Independent Reading Level: 2nd-3rd grade
Honors/Awards: none

Adventure

Age; 6-9y

This chapter book tells the story of Jack and Annie who go back in time to the Civil War and work on the battlefield helping wounded soldiers. This book shows the reality of war and how much it impacted history. This book does a great job of illustrating an engaging way to describe the reality and importance of the Civil War. Overall I would highly suggest students in a social studies classroom to read this book in order to better understand the Civil War. ( )

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This story is about Jack and Annie are sent back into when the American civil war was around. There they meet a famous nurse named Clara Barton and do their best to help wounded soldiers. This book is a good story to have you student read because its from a person perspective that was fighting in the war but helping the wounded ones from dying. This shows them that the American civil war why it happened and how it all started. ( )

This had been sitting in our to-read pile for a long time, and it kept getting less and less wanted as the kids grew older. It was kinda sad reading it, knowing it was the "final" one of the first major book series the kids really got involved with (often saying "it spun faster and faster", etc. along with me). ( )

This book would be an engaging read aloud for younger grades (1-2) that would expose them to US history and the civil war because it is still a story that is entertaining to the children but also giving them a little background information on it. For older grades, such as 5th, I would use it as an independent required read when studying US history that they could read together in reading groups because it allows the students to experience what the people of the time period actually experienced, too.

In my opinion this is a good book for children to read. It is historically accurate which is really important when young students are reading these books. This is the age where children are first learning about historical events. First impressions are important, so students first impressions of factual event stick with students. In this book, the first page of chapter 4 has an excerpt from a primary source account of the civil war. The font for this part is centered and bolded, this attracts readers attention and shows a difference between the fictional characters of the story and the factual content of history. I also liked how the front covers illustration realistically depicts outfits worn during the war. The characters, Jack and Annie, are dressed in clothes true to the time period, another important quality in historical fiction books. The moral of the story teaches the seriousness and importance of war. It shines light, in a developmentally appropriate way, on the struggles we went through as a nation. ( )

I really enjoyed reading this book with my fourth graders. It is very informative while also being an enjoyable read. It is a great way to introduce the difficult topics of the Civil War. ( )

I liked reading this chapter books for many reasons. The first reason I liked this book was because of the two main characters, Jack and Annie. They are brother and sister who do a lot of fun time traveling together. Annie is a very, curious, hardworking girl, who helped all of the injured and sick soldiers during the Civil War and I really liked that about her. The characters in the story, including all of the soldiers who were fighting in the Civil War were very believable. Another reason that I liked this story was because the book pushes readers to think about tough issues, like war and slavery and broadens reader's perspectives on the Civil War and when African Americans used to be used for slaves. Jack was talking to a soldier in the battlefield and told him that times would get better and eventually, slaves would be freed. The main theme of this book is adventure and Civil War. Jack and Annie go on lots of different adventures during the story, but they learn a lot of information about the Civil War and what it is like to fight in it. ( )

Civil War on Sunday
“Civil War on Sunday” is a Magic Treehouse book by Mary Pope Osborne. Young readers will enjoy this book as though it is for entertainment; however, the book is full of factual information. Jack and Annie’s adventure leads them to the battlefields of the Civil War this time. The language is descriptive to provide depth to the history incorporated and brings it to life. For example, when describing the clothes it says “Jack wore scratchy pants and a long sleeved shirt”. Another example is when they meet the nurse at the field hospital and she is described as “Her face was red and beaded with sweat. Her eyes looked terribly tired”. Jack keeps his field journal throughout the book and writes down key points. This is a great way to demonstrate to young readers note taking. Additionally, the writing is engaging and educational at the same time. When they are helping to rescue wounded soldiers, the story incorporates Clara Barton who was a well-known factual field nurse. The book incorporates small excerpts that Jack reads from his “Civil War Book” that gives the reader pieces of history. At the end of the book there is a list of “Facts for you and Jack” that gives five facts about the Civil War. In addition, the song “Tenting Tonight on the Old Campground” was a true song sung by Civil War soldiers. This is a fun song for young readers to learn. Finally, at the end of the book there is a paragraph concerning Clara Barton and drummer boys. It would be impossible for the reader to not enjoy this book and learn history at the same time! You have to love the talent of the Magic Treehouse Storybooks. The big idea is to entertain the reader while teaching some history of the Civil War. ( )

Summary: In this book, Jack and Annie go back to the Civil War period. When they get there they help bring wounded soldiers off of the battlefield and they help care for them in the tents. While there, they meet the famous nurse Clara Barton who teaches them that no matter which side the wounded soldiers are on, they all deserve help. The children learn how important it is to have a positive attitude with the soldiers and they are given a list of what they must follow in order to help them out: be cheerful, give hope, and don’t give up. Eventually, they even realize that they have a relative on the battlefield who was a drummer boy and they help him out as well. The children do their best to send positive vibes to everyone on the battlefield and they realize that war is not a game that is depicted in video games or on television.

