Carnival at Candlelight

My second-grader and I read this one together since he had read several Magic TreeHouse books in class. He liked it. I was not impressed - but that's really not what's important, is it? Jack and Annie must go back in time to Venice to save the Lady of the Lagoon from devastation. Time travel and flying stone lions aside, I was most bothered with the fact that there was no mention of the language barrier. They could have easily covered it with a spell or something since magic seems to be a central theme, but it was ignored. Again, not a problem for my second-grader. So as long as it's getting him interested in reading, I guess I'll give it a thumbs-up... not way up, but up.

This was a rather interesting story. I like it when they investigate obscure historical periods. Everyone does Medieval England, or Viking Scandinavia. Not a whole lot of people look at early Renaissance Venice. Also, the selkie rhymes are such a lazy cop-out. Might as well say abracadabra.

In my opinion this is a very good book. The writing language that the author used was very descriptive and it allowed me to paint a picture in my head of whatever it was he was describing. The lion’s stone mane ruffled into a mass of shaggy fur, his stone back softened into a sleek golden coat, and his stone wings stretched into long luminous feathers are just a few examples of the descriptive language that the author used throughout the text. I also enjoyed the plot of the story. Jack and Annie found themselves in many jams that seemed impossible to escape but they were able to. When they were thrown into jail with the rats I wondered how they would get out and they were able to escape with a magical rhyme. The book of rhymes got show more them out of a few impossible situations. There was always something new to be discovered around every corner like them having to figure out who was the Grand Lady of the Lagoon, or how they would find Neptune who was not real. Overall the plot was well organized. The message of this story is when using your imagination you anything is possible. show less

Jack and Annie go to Venice Italy where they are having a thing called Carnival. Carnival is actually something like a circus. But when the water is going to flood the city Jack and Annie are the only ones who are going to save the day. I recommend this book to people who really really really want to go to Venice, Italy.

This is a fun story and is the first of "Merlin's Missions" within the Magic Tree House series in which Jack and Annie are given a book of magic and an important mission that leads the two adventurers on a visit to Neptune, the ruler of the sea, on the back of a winged lion in order to save the city of Venice from a great flood.

This book gives a lot of information about Venice. I think if a child reads this book it'll give them lots of information about the floods in Venice. And all about how it was a city with rivers for roads and sidewalks. This is originally about Jack and Annie going to Venice in the middle of a carnival they have to face a terrible flood.

I like these books so far, because they are so full of adventure.