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Jack and Annie have traveled all over the world in their magic tree house. But they've never been anywhere like this. In the distance, a haunted castle looms dark against the light of the moon. No candles burn in its windows. No laughter rings through its halls.
What has happened to the castle and the people who lived there? Merlin the magician asks Jack and Annie to find out. But are they brave enough to brush the cobwebs aside and step through the creaking doors? And are they smart enough to solve the mystery of how the castle became haunted?
Find out in a story packed to the margins with magic, history, and adventure!
First published in hardcover in 2003, Jack and Annie's spooky Halloween adventure is finally available in paperback. And—only in the paperback edition—the book now includes a creepy Halloween recipe, a fun puzzle, and a preview of the next book in the series!
Magic Tree House books are New York Times bestsellers. They are known all around the world as books that inspire reading. Find out why with Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve!
And don't forget to visit www.magictreehouse.com.
In their magic treehouse, Jack and Annie are again transported to King Arthur's realm, where invisible beings, giant ravens, and mistaken magic spells have a duke's castle in an uproar on Halloween night.
SAL MURDOCCA has illustrated more than 200 children's trade and text books. He is also a librettist for children's opera, a video artist, an avid runner, hiker, and bicyclist, and a teacher of children's illustration at the Parsons School of Design. Sal lives and works in New York with his wife, Nancy.
Osborne was brought up in a military family, and her parents' work led to a lifestyle marked by constant change. "By the time I was 15," she says on randomhouse.com, "I had lived in Oklahoma, Austria, Florida, and four different army posts in Virginia and North Carolina." While many kids would probably feel disoriented by such constant change, Osborne wouldn't have had it any other way. "Moving was never traumatic for me, but staying in one place was. When my dad finally retired to a small town in North Carolina, I nearly went crazy with boredom. I craved the adventure and changing scenery of our military life."
And adventure is exactly what Osborne got! After college, she embarked on a series of daring treks across the globe that would surely give Jack and Annie a run for their money. "For a while I camped in a cave on the island of Crete," she said. "Then I joined up with a small band of European young people heading to 'The East.' We traveled through 11 Asian countries and nearly lost our lives, first in an earthquake in northern Afghanistan and then in a riot in Kabul."
Following an illness she contracted in Katmandu, Osborne returned home to the U.S. trying her hand at a vast variety of jobs: window dresser, medical assistant, Russian travel consultant, waitress, bartender, and an assistant editor at a children's magazine. Although Osborne had unconsciously moved closer toward her ultimate career, she says that her first attempts at writing seemed to come without warning. "One day, out of the blue, I began writing a story about an 11-year-old girl in the South," she recalls. "The girl was a lot like me, and many of the incidents in the story were similar to happenings in my childhood...it became a young adult novel called Run, Run Fast as You Can. Finally, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up."
She sure did! Since then, Osborne has penned a slew of stories, including picture books, chapter books, middle-grade biographies, and young adult novels; but she is indisputably best known for her wonderful Magic Tree House books, a happy hodge-podge of history and mystery with a time travel theme kids find irresistible. No doubt inspired by Osborne's own highly adventurous life, these exiting expeditions have attracted droves of children and pleased educators by combining compulsively readable storytelling with useful facts about geography and history.
As was written of the series in Children's Literature, "Mary Pope Osborne provides nicely paced excitement for young readers, and there's just enough information mixed in so that children will take away some historical fact along with a sense of accomplishment at having completed a chapter book." As much as Osborne has certainly pleased her readers (not to mention their parents and teachers), perhaps no one is quite as pleased as she. "I'm one of those very lucky people who absolutely loves what they do for a living," she explained. "There is no career better suited to my eccentricities, strengths, and passions than that of a children's book author."
"One of the most defining experiences of my life was traveling overland in an old van through the Middle East and Asia in the early 1970's. One day, when a small group of us were camped in a remote part of northern Afghanistan, we saw a woman riding horseback over the sloping plain. Her long brown hair floated on the wind and she wore a bright gypsy-style dress. When she got closer, I realized she was one of my roommates from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill! Though I didn't even know she'd left the U.S.—and she didn't know I was in Afghanistan, we weren't that surprised to come upon each other. That says a lot about the times we were living in then."
