Sabertooths and the Ice Age

Magic Tree House Fact Tracker #12

by Mary Pope Osborne, Natalie Pope Boyce, Sal Murdocca (Illustrator)

The #1 bestselling chapter book series of all time celebrates 25 years with new covers and a new, easy-to-use numbering system! Getting the facts behind the fiction has never looked better.  Track the facts with Jack and Annie!!
 
When Jack and Annie got back from their adventure in  Magic Tree House #7: Sunset of the Sabertooth,  they had lots of questions. What was it like to live in the Ice Age? How did early humans stay warm enough to survive? Who made the first cave paintings? What happened to saber-toothed cats and woolly mammoths? Find out the answers to these questions and more as Jack and Annie track the facts.

Filled with up-to-date information, photos, illustrations, and fun tidbits from Jack and Annie, the Magic Tree House Fact Trackers are the perfect way for kids to find out more about the topics they discovered in their favorite Magic Tree House adventures. And teachers can use Fact Trackers alongside their Magic Tree House fiction companions to meet common core text pairing needs.
Did you know that there’s a Magic Tree House book for every kid?

Magic Tree Adventures with Jack and Annie, perfect for readers who are just beginning chapter books
Merlin More challenging adventures for the experienced reader
Super A longer and more dangerous adventure
Fact Nonfiction companions to your favorite Magic Tree House adventures

Have more fun with Jack and Annie at MagicTreeHouse.com!

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals, Childrens, Chapter Books, Science, Historical, Education

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Mary Pope Osborne is an American author of children's books and audiobook narrator. She is best known as the author of the Magic Tree House series, which as of 2017 sold more than 134 million copies worldwide. Both the series and Osborne have won awards, including for Osborne's charitable efforts at promoting children's literacy. One of four children, Osborne moved around in her childhood before attending the University of North Carolina. Following college, Osborne traveled before moving to New York City. She somewhat spontaneously began to write, and her first book was published in 1982. She went on to write a variety of other children's and young adult books before starting the Magic Tree House series in 1992. Osborne's sister Natalie Pope Boyce has written several compendium books to the Magic Tree House series, sometimes with Osborne's husband Will Osborne.

Reviews

[Ashlee Tominey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good to learn more about the Ice Age and the animals and peoples that lived during it. My kid and I learned many things (except for the Dire Wolf info-he kept saying “I already knew that!”).

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was very boring because I am not interested in the Ice Age. I did not like this book because I do not like Sabertooths.

[Jenny Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A non fiction companion to Sunset of the Sabertooth, this continues the trend of the other fact trackers by giving some good basic facts and then listing further resources as well as research tips. These are quick reads making introducing the topic easy as well.

[David Smither · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit dated, but still accurate for the most part. Just ignore the bit about Ben Franklin being alive when Jefferson was president. Good for any grade that's read the MTH series.
Unique Feature: Cave Paintings
Genre: Informational (Real genre: Natural History)

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

As glad as I am that my kids enjoy the Magic Tree House series, I am even more glad that the "Fact Tracker"books exist as companions. This one, about the last Ice Age, is a companion to Book 7 ("Sunset of the Sabertooth").

[Steph Pavlic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the research guide series! It really helps introduce some wonderful historical and scientific concepts to my young elementary son and includes some good refreshers for my older elementary son as well. :) These books foster a lot of discussion and curiousity!

[Molly T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good one from Mary Pope Osborne. I definitely like these non-fiction companions more than the originals. My niece loved it. Her favorite part was the asphalt pit in Los Angeles where thousands of animals met their doom...what a kid!

[Daphne Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think these are nice. They get a bit dry for my daughter. We read only a chapter at a time and it's better. We always learn something new.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found out there was an animal called a woolly rhino and there are at least 2500 sabre tooth tigers in the La Brea tar pits. I always learn super interesting things from these books. It is awesome!

[Austin · Rating 2 out of 5]

it WAS A GOOD book i think so . you should read it just kidding it sucks .it was the worst book i have ever read.

[MaryLibrarianOH · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for book discussion program.

[Olivia · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were some interesting pieces of how humans of the Ice Age survived, that I liked. But then,
there were other parts that I did not like.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Luisa: I liked learning about the weapons the ice age people used.

[Kristi Tailor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book for kids. The use of dialogue tags are super repetitive but all around a good read.

[LizthePrude · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't believe first half of the book ( those who believe the bible couldn't--cavemen and such). Second half was more interesting.

[Trudy Monk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative, and interesting for the youth to learn about the past and the best biggest cat of the past.

[blueygurl2016 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty interesting book about the Ice Age. I learned that there is more than one kind of mammoth.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had some interesting facts as usual, but I fear in 2025 some of them may be a little dated.

