This book is a great adventure book that tells the story of Jack and Annie and their magical tree house. Inside this tree house there are stacks and stacks of books, and when they read a book and look at a picture of the time, they can wish themselves into that picture and the tree house transports them there. This book is the fourth of a four part series in which they are trying to collect the fourth gift necessary to lift a magical spell off of a small dog named Teddy. The last gift they need to collect is a gift from a Kangaroo so they choose a book about Australia and travel there in the tree house. While in Australia they run find many different animals that are native to that land. They learn about them from the book about Australia that they found in the tree house. While exploring the dry land they find a kangaroo and her Joey resting in a shady place. Their talking startles the kangaroo and she wakes up. Shortly after a pack of Dingoes appear and they scare the mother kangaroo. The mother runs off away from the dingoes and they begin to chase her. Jack and Annie follow because they want to make sure she is alright. While following they find off to the side the little Joey in the bushes. Jack uses his book about Australia to find out that sometimes mothers will abandon their joeys when being chased so that way they make sure they are safe. If the mother gets away from the dingoes she will come back for her Joey. The Joey jumps into Jack’s bag because it is similar to his mothers pouch. Smelling what they think is a bonfire they realize that the forest is bursting into flame in a brush fire. They run to seek shelter in a cave with Teddy as their guide. Inside the cave they find ancient drawings of a snake and handprints. The drawings begin to glow, and when they put their hands on the handprints rain begins to fall outside. Once it is safe to leave the cave, Teddy helps them find their way back to where the mother Kangaroo had dropped her Joey. After waiting for what seems like forever, they finally hear the thud of her feet hopping towards them. When she reaches them the Joey jumps out of Jack’s pouch and into his mothers. The mother Kangaroo reached down and handed them a piece of bark that had the magical serpent drawn on it. This was the last gift that they needed to free Teddy from his spell.
I think this is a fun and exciting way for students to be engaged in learning about a country that they probably did not know that much about. As a follow up activity to this book I would have the students do research on a country of their choice. They would pick a country anywhere in the world that they do not know very much about but are interested in. After finding out basic facts and details about the people, the animals, and the land, I would have them compile their findings into an informational pamphlet. This would be an easy way for them to return to their information and also pass along to others so they can also read and find out about a country that they otherwise wouldn’t know that much about.
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