Magic-Tree-House-01-Dinosaurs-Before-Dark.pdf

Table of ContentsDinosaurs Before Dark1.Into the Woods2.The Monster3.Where Is Here?4.Henry5.Gold in the Grass6.Dinosaur Valley7.Ready,Set,Go!8.A Giant Shadow9.The Amazing Ride10.Home Before DarkDinosaurs Before Darkby Mary Pope OsborneText copyright 1992 by Mary Pope Osborne.Illustrations copyright 1992 by Sal Murdocca.1.Into the Woods“Help!A monster!”said Annie.“Yeah,sure,”said Jack.“A real monster in Frog Creek,Pennsylvania.”“Run,Jack!”said Annie,She ran up the road,Oh,brother.This is what he got for spending time with his seven-year-old sister,Annieloved pretend stuff.But Jack was eight and a half.He liked real things.“Watch out,Jack!The monsters coming!Race you!”“No,thanks,”saidJack.Annie raced alone into the woods.Jack looked at the sky.The sun was about to set.“Come on,Annie!Its time to go home!”But Annie had disappeared.Jack waited.No Annie.“Annie!”he shouted again.“Jack!Jack!Come here!”Jack groaned.“This better be good,”he said.Jack left the road and headed into the woods.The trees were lit with a goldenlate-afternoon light.“Come here!”called Annie.There she was.Standing under a tall oak tree.“Look,”she said.She waspointing at a rope ladder.The longest rope ladder Jack had ever seen.“Wow,”he whispered.The ladder went all the way up to the top of the tree.Thereat the topwas a tree house.It was tucked between two branches.“That must be the highest tree house in the world,”said Annie.“Who built it?”asked Jack.“Ive never seen it before.”“I dont know.But Im going up,”said Annie.“No.We dont know who it belongs to,said Jack.“Just for a teeny minute,”said Annie.She started up the ladder.“Annie,come back!”She kept climbing.Jack sighed.“Annie,its almost dark.We have to go home.”Annie disappeared inside the tree house.“An-nie!”Jack waited a moment.He was about to call again when Annie poked herhead out of the tree house window.“Books!”she shouted.“What?”“Its filled with books!Oh,man!Jack loved books.He pushed his glasses into place.He gripped the sides of the rope ladder,andup he went.2.The MonsterJack crawled through a hole in the tree house floor.Wow.The tree house m filled with books.Books everywhere.Very old bookswith dusty covers.New books with shiny,bright covers.“Look.You can see far,far away,”said Annie.She was peering out the treehouse window.Jack looked out the window with her,Down below were the tops of the othertrees.In the distance he saw the Frog Creek library.The elementary school,The park,Annie pointed in the other direction.“Theres our house,”she said.Sure enough.There was their white wooden house with the green porch.Nextdoor was their neighbors black dog,Henry.He looked very tiny.“Hi,Henry!”shouted Annie.“Shush!”said Jack.“Were not supposed to be up here.”He glanced around the tree house again.“I wonder who owns all these books,”he said.He noticed bookmarks weresticking out of many of them.“I like this one,”said Annie.She held up a book with a castle on the cover.“Heres a book about Pennsylvania,”said Jack,He turned to the page withthe bookmark.“Hey,theres a picture of Frog Creek in here,”said Jack.“Its a picture ofthese woods!”“Oh,heres a book for you,”said Annie.She held up a book about dinosaurs.A blue silk bookmark was sticking out of it.“Let me see it.”Jack set down his backpack and grabbed the book from her.“You look at that one,and Ill look at the one about castles,”said Annie.“No,we better not,”said Jack.“We dont know who these books belongBut even as he said this,Jack opened the dinosaur book to where thebookmark was,He couldnt help himself.He turned to a picture of an ancient flying reptile.A Pteranodon.He touched the huge bat-like wings.“Wow,”whispered Jack.“I wish I could see a Pteranodon for real.”Jack studied the picture of the odd-looking creature soaring through the sky.