[Kimberlee Gutterman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the format of the book because I felt like the text to picture ratio was really good and the text went very well with the pictures on the pages. This book offers a very fun way of being educated about the ice age and what happened to all the animals. This book is a very useful tool for teachers because at the end of the book it offers research topics which can be given to the students to do assignment over so they can further their knowledge about saber-tooth tigers. The book also features a list of CDs and websites that can be useful to teachers making lesson plans about this topic. I find it interesting that the book has an index at the end. This is very helpful to the students because they can look up words they don't know and don't have to worry about getting this information from outside sources.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 2005, Mary Pope Osborne and her sister Natalie Pope Boyce published the Magic Tree House Fact Trackers entitled Sabertooths and the Ice Age. This book is a nonfiction research guide to the book entitled Sunset of the Sabertooth to Mary Pope Osborne which was published in 1996. Osborne’s and Boyce’s book is a well-done introduction to the ice age. The book is for young readers. The book has wonderful black-and-white illustrations. The book has wonderful black-and-white photographs. The illustrator for this book was Sal Murdocca. Similar to the other books in the Magic Tree House Fact Trackers series, the book has a section on how to do more research for young readers about the time of the ice age. The book has an index and includes photo credits. The book was advised by a paleontologist and an educational adviser. There is new research about the time of the Ice Age all the time, so there has been much new research since 2005 about the Ice Age. The book contains a definition of the Ice Age. Chapter 2 is entitled “Early People of the Ice Age.” Two chapters are on the culture of Homo sapiens of the Ice Age who lived in present-day Europe. This Homo sapiens culture was called the Cro-Magnon culture. Then there are two chapters on sabertooths, mammoths, and the other animals of the ice age. The book has a conclusion. I believe overall Osborne’s and Boyce’s Sabertooths and the Ice Age is a well-done introduction, but an older book, to the time of the Ice Age.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am very amazaed about how many facts there aer on the Ice Age. There are many facts about Neanderthals, Homo sapiens, Cro-Magnons, cave art, saber-toothed cats, mammoths, wolly rhinos, giant ground sloths, cave lions, cave bears, glyptodonts, giant beaver, dire wolf, and western camels. I really enjoyed learning about the ice age. In fact I liked this book so much that I asked my mom if I could do a report on the ice age. She said maybe. It took me a few days to read this book because each chapter was about 15-20 mintuts to read one chapter. I plan to read more books about the ice age and go to the La Brea Tar Pits in LA.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think these books are sort of stupid, but the kids love them. It has an undeniably exciting premise, a magical tree house and the ability to be transported to any world inside a book. This time the kids travel to the ice age, where they learn things like people captured animals in traps. They think this sounds barbaric compared to modern day, where we find our food in the grocery store. Because, you know, animals just willingly walk into the meat aisle and aren't farmed or anything. That said, it's full of fun facts and kids like it!

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic! After reading the Magic Treehouse story this goes with, my 5yo and I sat down to read this book. The stuff at the beginning of the book was too dry for him, so we bounced around the book finding parts he was more interested in. He was absolutely enthralled learning about all the different animals in the ice age, and the people, and how they lived. There was plenty in there to keep me interested too. I may just crack it back open to read the parts we skipped. Haha!

[Mr · Rating 5 out of 5]

The main idea is that Jack and Annie is that they are telling info about the ice age. For example I read that Cave bears live in caves. Also cave bears were 10 feet tall. A german man found a cave that had 310 bear's teeth from the past.

From:Alfredo Rivera P1 Sep.26,2008
P.S Thanks for helping me

[Marya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite the title, sabertooths proper only comprise one chapter. The rest of the book is chock full of information on the ice age in general (good context), humans in the ice age (really good context for the kids), and other ice age animals (cool, but some of those animals like Mammoths could easily fill their own book).

[Mollymcg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read aloud to my 5 YO and 3 YO, and it's the first chapter book that the younger one sat through. In fact, she keeps asking us to read it again. The older one has been playing ice age and informing his friends about the facts, which he learned from this book.

[Andrea Renfrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Magic Tree House books with their research guide companions are such great learning tools! Join us on our own Magic Tree House Adventures! http://anakalianwhims.wordpress.com/t...

[Katt Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I might not agree with everything presented, I do like how the details of the ice age are given. Again an interesting approach, very engaging with lots of illustrations. Always good to read something from a differing point of view as well.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 9 year old ended up more interested in this than my 5 year old.
I also found it fascinating, lots of ice age facts I didn't know. I love reading non fiction books with my children that relate to the fiction books we have just read.

[Dodo P · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am finding great enjoyment going over the companion books to the stories. Obviously there would be research into the wide variety of topics these stories cover - what fun to learn facts about each of the topics!