by Chris Van Dusen
2006 / 36 PAGES

Mr. Magee and his little dog Dee
love camping, skiing, and sailing the sea
They meet moose and birds and milkman and whales.
These are certainly extraordinary tales!

Preschool through Grade 1 will have such fun reading about the adventures of Mr. Magee and his little dog Dee. Down to the Sea, and the other two Mr. Magee adventures – A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee (2003) and Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee (2010) – are told entirely in rhyme, making these a fun early exposure to how poetry can sometimes be better than prose.

I began this review with my best imitation of author Chris Van Dusen and now here a few “stanzas” from the man himself:

MAGEE was downhearted. Just what could he do?
They seemed hopelessly stuck, but little DEE knew.
The secret to get the boat safely unpinned
Was to rock back and forth and wait for the wind.

So they rocked and they rocked for an hour or so.
But the boat didn’t budge ’cause the wind didn’t blow.
Just when they thought they’d be stuck there all night
They spotted, far off, a spectacular sight.

I won’t let you know what the spectacular sight is – for that you’ll have to check out the book youself.

These are wonderful books, with my only criticisms being that there are only three!

If your kids are excited about Mr. Magee you can check out a lesson from the author, down below, about how to draw Mr. Magee’s dog Dee.