“Ahhh!”screamed Annie.“What?”said Jack.“A monster!”Annie cried.She pointed to the tree house window.“Stop pretending,Annie,”said Jack.“No,really!”said Annie.Jack looked out the window.A giant creature was gliding above the treetops!He had a long,weird crest onthe back of his head.A skinny beak.And huge bat-like wings!It was a real live Pteranodon!The creature curved through the sky.He was coining straight toward the treehouseHe looked like a glider plane!The leaves trembled.Suddenly the creature soared up.High into the sky.Jack nearly fell out thewindow trying to see it.The wind picked up.It was whistling now.The tree house started to spin.“Whats happening?cried Jack.“Get down!”shouted Annie.She pulled him back from the window.The tree house was spinning.Faster and faster.Jack squeezed his eyes shut.He held on to Annie.Then everything was still.Absolutely still.Jack opened his eyes.Sunlight slanted through the window.There wasAnnie.The books.His backpack.The tree house was still high up in an oak tree.But it wasnt the same oaktree.3.Where Is Here?Jack looked out the window.He looked down at the picture in the book.He looked back out the window.The world outside and the world in the picturethey were exactly the same.The Pteranodon was soaring through the sky.The ground was covered withferns and tall grass.There was a winding stream.A sloping hill.Andvolcanoes in the distance.“Wh-where are we?”stammered Jack.The Pteranodon glided down to the base of their tree.The creature coasted toa stop.And stood very still.“What happened to us?”said Annie.She looked at Jack.He looked at her,“I dont know,”said Jack.“I was looking at the picture in the book-”“And you said,Wow,I wish I could see a Pteranodon for real,”said Annie.“Yeah.And then we saw one.In the Frog Creek woods,”said Jack.“Yeah.And then the wind got loud.And the tree house started spinning,”said Annie.“And we landed here,”said Jack.“And we landed here,”said Annie.“So that means.”said Jack.“So that means.what?”said Annie.“Nothing,”said Jack.He shook his head.“None of this can be real.”Annie looked out the window again.“But hes real,”she said.“Hes veryreal,”Jack looked out the window with her.The Pteranodon was standing at thebase of the oak tree.Like a guard.His giant wings were spread out on eitherside of him.“Hi!”Annie shouted.“Shush!”said Jack.“Were not supposed to be here.”“But where is here?”said Annie.“I dont know,”said Jack.“Hi!”Annie called again to the creature.The Pteranodon looked up at them.“Where is here?Annie called down.Youre nuts.He cant talk,”said Jack.“But maybe the book can tell us.”Jack looked down at the book.He read the words under the picture:This flying reptile lived in the Cretaceous period.It vanished 65 million yearsago.No.Impossible.They couldnt have landed in a time 65 million years ago.“Jack,”said Annie.“Hes nice.”“Nice?”“Yeah,I can tell.Lets go down and talk to him.”“Talk to him?”Annie started down the rope ladder.“Hey!”shouted Jack.But Annie kept going.“Are you crazy?”Jack called.Annie dropped to the ground.She stepped boldly up to the ancient creature.4.HenryJack gasped as Annie held out her hand.Oh,brother.She was always trying to make friends with animals.But thiswas going too far.“Dont get too close to him,Annie!”Jack shouted,But Annie touched the Pteranodons crest,She stroked his neck.She wastalking to him.What in the world was she saying?Jack took a deep breath.Okay.He would go down,too.It would be good toexamine the creature.Take notes.Like a scientist.Jack started down the rope ladder.When he got to the ground,Jack was only a few feet away from the creature.The creature stared at Jack.His eyes were bright and alert.“Hes soft,Jack,”said Annie.