In book 2, The Knight at Dawn, Jack and Annie have just come off a grand dinosaur adventure through prehistoric times (swipe for pics). A brilliant idea actually, because every title explores a different place, subject or time in history, and is now fleshed out in full colour. This latest spinoff has adapted the core adventure books into a graphic novel series. Since 1992, Mary Pope Osborne’s Magic Tree House series has sold more than 140 million copies worldwide. While I'll always be a fan of the original stories, this simplified version didn't disappoint me. While there are serious predicaments described in the book, there is also some humor for instance, Jack's assurance that a precipice, a word he doesn't recognize, won't be any problem when they are escaping from the castle, only to find out what he actually means and that they'll have to jump from a high point into a moat. While Jack is always more hesitant than Annie, the siblings work well together since each one has a different strength.

They climb the tree, point at an image, and find themselves in Medieval times where they are put in the dungeon and then help the other prisoners escape. With colorful, sometimes full-page illustrations and smaller panels created with Clip Studio Paint, the story follows Annie and Jack on their second Tree House adventure.

Although the Magic Tree House series probably doesn't need any assistance in continuing to appeal to a young audience, the graphic novel format used here will surely widen its appeal, perhaps making the series accessible to even more readers who might be overwhelmed by the dense text in the stories.

The knight at dawn mary pope osborne