Mary Pope Osborne

The magic tree house whisks Jack and Annie away to Australia where they must save some animals from a wildfire.

Dingoes at Dinnertime

Sarah Sammis

Dingoes at Dinnertime (Magic Tree House #20) by Mary Pope Osbrone is the final book in Teddy the dog series. Their final gift is somewhere in the Australian outback.

This book is another of the Jack and Annie commune with nature plots. I get that Osborne is trying to introduce children to a wide variety of subjects through her books. Her nature heavy books just don't ring as true as most of her history based ones. She's best at recreating historical events. Her trips through time are always more dramatic, suspenseful and thought provoking.

This book does introduce Jack and Annie to the Dreamtime but it's done without much in the way of context. They do it with the animals of the bush not with the people who live there. Why is it when Jack and Annie go somewhere with exotic animals they don't get to meet the people (except perhaps one token person) who also live there?

Dingoes at Dinnertime

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