“He feels like Henry.”Jack snorted.“Hes no dog,Annie.”“Feel him,Jack,said Annie.Jack didnt move.“Dont think,Jack.Just do it.”Jack stepped forward.He put out his arm.Very cautiously.He brushed hishand down the creatures neck.Interesting.A thin layer of fuzz covered the Pteranodons skin.“Soft,huh?”said Annie.Jack reached into his backpack and pulled out a pencil and a notebook.He wrote:FUZZY SKIN“What are you doing?”asked Annie.“Taking notes,”said Jack.“Were probably the first people in thewhole world to ever see a real live Pteranodon.”Jack looked at the Pteranodon again.The creature had a bony crest on top ofhis head.The crest was longer than Jacks arm.“I wonder how smart he is,”Jack said,“Very smart,”said Annie.“Dont count on it,”said Jack.“His brains probably no bigger than a bean.”“No,hes very smart.I can feel it,”said Annie.“Im going to call himHenry.”Jack wrote in his notebook;SMALL BRAIN?Jack looked at the creature again,“Maybe hes a mutant,”he said.The creature tilted his head.Annie laughed.“Hes no mutant,Jack.”“Well,whats he doing here then?Where is this place?”said Jack.Annie leaned close to the Pteranodon.“Do you know where we are,Henry?”she asked softly.The creature fixed his eyes on Annie.His long jaws were opening andclosing.Like a giant pair of scissors.“Are you trying to talk to me,Henry?”asked Annie.“Forget it,Annie.”Jack wrote in his notebook:MOUTH LIKE SCISSORS?“Did we come to a time long ago,Henry?”asked Annie.“Is this a place fromlong ago?”Suddenly she gasped.“Jack!”He looked up.Annie was pointing toward the hill.On top stood a huge dinosaur!5.Gold in the GrassGo!Go!”said Jack.He threw his notebook into his pack.He pushed Annietoward the rope ladder.“Bye,Henry!”she said.“Go!”said Jack.He gave Annie a big push.“Quit it!”she said.But she started up the ladder.Jack scrambled after her.They tumbled into the tree house.They were panting as they looked out the window at the dinosaur.He wasstanding on the hilltop.Eating flowers off a tree.“Oh,man,”whispered Jack.“We are in a time long ago!”The dinosaur looked like a huge rhinoceros.Only he had three horns insteadof one.Two long ones above his eyes and one on his nose.He had a bigshield-like thing behind his head.“Triceratops!”said Jack.“Does he eat people?”whispered Annie.Ill look it up.”Jack grabbed the dinosaur book.He flipped through thepages.“There!”he said.He pointed to a picture of a Triceratops.He read thecaption;The Triceratops lived in the late Cretaceous period,This plant-eatingdinosaur weighed over 12,000 pounds.Jack slammed the book shut,“Just plants.No meat.”“Lets go see him,”said Annie.“Are you nuts?”said Jack.“Dont you want to take notes about him?”asked Annie,“Were probably thefirst people in the whole world to ever see a real live Triceratops.”Jack sighed.She was right.“Lets go,”he said.He shoved the dinosaur book into his pack.He slung it over his shoulder andstarted down the ladder.On the way down,Jack stopped.He called up to Annie,“Just promise you wont pet him.”“I promise.”“Promise you wont kiss him.”“I promise.”“Promise you wont talk to him.”“I promise.”“Promise you wont-”“Go!Go!”she said.Jack went Annie followed.When they stepped off the ladder,the Pteranodon gave them a kind look.Annie blew a kiss at him.“Be back soon,Henry,”she said cheerfully.“Shush!”said Jack.And he led the way through the ferns.Slowly andcarefully.When he reached the bottom of the hill,he kneeled behind a fat bush.Annie knelt beside him and started to speak.