"After 26 years of living in New York City, my husband Will and I now spend most of our time in Northwestern Connecticut, living in a house that overlooks a lake. We kayak and hike with our two Norfolk terriers, Joey and Mr. Bezo. Will's learning Italian, and I've been working with a tutor for two years trying to understand Dante's Divine Comedy. One of my biggest hobbies is reading philosophy and theology. We spend lots of time, of course, on our work. After writing three shows for the Morehead Planetarium in North Carolina, Will's writing a musical based on the Magic Tree House series. I'm writing book # 38 in the series. I also spend a lot of time with my sister Natalie Pope Boyce who works on the Magic Tree House Research Guides. Natalie and our nephews and some of our best friends live nearby in the Berkshires Hills of Massachusetts, so we're up there a lot, too. My only complaint is there is not enough time to do all I want to do. For instance, I'd love to take drawing classes and I'd love to paint the lake we're living on. And I'd love to bird watch and become a better cook and learn about classical music. Maybe sometime in the future...."
Jacob11
Posted November 2, 2008
In this book you can see youself going on to the adventures with the characters Jack and Annie to different places in time. You can about some history and different things that went on in another time. You cast away into another world right from your very own bed room. Once you get started with the adventure you can not break away.You are lured into reading until the very end of the pages. I have read several of the Magic Tree House books and love them all.
4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 23, 2007
The magic tree house #30 was pretty good. In the begining it was cool how merlin hid his house inside them tree. It was cool how the author described things. Like when they were ravens it said how there eyes glimered. She realy made me wonder when they sid the riddle obout the two boys the girl and the dog. So I'll give Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve four stars
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 5, 2006
I read this book. I thought it was a good book to read because Jack and Annie are always going on a cool, awesome mission. If you read this book I would suggest it to your friend. They see Teddy again and you should read it. It is a magical book so if you like magic, and adventures Haunted Castles on Hallows Eve.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 17, 2012
Purchased for my Grandson who is eight he is loving the story and I am loving that he enjoys reading. Highly recommended
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted October 4, 2011
This author writes for children to learn to read and enjoy books. My family has always loved books and now that I am a grandparent I have great quialty time reading to my grandson. This is a great read for and share with the children.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted November 27, 2010
i love this book i read it in school and i want to read it over and ,over agan
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 21, 2012
Haunted Castle On Hallows Eve is SOOO GOOD!!! I finished this book the day i started it i liked it and thought it was AWESOME!!!! So everybody that can READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 13, 2012
In this book they are finding the ring of destiny.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 6, 2012
Me too!!!!!!!!!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 28, 2010
good book love it READ IT!!!!!!read it 80 times so good
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 25, 2010
i read this book over and over and over
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 13, 2010
My son is 5, and he just devours these books. They are wonderful.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 19, 2008
This book was one of the most boring books I had ever read. I got some excitement out of the book, but I will not read more of the series.(6-year-old-reader review).
1 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 15, 2013
Good
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Posted April 3, 2013
How old are you
Do you have a boyfriend? ( if you do label your title boyfriend alert)
Are you older than eight you better be
Are you a girl because we will talk about things like bras and boys at school
Bye
Anonymous
Posted February 18, 2013
I loved the book sooooooooooooo much!
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Posted February 5, 2013
SPOLLIER ALERT SORRY CAPS hehe
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Posted February 5, 2013
I like the part when thay trer into ravens
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Posted January 29, 2013
H bjb hfhghhfckgdvj
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Posted January 28, 2013
This book will give you the chills
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Overview
Jack and Annie have traveled all over the world in their magic tree house. But they've never been anywhere like this. In the distance, a haunted castle looms dark against the light of the moon. No candles burn in its windows. No laughter rings through its halls.
What has happened to the castle and the people who lived there? Merlin the...