Midnight on the Moon

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Magic Tree House was an amazing, middle grade series I used to read back in my youth. I binged these books for the Summer Reading Challenge, but they never had all of them in order. So, much like my youth, I'm randomly finding these books out of order and reviewing them. Why not? I need the nostalgia trip.

This book is sweet, fun and highly enjoyable. I can easily see middle graders throwing themselves in this series to find out the mysteries going on with the Magic Tree House. This imaginative series brings our leads to the moon this time, and it feels realistic. It doesn't feel goofy or not real, which is awesome.

If you're seeking a short chapter book that is highly engaging, grab this series! It holds up all these years later.

Four show more out of five stars. show less

This was a fun book to read to my three-year-old grandson. It was the first chapter book that he let me read to him. I gave him advance warning that the book is mostly words and very few pictures. I also told him that I would only read one chapter to him at a time.

He chose this book because he is interested in all things outer space and loved the cover illustration. He sat quietly and listened carefully to each chapter. After reading it to him, he said he wanted to keep this book. However, he does not want me to read him any chapter books about subjects which don't interest him. He has become quite the discriminating young reader.

With this book, I have developed an appreciation for the Magic Tree House Books and will look for others show more which have interesting themes. show less

In my opinion, “Midnight on the Moon” is a great adventure book, and it was highly enjoyable to read. The way the book is written, for example, is one of its most delightful features. Mary Pope Osborne has a natural way of writing a book that is adventurous and detailed, yet elementary in style, with very few inferences in the text. The book contains a lot of dialogue between the two main characters, which makes the story engaging. This story is also written using a lot of descriptive language, allowing for vivid visualization: “The wind started to blow. The tree house started to spin. It spun faster and faster and faster. Then everything was silent. Absolutely silent. As quiet and still as silent could be.” There is also show more onomatopoeic language incorporated in the story. For example, when Jack and Annie (the main characters), first jump out onto the moon, the author used the sound-word “boing” to demonstrate the sound and movement of traveling in a place without strong gravity. There were a few characters that seemed less important throughout the story, but became very significant at the end. The two main characters, however, are both very likeable, but they had many differences. Jack’s character is older, more cautious, more methodical, and wiser. Annie, on the other hand, though her character is adorable, she is playful, more impulsive, adventurous, and reckless. Her personality is charming and she uses words and phrases that are cute and funny, like when she refers to the moon base as a “space hotel.” There are very few illustrations in “Midnight on the Moon.” I like that the illustrator decided to include them because I think the illustrations reflect the story, and can be helpful in visualizing and comprehending the story, as in the diagram of the moon base, for example. Also, when Annie sees the moon man from a distance, the illustration is encased in a circular shape to show that she is looking through the telescope, and therefore that the moon man is quite far away. I really enjoy the extra dimension added to the illustrations by giving them a purpose – to support the text. The illustrations are finely detailed, but also plain in some ways. For example, they are sketched in pencil and they are not colored, though I feel that is appropriate to the text. I feel that the big idea of “Midnight on the Moon” is that you never know what is yet to be discovered. show less

I believe this is the first Magic Tree House story where Jack & Annie travel to the future. It's a whimsical adventure in which they go to a moonbase and then set out to explore the moon in search of a macguffin. It's fun with a bit of mystery. Who was that man on the moon after all?

Great read for children that like adventure. Annie and Jack are brother and sister. They are trying to find things that start with the letter "M" so that they can free their friend Morgan from the spell that Merlin cast upon her. They have to find four "M" things before they can free Morgan. This book shows them finding the last "M" thing. A great tale of learning new things about the universe and persevering to save a friend.

I think that this book is a good example of fantasy. It allows students to experience an unimaginable journey to the moon in a unique way. It is unrealistic how they arrived there and what they must do there, but students get to learn about different aspects of space and the moon through this story. The setting is developed well, it is very important for the reader to understand the environment that children are experiencing. The time is also important to know that the children go ahead to the future, the year 2031 on the moon. This helps the reader understand that the moon base doesn't exist right now. I would use this book in an intermediate classroom. The type of media used is pencil.