Dolphins at Daybreak

(The Mystery of the Ancient Riddles 1)

(Magic Tree House 9)
by
Mary Pope Osborne

illustrated by

Sal Murdocca

Scholastic, March 1997, 67 pp.
ISBN: 0-590-70635-7

Genre: Early Chapter
Subgenres: Time Travel / The Ocean
Reviewed: 1/26/2004

Reviewed by: Conan Tigard

Book Cover

Excerpt

The mini-sub began to rise slowly.

"Oh, good," Jack said.

The sub went past a small coral mountain. It went past schools of fish and waving plants.

"Oh!" gasped Annie.

Jack gasped, too.

Two eyes were staring out from behind a giant sea plant. They looked human--except they were as big as golf balls.

The sub moved past the giant plant. Jack breathed a sigh of relief.

"What--? Whose--?" sputtered Annie.

"Don't ask," said Jack.

They stared back at the plant.

Just then, a long arm came out from behind it.

Then another arm came out.

Then another--and another---and another--and another---and another---and another!

Jack and Annie stared in horror at a giant octopus.

"It's coming after us," said Annie.

Slowly, the octopus crept through the water. Its eight arms reached for the mini-sub.

Synopsis

To become Master Librarians, they must pass a test. And to pass the test, they must be able to do research. Morgan tells them that they have to solve four riddles. The first riddle leads them to the ocean.

At the ocean, they find a mini-sub and go for a ride around a reef. But the mini-sub was left on the island for a reason. It has cracks in the metal and it leaks. When Jack and Annie discover this, they are just starting to head back to the island when an octopus grabs them and begins to squeeze the already damaged mini-sub. To make matters worse, they see a hammerhead shark swimming around and they know their mini-sub will never make it back to the reef.

Dolphins at Daybreak is the ninth book in the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. This is the first of four books in "The Mystery of the Ancient Riddles" collection. The book is illustrated by Sal Murdocca. This story is intended for early chapter book readers in 2nd to 4th grade. The writing is perfect for young readers as there are not a lot of difficult words, but new ones are introduced and then reinforced with repetition.

Review

In this ninth installment of the Magic Tree House, it is the first book in the four part series solving four riddles for Morgan le Fay so the kids can become Master Librarians. 

Mary Pope Osborne continues her wonderful series staring Jack and Annie traveling through time and space. Once again, she exposes another important resource that all children should know about: the ocean, and more specifically, a coral reef. Of course, it has to be exciting, so there is an octopus, hammerhead shark, and dolphins.

Dolphins at Daybreak is another fun book for kids to read. After my daughter finished reading it and I asked her how she liked it, she simply said, "It was good." That is enough for me.

I rated this book an 8 out of 10.