Anyone's DC NOT love Magic Tree House series?

[Sillygirl]

Jonathan (5) isn't reading much independently yet, but I've heard great things about this series. He loves stories and loves to be read to, so I don't mind reading them. And in the Scholastic flyer this month, you can get the entire 35 book series for $59. Did anyone's kids dislike this series? Or any parents?

[ellies mom]

Ellie didn't care for them. We read the first several and part way through one she said she didn't want me to read it any more. We have a few that we haven't read and every so often I ask about them and she just isn't interested. I was a little bummed because I love the idea of the "Resource" books but she couldn't care less.

[mamicka]

Nobody here was interested in the stories. I have no clue why.

[crl]

We got through maybe 10 of them? DS was pretty interested at first and we checked them out in sequence from the library, getting a new one each week (I put them on hold so we could get them in the right order). But he lost interest and that was over a year ago and he's not wanted to restart them.

Catherine

[egoldber]

I wouldn't buy them. Maybe buy the first couple or something. The library has them all and sometimes having to wait for the next one increases the anticipation and holds their interest.

[AmyZ]

We just get ours from the library. DD1 likes them, but I wouldn't bother buying them.

[MichelleRC]

When we first read the series, my ultra-sensitive, anxiety-ridden DS1 was upset by some of the books (the Titanic one, in particular). We skimmed over some of the things in some of the other books I thought would bother him and then he finally just flat out refused to read them any more. No big deal, there are loads of other books. Now 2 years later he has picked up a few of them and re-read them.
I do think it is good first chapter book series, but if your DS is upset easily, some of the books may not be for you.

[Momof3Labs]

DS1 is so-so with them. They have been too easy for a while now, so he reads them in under an hour, which is not typically a good use of my money, lol (hours of entertainment per dollar spent).

I like having a variety of offerings around the house so that he can experiment with what suits his tastes through different phases.

[Gena]

DS doesn't like them. I think for him they probably have too much dialogue and he has a hard time following what's going on (language processing issues). But he really enjoys the Flat Stanley and the Roscoe Riley Rules books.

[m448]

oops, never mind I misread and assumed Magic Schoolbus LOL.

My kids weren't crazy about the Magic Treehouse books but were okay with the audio books in the car.

[kozachka]

We bought two books from a book fair mostly to help school with fundraising. We are taking the rest of the series from our library, but at this point in his life DS prefers Junie. B Jones stories.

[KrisM]

We haven't done them, since I don't like them for read aloud books and DS isn't quite reading yet. But, I do have some put away. I find them quite often at used book sales and garage sales for around $.50 each. I just bought the box set of the first 8 for $4 at a used book sale last week.

[caleymama]

When we first read the series, my ultra-sensitive, anxiety-ridden DS1 was upset by some of the books (the Titanic one, in particular). We skimmed over some of the things in some of the other books I thought would bother him and then he finally just flat out refused to read them any more. No big deal, there are loads of other books. Now 2 years later he has picked up a few of them and re-read them.
I do think it is good first chapter book series, but if your DS is upset easily, some of the books may not be for you.

That was my experience as well with the few we tried as read alouds over 2 years ago. DD1 just didn't like them - she really sensitive to any kind of stressfull situation in books/movies/tv. She actually prefers the research guides over the series but really is not into those much either. She will NOT read the series books - she has consistently resisted them for over 2 years. DD2 is not at the point where she can read them independently and has shown no interest in them as read alouds (but I haven't offered them either).

[jamesmom]

My DS is reading but never got into them after we read the first one together. We might try reading a different one in a few months.

[mamicka]

My kids weren't crazy about the Magic Treehouse books but were okay with the audio books in the car.

Oh, I never thought about the audio books. Maybe those would be better received. Thanks!

[m448]

Yeah the millions of "she said, he saids" are better of left to the author LOL.

[caleymama]

Oh, I never thought about the audio books. Maybe those would be better received.

Oooh, I forgot - we do have one audio book and DD1 did listen to that w/o complaint. I got it free at Wendy's this summer, so it was no big deal if DDs didn't like it.

[jacksmomtobe]

My DS got some Magic Tree House Books for his 5th B-day last March and we read a few but in general he found them a bit scary and hasn't shown interest in them since. We really like the Magic Schoolbus books in this house!

[ett]

I agree with PP not to buy the whole series. I bought the first one from the bookstore and now I just look for them used at library book sales and consignment stores. I've probably picked up about 15 or so for about 50 cents each. Or check them out from the library.

I first introduced them to DS1 last summer and he wasn't interested in them at all. I just re-introduced them to him a couple of weeks ago and he loved the first one. I want him to read the books by himself but for now we are alternating pages as he is just starting to get interested in chapter books.

[kransden]

My dd was obsessed with them. She has since moved on to the Fairy series i.e. Katie the Kitten Fairy, Olivia the Orchid Fairy etc. I would say you have a 50% shot of you child really liking them.

[rlu]

Haven't read the actual books yet, but DS loved the Dinosaur resource book. They have them at our library, I might get one next time, but DS has been honing in on the "Beginning Reader" books (the ones with the Cat in the Hat on them) so I'm going with his choices right now.

So far the only chapter books he has liked are Captain Underpants (he choose from his school library) and Stuart Little (my pick). My friend sent him the motorcycle mouse book (can't recall title - Mouse and the Motorcycle?) for Xmas which we plan to read next.

[mudder17]

We started with the audio books because Wendy's had them, and DD loved it and asked to listen to them (we got 2) over and over. So I got a couple from Paperbackswap and it turns out she really liked them. I didn't feel like getting an entire series, though I might have if Scholastic had been doing a special at the time, so we got them from the library. We actually made it through 30+ books before she finally grew tired of them, but every once in a while, she does go back to it. Interestingly, she's doing one of them in her pull-out reading class, and though she's read that particular one before, she enjoyed going back to it and doing study sheets related to it. One thing I like is all the dialog in the books, as well as the pictures. I think it was with these books that I first noticed she read conversations with appropriate inflection.

[bluestar2]

I think it is a good series, but wouldn't buy them for $59.

[luza]

I got the first set to read to DD a little before she was 5 and she didn't like them and I wasn't that happy reading them--they're not very well written. I tried them again a few weeks ago (she's now 5 1/2) and she still doesn't like them. I'm hoping maybe she'll be more interested in them when she can read them on her own. Right now she Captain Underpants is her favorite series.

[Karenn]

I saw that in scholastic and thought about it. DS loves that series but he'd read most of the books already anyway. I agree that waiting and looking for the next one at the library was part of the fun. They do read very quickly and they don't seem to be the type of book that DS wants to read over and over again. Captain Underpants, on the other hand, is a whole other deal! He's read each book at least twice making my investment in a boxed set off ebay well worth it!