Review: This book teaches a valuable lesson about the importance of helping others. The children risked their lives going back to the Civil War period to help get wounded soldiers off of the battlefield. However, they realized that it did not matter which side the wounded soldiers were on because they really should be helping everyone out. At one point, Jack was trying to give hope to an African American soldier by telling him he will soon be reunited with his family. The soldier had to tell Jack that his whole family was sold away to slavery and he was fighting for his own freedom. This book is eye opening and shows the harsh realities of war. It shows how important it is to help everyone involved because innocent people were dying when both sides were just fighting for what they believed in. Overall, I thought this book did a great job depicting what the war was like and how important it is to help those who need it. ( )

In the series of Magic Tree House, Mary Pope Osborne has brought to life an adventure in the Civil War. This book helps children to understand some of what the Civil War was all about.

In is book Mary tells the story of Jack and Annie and their adventure in ending up at the Civil War. They are eventually enlisted in the Red Cross as nurses assisting Clara Barton, who is introduced in this book. The story goes on to tell about their connections to some of the warriors and their challenges at saving Camelot.

This is a great book that engages children into the world of the Civil War. It helps to teach them about the importance of it and the basics of what the war was about. I think that I would read it aloud to the children a little each day.

One extension to this book would be to let the children dress up as one of the Civil War characters from the book. Maybe even have a "Civil War Character Parade" with the other classes.
Another extension would be to let them place "nurse" like they did in the book. Maybe talk about different things that nurses do and why.

Very basic lessons delivered through a continuing story. Great for getting major concepts and written to be easily read. Fun but informative. ( )

I picked this book up expecting to feel brain cells dying as I read it. I was very wrong; I can see why my students enjoy this series so much. It's very well written (albeit extremely simplistic) and interesting. It was an extremely quick read and is educational, to boot! ( )

I would probably use this book as a lit circle book or read it aloud to the class as a whole, especially if we were talking about the Civil War. I would also possible incorporate books like Underground and Henry's Freedom Box into the unit so that the students could be exposed to as many sides of the Civil War as possible.

This was a great book it was really cute. It acctually was pretty accurette book on civil war. I really liked the the drummer boy he was really nice. It was a really cute book with a great story line. I would recomend this book to all elementy school kids and all perants to give to there elementy school aged kids. ( )

Jack and Annie are taken back to Civil War times. They meet many different people during their journey that help them understand what the Civil War was like.

I liked that this book was very fun and imaginative. I believe it would be best for K-4th grade. I think that kids will love this book because it takes them on an exciting adventure, and it makes learning about the Civil War fun.

I would use this book to introduce a lesson on the Civil War. After reading this book, we would have a classroom discussion sharing our thoughts about what may have happened during the Civil War.

Summary:
Jack and Annie are in a Magic tree house that took them to the Civil War through a book. The two kids meet many different people and learning about the Civil War along the way. Meeting these people helped the children have a better understand of what the Civil War was like.
Personal Reaction:
This was one of my favorite books as a child. I really like how it takes the imagination to the actual place. Kids will love this book because it's takes them on adventure.
Classroom Ideas:
1. I would use this book if i were teaching older students to use for reading and history.
2. After all the students have read the book (by a certain date) we would maybe have a dress like a character out of the book day. Where each student chooses which character they want to dress like.
3. Also I may have my class group up to work on a little skit and act out a what they learned from this book about the Civil War.

Summary: Two children, Jack and Annie are taken back to Civil War times where they get to meet Clara Barton and through a series of exciting events they get to save the life of their own great-great-grandfather.

Personal Effect: I enjoyed reading this book.

Extension Ideas: Learning about civil war times. Write papers on what you think your life would have been like in those times.

Some of Jack's notebook notes at the beginning of this one actually made sense. For once Jack and Annie aren't in danger of losing their lives (probably because everyone around them is dying), so this book gets points for, well, being a better book in general than many of the ones prior. Jack and Annie go to the Civil War fighting in Virginia and meet up with Clara Barton. They take a turn at nursing and learn as they do so. ( )

GR: M
GL: 2.3
DRA: 24
Lexile: 340L

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