Magic Tree House #34 - A Merlin Mission: Season Of The Sandstorms

I didn't like it because it wasn't that exciting. The guy that they were with was really the emperor of the town.

Season of the sandstorms:
This book contains lots of history in long ago Baghdad. This history tells you all about what it was like back then.
More history. This
is what this book contains. That's what Jack is learning all through the book.

Seasons of the Sandstorms is the 34th book in Mary Pope Osborne's Magic Tree House series. In the series, Jack and Annie go on adventures using the magic tree house. In these adventures, they usually have to bring something back or help someone get something in a different place, culture or in

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history. Jack and Annie are helped by a book about the place that they land in as well as helped by friends who appear incognito. This book looks specifically at ancient Baghdad during Baghdad's golden age. The goal of this adventure is to follow Merlin's instructions though a letter he wrote to the children. The book is suitable for readers who are 4th grade and up.
When Jack and Annie are brought into Baghdad, they land in the desert. Their clothes change into clothing that is suitable for this area and they meet Mamoon. They help Mamoon bring a treasure to Baghdad while battling bandits, sandstorms and separation when they lose Mamoon after a sandstorm. On their way to Baghdad, Jack and Annie learn about the importance of camel transportation in the desert. Once in Baghdad, they meet the caliph (the ruler) and using the treasure that Mamoon gave them, help him spread wisdom to the world. The caliph brings Jack and Annie to the House of Wisdom which was a place for researchers, scientists and other thinkers to go. In the House of Wisdom is a laboratory for experiments, a library and an observatory to look at the sky and the stars. Jack and Annie meet people who have influenced the ways of Western civilization.
Young readers can see the similarities between ancient Baghdad and their own present town. In Baghdad, there is a bazaar which is like a mall, a police system, public schools and hospitals. Jack and Annie meet a man who perfected the Arabic numeral system which is the system that we use today. Mamoon inspires scientific wonder when he says, "science says we must observe the world. We must make experiments and try to find out why things happen." This book also teaches the idea that wisdom is spread by stories and ways of life that people bring to other lands.
Mary Pope Osborne includes a "more facts about Baghdad" on the last pages of the book which give more information about Mesopotamia, the House of Wisdom and who the inspiration to Mamoon was. The illustrations are few and in black and white but they are detailed and depict ancient Baghdad culture well. The problem with this book is that it has a lot of magical references and Jack and Annie have a rhyme book that helps them to get out of trouble. Although this series is about magic, readers will have to keep in mind that magic like in the book does not happen in real life. This book could be used in a unit on histories cultures.

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This book was very good and adventures.The books main characters are jack,annie,and mamoon.The book is about a man named mamoon.Mamoon is the leader of a camel caravan.When Jack and Annie thought they have figured everything out,they found out that mamoon had a seceret of his own.I would recommend

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this book to anybody that loves adventure books.

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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!

Jack and Annie are back for another adventure! This time, they travel to ancient Iraq to help the caliphate spread wisdom throughout the entire world. Using a series of rhymes to solve the mission, Jack and Annie travel through a desert sandstorm and battle bandits to get a message to the

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caliphate. The book does an excellent job intertwining the fictional stories of Jack and Annie with the real historic facts of the Muslim empires. The story covers topics in history not typically found in children's books, but does an exceptional job keeping kids interested. Recommended for the 2nd-4th grade age group.

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I liked the “Season of the Sandstorms” for many reasons. The plot of the story was very intriguing and suspenseful, making it hard to put down the book. The plot of the story is for the main characters, Jack and Annie is to “spread wisdom to the world”. Also I like how the author embedded

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history into the story. There are parts of the story that were nonfiction material that gave accurate detail about various events in history. For example, in the text it said “In the ninth century, traders from all over the world brought their goods to Baghdad to sell”. The story message is to show that books and wisdom is powerful.

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