Jack and Annie, in this set of Merlin missions, must prove that they can use magic wisely. Using a book of magic rhymes--ten rhymes only, which must last them for four missions--and each rhyme can be used only once.Now they are sent 1,200 years in the past to the Golden Age of Baghdad. What an adventure! The children ride camels across the desert and learn that camels are called Ships of the Desert. They recover a book of Aristotle's writings and give it to the caliph of Baghdad, Abdulla-al-Mamoun.They meet scholars at the House of Wisdom and see one working with numbers--Arabic numerals that are still in use today. Finally, they get to fly on a flying carpet back to their tree house, much to the astonishment of the scholars at the House of Wisdom.Adults will recognize that this event appears in Arabian Night tales, and kids can make the connection to Aladdin of Disney fame.Read in Austin from Drew's library.
One word. Informative. It is really informative! That's why I love this! I learned about the "Place of Wisdom" in Iran (I believe) which is a place full of books and is like a huge library! That's not all! All of the famous people are there! Like, Al-Khwarizmi, the father of my favorite, algebra! I would love to have the opportunity to talk to such a genius like him! I remember one time when one of my classmates asked to my math teacher (she obviously hate Math)," Teacher, why do we have to study about Algebra? Do we have to use it while buying candy in a store? And who even invented this!" I immediately replied," Algebra was invented by Al-Khwarizmi and it is important in our lives. We won't be studying it if it wasn't! You just don't know how important Algebra in our lives!" So yeah, I'm a Math-lover, specifically Algebra.
What do You think about Season Of The Sandstorms (2005)?
Annie & Jack shook a palm tree to get dates, I never tasted dates. They were riding in the desert with a man named Mamoon and they got separated by a sandstorm. So Annie & Jack went to a place called Baghdad & went into a palace. A girl said when you get to a room with a tree, bow down & don't speak until you are spoken to. So Annie & Jack bowed & heard a familiar voice. They looked up and saw Mamoon. Mamoon said he was the caliph. I was surprised that Mamoon was the caliph. I liked the book because I learned more about the desert.
—Chloe
Jack and his little sister Annie are two regular kids from Frog Creek, Pennsylvania... until they discover a mysterious tree house full of all sorts of books. From that point on their lives will never be the same again! They soon go on amazing adventures (plus children are learning bits of history and most don't realize it) as they travel through time with the help of the magic tree house. The chapters are short with pictures every few pages, making these books perfect for the beginning reader.
—Brittany
This was a jump for us. We are in the middle of the series, but our oldest borrowed this book from her school library, so we jumped ahead. It was interesting to see the new "tools" Annie and Jack had at their disposal. We know about Teddy from the 4 book mini-series we are reading now, but we haven't read about Kathleen yet, so we are eager to meet her as we continue along the series. It was interesting to read about Baghdad, the culture, the markets, the history. I'm glad our girls were exposed to this early, before they truly have any exposure to recent world events.
—Dolly
