32 pages • 1 hour read
Dinosaurs Before Dark
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Balancing Caution and Daring
From the start of the novel, Osbourne establishes that Jack operates with caution in comparison to Annie’s more daring attitude. They each approach their journey to the time of the dinosaurs differently, but together, they find a balance between caution and daring that allows them to return home thrilled about their time there and the magic tree house.
Without Annie, Jack would never have entered the tree house, as he recognizes that they don’t know its owner. This comment introduces that Jack is cautious in comparison to Annie, who immediately “start[s] up the ladder” after he makes this observation (5). However, the narrative quickly shows that Jack can be tempted beyond his caution when something he loves is involved. In this case, he is pulled up the ladder by the idea that tons of books await him at the top.
When they arrive in the Cretaceous Period, their adventure into the tree house is mirrored by Jack’s hesitance about leaving the tree house and Annie’s immediate decision to exit and “boldly” greet the Pteranodon. His desire to learn is what encourages him to step out into the dinosaurs’ world, but his caution also guides him as he uses his resources to navigate meeting dinosaurs. For example, he uses his knowledge to have Annie bend down low and pretend to chew around the Anatosaurus, encouraging her to “use your brain” (40). Conversely, Annie uses her daring to befriend the dinosaur, getting it to follow her around and let her feed it flowers.
At the end of the novel, Jack has to take a leap of faith and throw caution to the wind, but he only does so after evaluating all his other options for escaping the Tyrannosaurus rex. He wonders whether he should run or crawl back to Dinosaur Valley. However, ultimately, he pushes himself to take the opposite advice of what he told Annie: “Don’t think! Just do it!” (58). His decision to climb aboard the Pteranodon symbolizes success in that he used his mind to make the smartest decision he could while also going out of his comfort zone.
Together, Jack and Annie are a team whose approaches to new situations balance one another out. In the course of the novel, they both save one another: Jack saves Annie from the Anatosaurus, and Annie saves him from the Tyrannosaurus rex.
Learning Through Exploring
The Magic Tree House series is an educational one, providing insight into different periods and subjects in history and science. As a result, moments in the books offer educational facts or other observations to better understand that time period or moment. Ultimately, they demonstrate the importance of learning through creatively exploring.
It is evident from the start that both Jack and Annie are excited about learning. Jack, in particular, expresses his love of books, but Annie also quickly finds herself a book in which she’s interested before the tree house starts spinning. This moment sets the tone for exploration to come, as they are pushed beyond simply using books to learn and instead get firsthand experience of the world of dinosaurs.
When they first arrive in the past, Jack is fearful of the dinosaurs, making him reluctant to come down from the tree house. However, his consideration that “[i]t would be good to examine a Pteranodon” shows how he knows that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (22). By thinking about this encounter as a chance to do fieldwork and to “take notes like a scientist” (22), Jack can conquer his fear. While still nervous at times, he touches the Pteranodon’s skin and uses the dinosaur book to look up additional facts about the dinosaurs around him. Both types of actions are opportunities to learn and understand his surroundings more.
Jack’s notes about the Pteranodon’s “fuzzy skin” and that the Triceratops is “nice” illustrate how he is processing his new experience. The Pteranodon’s texture is unexpected, showing him that not everything there is more to know about dinosaurs is contained in the book. The Triceratops’s pleasant attitude combats his fear that a horned dinosaur would hurt him. Likewise, Annie is less nervous about exploring but is excited to learn about the animals around her. Her unabashed curiosity symbolizes the benefits of immersing oneself firsthand in the subject about which they’re learning. She can make friends with the dinosaurs and push her brother to embrace their adventure.
Ultimately, their experience in the magic tree house thrills both siblings. They both value learning, and it is this excitement that sets them off on an even greater adventure. By the end of the novel, they fervently wish to return to the treehouse in hopes of having another magical adventure, demonstrating their dedication to learning through exploration.
Dreaming and Magic
Jack and Annie learn very little about the magic tree house in their first adventure, and their return to the present at exactly the moment they left almost makes them feel like their trip to the past was a dream. However, both are intrigued by what happened to them, trusting in one another that they know what happened. This bond brings them closer together as siblings and sets up the story for continuation in a full series.
At first, Jack portrays himself as the opposite of his sister, who “loved pretend stuff” (1). He, on the other hand, “liked real things” (1). This delineation of a difference is the first thing Osbourne establishes about Jack and Annie when Jack begrudgingly responds to Annie’s call about a “monster.” However, Jack himself is also willing to imagine a monster. It is his wish in the magic tree house that brings them to the age of dinosaurs, to begin with, linking his imagination in particular to their journey.
The dream-like sense around the magic tree house almost takes over at the end of the book when Jack comments, “I think I’m starting not to believe it myself” (70). His and Annie’s knowledge that the adults in their lives are unlikely to see how real their adventure was makes Jack doubt himself and his instincts. However, where Jack at the beginning of the book might have dismissed it as a dream, Jack at the end of the book anchors himself in the experience of flying on a Pteranodon, having Annie there to remind him what happened, and holding onto the medallion to ultimately believe that “he knew for sure that their trip in the magic tree house had been real” (72). He allows himself to not feel certain of how the trip happened, but he trusts that something magical did happen, committing to learn more about it just like he used the dinosaur book to understand the creatures better.
Osbourne uses unbelievable elements to also set up a world of intrigue and introduce questions of how the magic tree house got to Frog Creek, who visited the dinosaurs before Jack and Annie, and whether or not they will travel through time again.
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By Mary Pope Osborne
