Today let’s look at Magic Tree House Fact Tracker #24 called Dog Heroes, which is a Nonfiction Companion to Magic Tree House #46: Dogs in the Dead of Night by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce and illustrated by Sal Murdocca. Dog Heroes has been nominated for a Cybils in the MG/YA nonfiction category. 
This middle-grade book is just what you would expect from the popular Magic Tree House series. After going into a quick chapter with overall information about dogs, the authors regale the reader with enchanting stories of search and rescue dogs, dogs that responded to 9-11, all about service dogs, and famous dog heroes. It’s all enough to give even a cat lover the warm fuzzies.
The illustrations in the book alternate between black and white photographs of actual dog heroes, and fun and age-appropriate drawings by Sal Murdocca.
Cybils notes: Although this book has loads of kid appeal, it really targets a slightly younger age group. Emergent readers, third and fourth graders love these books. That isn’t to say older kids wouldn’t enjoy these wonderful stories about dogs, but they probably would not want to be caught carrying the book around. Too bad, because it doesn’t fit the nonfiction picture book category either.
What do you think? Do you know middle graders who admit reading Magic Tree House books?
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (August 9, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0375860126
ISBN-13: 978-0375860126
As a companion to:
Be sure to look for more information about children’s books at today’s Book Talk Tuesday.
That’s the problem with trying to categorize books. Some just don’t fit into a specific category. I nominated Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie for the Early Chapter Books category but because of the difficulty level of some of the words, it didn’t qualify despite the fact that the main character is an 8-year old girl who is sad about her babysitter leaving. In all actuality, it’s a great book for younger kids (ages 6-9) that are more advanced than their peers in reading. Perfect for the Magic Tree House audience.
Yes, those advanced readers who need something challenging, yet age appropriate.