Dinosaurs before Dark

by Mary Pope Osborne

Release: July 1992
Format: Early Chapter Book
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Children
Content: Definite Time Travel
Original Language: English

Eight-year-old prospective scientist Jack and his imaginative little sister Annie discover a tree house full of books, the first of which magicks them into the age of reptiles with a friendly Pteranodon they call Henry, a not-so-friendly T. Rex, and a drove of other dinosaurs.

— Michael Main

“Wow,” whispered Jack. “I wish we could go to the time of Pteranodons.”

Jack studied the picture of the odd-looking creature soaring through the sky.

“Ahhh!” screamed Annie.

“What?” said Jack.

“A monster!” Annie cried. She pointed out the tree house window.

DEBUT

Dinosaurs before Dark (Random House, July 1992).

VARIANTS

3 English variants

TRANSLATIONS

Bulgarian translation:
[ex=bare]Динозаври преди мръкване | Dinosaurs before dusk | Dinozavri predi mrukvane[/ex] (Арт Етърнал Дистрибушън, 2014).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne as by Мери Поуп Озборн
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Цветелина Петкова
Chinese translation:
[ex=bare]恐龍谷大冒險 | Dinosaur valley adventure | Konglong gu da maoxian[/ex] (小天下, 2005).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne as by 瑪麗·波·奧斯本
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by 周思芸
Croatian translation:
[ex=bare]Dinosauri prije mraka | Dinosaurs before dark[/ex] (Izvori Zagreb, 1998).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Jelena Vidmar
Danish translation:
[ex=bare]Dinosaurerne kommer! | Dinosaurs are coming[/ex] (Carlsen, June 2006).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Claes Johansen
Dutch translation:
[ex=bare]Bij de dinosaurussen | With the dinosaurs[/ex] (Deltas, 1999).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Katrien Bruyland
French translation:
[ex=bare]La vallée des dinosaures | The valley of the dinosaurs[/ex] (Bayard Éditions Jeunesse, August 2002).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Marie-Hélène Delval
French translation: Alternative title.
[ex=bare]Les dinosaures | The dinosaurs[/ex] (Bayard Jeunesse, October 2016).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Marie-Hélène Delval
German translation:
[ex=bare]Im Tal der Dinosaurier | In the valley of the dinosaurs[/ex] (Lowe Verlag, January 2004).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Sabine Rahn
German translation: Alternative title.
[ex=bare]Abentuer bei den Dinosauriern | Adventure with the dinosaurs[/ex] (Lowe Verlag, August 2015).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Sabine Rahn
German translation: Audio reading.
[ex=bare]Im Tal der Dinosaurier | In the valley of the dinosaurs[/ex] (Silberfisch, July 2018).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . narrated by Stefan Kaminski
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Sabine Rahn
Hungarian translation:
[ex=bare]Dinoszauruszok földjén | Land of the dinosaurs[/ex] (Animus, 2009).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Tényi Zsuzsanna
Italian translation:
[ex=bare]Dinosauri prima del buio | Dinosaurs before dark[/ex] (Piemme , March 2000).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by M. C. Pittaluga
Japanese translation:
[ex=bare]恐竜の谷の大冒険 | Dinosaur valley adventure | Kyoryu no tani no daiboken[/ex] (角川, March 2002).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne as by メアリー・ポープオズボーン
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by 食野雅子
Korean translation:
[ex=bare]높이날아라, 프테라노돈 | Fly high, pteranodon! | Nop-I narara, Peuteranodon[/ex] (비룡소, June 2002).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne as by 메리 폽 어즈번
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by 노은정
multiple languages translation: Bilingual: simplified Chinese and English.
[ex=bare]勇闯恐龙谷 | Brave the dinosaur valley | Yong chuang konglong gu[/ex] (Penguin Books, September 2019).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne as by 玛丽·波·奥斯本
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by 马爱农
Persian translation:
[ex=bare]عصر دایناسورها | The age of dinosaurs | ’Eser daanasewrha[/ex] (آوای اندیشه, 2014).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne as by مری پوپ آزبرن
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by مریم صالحی
Polish translation:
[ex=bare]Dinozaury przed zmrokiem | Dinosaurs before dark[/ex] (Mamania, circa 2016).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Dorota Skowrońska
Portuguese translation:
[ex=bare]Dinossauros antes do Anoitecer | Dinosaurs before dusk[/ex] (Farol Literario, July 2008).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Luciano Machado
Romanian translation:
[ex=bare]Dinozaurii vin spre seară | Dinosaurs come in the evening[/ex] (Paralela 45, 2013).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Bogdan Chircea
Russian translation:
[ex=bare]Динозавры в сумерках | Dinosaurs at dusk | Dinozavry v sumerkakh[/ex] (Карьера пресс, 2016).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne as by Мэри Поу Осборнп
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Ирина Ющенко
Serbian translation:
[ex=bare]Диносауруси пре мрака | Dinosaurs before dark | Dinosaurusi pre mraka[/ex] (Лагуна, 2005).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne as by Мери Поуп Озборн
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Милица Цветковић
Slovenian translation:
[ex=bare]Dinozavri pred mrakom | Dinosaurs before dark[/ex] (an unknown publisher, 2002).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Martina Gorela
Spanish translation:
[ex=bare]Dinosaurios al atardecer | Dinosaurs at sunset[/ex] (Atlantida Editorial S.A., March 2002).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Marcela Brovelli
Spanish translation:
[ex=bare]¡Que vienen los dinosaurios! | Here come the dinosaurs![/ex] (Ediciones SM, April 2003).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Macarena Salas
Swedish translation:
[ex=bare]Dinosaurierna kommer | Dinosaurs are coming[/ex] (B. Wahlströms, January 2012).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mary Pope Osborne
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by unknown persons

25 translations

DERIVATIVE WORKS

Dinosaurs before Dark: The Graphic Novel adapted by Jenny Laird, Kelly Matthews, and Nicole Matthews, (Random House Children’s Books, June 2021) [print · e-book].

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Time Periods

Age of Reptiles (252 Ma to 66 Ma: Mesozoic/Triassic/Jurassic/Cretaceous)
Circa AD 2000 to 2099: based on a date of 2019 in To the Future, Ben Franklin!

Timeline Models

Single Static Timeline: Within the series, anything the kids do seems to fit known history rather than change it.

Time Travel Methods

Magic Time Travel
Wish Travel: “And you said, ‘Wow, I wish we could go to the time of Pteranodons,’” said Annie.

Real-World Tags

Dinosaurs

Groupings

TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY (SPOILERS!)

From the magic tree house in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, circa 2019 ⋙ to the Age of Reptiles. Round trip. Note: Jack and Annie in the treehouse.

The Magic Tree House 1

Dinosaurs before Dark

by Mary Pope Osborne

DEBUT