

Carole Marsh Mysteries, Carole Marsh

American Girl series, various authors

 

Awards:

None