“Shush!”Jack put his finger to his lips.Annie made a face.Jack peeked out at the Triceratops.The dinosaur was incredibly big.Bigger than a truck.He was eating theflowers off a magnolia tree.Jack slipped his notebook out of his pack,He wrote;EATS FLOWERSAnnie nudged him.Jack ignored her.He studied the Triceratops again.He wrote:EATS SLOWLYAnnie nudged him hard.Jack looked at her.Annie pointed to herself.She walked her fingers through the air.She pointedto the dinosaur.She smiled.Was she teasing?She waved at Jack.Jack started to grab her.She laughed and jumped away.She fell into the grass.In full view of theTriceratops!“Get back!”whispered Jack.Too late.The big dinosaur had spotted Annie.He gazed down at her from thehilltop.Half of a magnolia flower was sticking out of his mouth.“Oops,”said Annie.“Get back!”Jack shouted at her,“He looks nice,Jack.”“Nice?Watch out for his horns,Annie!“No.Hes nice,Jack.”Nice?But the Triceratops just gazed calmly down at Annie.Then he turned andloped away.Down the side of the hill.“Bye!”said Annie.She turned back to Jack.See?”Jack grunted.But he wrote in his notebook:NICE“Come on.Lets look around some more,”said Annie.As Jack started after Annie,he saw something glittering in the tall grass.Hereached out and picked it up.A medallion.A gold medallion.A letter was engraved on the medallion,A fancy M.Oh,man.Someone came here before us,”Jack said softly.6.Dinosaur Valley“Annie,look at this!”Jack called.“Look what I found!”Annie had gone up to the hilltop.She was busy picking a flower from the magnolia tree.“Annie,look!A medallion!”But Annie wasnt paying attention to Jack,She was staring at something onthe other side of the hill.“Oh,wow!”she said.“Annie!”Clutching her magnolia flower,she took off down the hill.“Annie,comeback!”Jack shouted.But Annie had disappeared.“Im going to kill her,”Jack muttered.He stuffed the gold medallion into his jeans pocket.Then he heard Annie shriek.“Annie?”Jack heard another sound as well.A deep,bellowing sound.Like a tuba.“Jack!Come here!”Annie called.“Annie!”Jack grabbed his backpack and raced up the hill.When he got to the top,he gasped.The valley below was filled with nests.Big nests made out of mud.And thenests were filled with tiny dinosaurs!Annie was crouching next to one of the nests,And standing over her was agigantic duck-billed dinosaur!“Dont panic,Dont move,”said Jack.He stepped slowly down the hilltoward Annie.The huge dinosaur was towering above Annie.Waving her arms.Making hertuba sound.Jack stopped.He didnt want to get too close.He knelt on the ground.“Okay.Move toward me.Slowly,”he said.Annie started to stand up.“Dont stand.Crawl,”said Jack.Clutching her flower,Annie crawled toward Jack.The duck-billed dinosaur followed her.Still bellowing.Annie froze.“Keep going,”Jack said softly.Annie started crawling again.Jack inched farther down the hill.Until he was just an arms distance fromAnnie.He reached outand grabbed her hand,He pulled Annie toward him.“Stay down,”he said.He crouched next to her,“Bow your head.Pretend tochew,”“Chew?”“Yes.I read thats what you do if a mean dog comes at you.”“Shes no dog,Jack,”said Annie.“Just chewsaid Jack.Jack and Annie both bowed their heads.And pretended to chew.Soon the dinosaur grew quiet.Jack raised his head.“I dont think shes mad anymore,”he said.“Thanks,Jack,for saving me,”said Annie.You have to use your brain,”said Jack.“You cant just go running to a nestof babies.Theres always a mother nearby.”Annie stood up.“Annie!”Too late.Annie held out her magnolia flower to the dinosaur.“Im sorry I made you worry about your babies,”she said.The dinosaur moved closer to Annie.She grabbed the flower from her.Shereached for another.“No more,said Annie.The dinosaur let out a sad tuba soundBut there are more flowers up there,Annie said.She pointed to the top ofthe hill.“Ill get you some.”Annie hurried up the hill.The dinosaur waddled after her.Jack quickly examined the babies.Some were crawling out of their nests.Where were the other mothers?Jack took out the dinosaur book.He flippe