Dinosaurs Before Dark

by Mary Pope Osborne

Grades 2-5; Genre - Historical Fiction with Fantastical Elements; GRL M; AR pts: 1.0

Jack and Annie find a magic tree house that takes them to the place and time of the dinosaurs.  They encounter different kinds of dinosaurs including a Tyrannosaurus rex and find a gold medallion with the letter M engraved on it.

Vocabulary

Writing Prompts

Comprehension Questions

Chapter 1

1. Why did Jack get frustrated with Annie?  he likes real stuff and she likes to pretend  p. 1
2. What did Annie find up in the tree when she ran into the woods?  tree house with a rope ladder   p. 3
3. What was in the tree house?  books   p. 5
4. Why was Jack excited about books being in the tree house?  he loves books  p. 5

Chapter 2

1. What did the Pennsylvania book have a picture of?  Frog Creek and the woods Jack and Annie were in   p. 8
2. What book did Jack find a Pteranodon in? dinosaur book  p. 8
3. What appeared out the window of the tree house when Jack wished he could see a Pteranodon?  a real live Pteranodon  p. 9
4. What happened to the tree house after Jack said these words?  the wind began to blow and it spun faster and faster  p. 12

Chapter 3

1. How did Jack find out where they had landed?  read it in the book   p. 15
2. Why was it so hard for Jack to believe they had landed in a time 65 million years ago?   it's impossible, doesn't seem real  p. 17
3. Did Annie have a hard time believing it?  no  p. 17

Chapter 4

1. How did the Pteranodon feel when the children touched him?  soft, like a dog  p. 19
2. Why did Jack take notes like a scientist?  first people to ever see a Pteranodon, he liked to do research  p. 19
3. Why did Annie talk to Henry?  she thought he understood her  p. 22

Chapter 5

1. What finally convinced Jack that they were in a time long ago?  seeing the dinosaur  p. 25
2. What kind of dinosaur did they see?  Triceratops  p. 25
3. What did the Triceratops do when Annie fell in front of the dinosaur?  looked at her calmly  then ran away   p. 29
4. What did Jack find in the grass?  a gold medallion with the letter M on it  p. 32

Chapter 6

1. How did the Antosaurus respond when Annie went up to a nest of babies?  honked at her and waved her arms   p. 36
2. How did Annie get away from the dinosaur?  crawled, crouched and pretended to chew  p. 37
3. Why was that Antosaurus the only mama with all of the babies?  the other moms were hunting for food   p. 39
4. Why did the Antosaurus stop eating flowers and run to the babies?  T-rex was coming   p. 42

Chapter 7

1. Where did Jack and Annie run to hide from the T-rex?  tree house  p. 43
2. What did Jack leave on the hill and want to go back and get?  his backpack and the dinosaur book p. 45
3. Why do you think the Antosaurus' all came back to their nests?  fear of the t-rex, honking from the Antosaurus that scared Annie,  p. 45
4. What was blocking Jack when he tried to get back to the tree house?   T-rex  p. 46

Chapter 8

1. What did Jack decide to do when he realized he couldn't outrun the T-rex?  wait for it to leave  p. 49
2. What did Annie do to help her brother?   tell the Pteranodon to come get him       p. 52
3. What did the T-rex do when he heard Jack yell at Annie?     come after Jack       p. 52

Chapter 9

1. How did the Pteranodon save Jack?  flew him away from the T-rex  p. 55
2. What was Jack feeling as he rode on the Pteranodon's back?  it was a miracle, laughed, happy, whooped  p. 56
3. Why did Jack need to hurry up to the tree house when he landed?  the T-rex was running for him  p. 58
4. Why did Jack need to find the Pennsylvania book?  it would get them out of there and take them to Frog Creek  p. 60

Chapter 10

1. Who was calling for Jack and Annie when they got home?  their mom  p. 61
2. How much time had passed in the real world from the time Jack and Annie left on their adventure to the time they got back?  none  p. 61
3. Why didn't the children think they could tell anyone about the tree house or their adventure?  no one would believe them  p. 67
4. What did Jack have from the adventure that helped him know their adventure was real?  the medallion  p. 68