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Their magic tree house takes Jack and Annie back to a monastery in medieval Ireland, where they try to retrieve a lost book while being menaced by Viking raiders.
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...."
Anonymous
Posted October 10, 2001
This was our first Magic Treehouse book and I am pleased. I had just returned from Scandinavia when I bought this for my 6 yo and 4 yo daughters, hoping that they could learn something of what I had garnered from my trip. Happily, I think they did. I like the format of the series. As a child I would have *loved* to have travelled via a treehouse to distant times and places. What child wouldn't want to meet characters from somewhere else? I like the idea of fetching books- I love books so the task would be appealing to me. From my reading of Viking raids, it is very likely that raids took place as described here, against the Irish monks. Vikings were in search of stored foods, wealth and whatever else they could grab on a quick morning attack. There would have been many ships and a fast assault as portrayed here. Many aspects of the raids were left out, and that is just fine for the young school-age reader. These are chapter books that can be easily read by an advanced first grader over several days, or read as bedtime stories by parents over one or two evenings. There are some illustrations to augment the storyline, but the main focus of the book is the text.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 18, 2013
I want to here your opion thats what reviews are all about not jhsjeowjewhetahnqelroufbxvdyqfd.duggwgw?Jhehejejwdkwhqgfjwodufk. See thats not in opion thats i dont know what that is this is in opion this book was great and exciting and mytrios.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 8, 2011
Magic tree house is the best series ever to bad my teacher only has like two.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 12, 2007
This was a good book. I learned a lot about Ireland.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 13, 2002
This book took me to Ireland I felt like I was there.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 28, 2013
c=======|:::::::::::::::>
Luke i am your father
c=======|::::::::::::::::>
Come to the dark side we have popcorn
c=======|:::::::::::::::::>
Sincerly,Darth Vador
c=======|::::::::::::::::>
To,my son Luke
c=======|:::::::::::::::::>
Anonymous
Posted March 6, 2013
Luke
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Posted December 7, 2012
Worst book ever:(
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted October 30, 2012
In "Viking Ships At Sunrise", Jack and Annie are whisked away to the time of Vikings to find the third story for Morgan's library. When they get there, they can see absolutely no civilization at all! They finally come across a jolly monk, and he shows them his monastory.They find the book they need, but it isn't finished yet. So they decide to go back and tell Morgan that it isn't done. But on there way back to the tree house, they find themselves staring at the backs of Vikings! Will they ever get the story they need? And will they get back to the tree house-alive?
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Posted May 22, 2012
These books get old after awile, but they are somewhat good.
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Posted April 2, 2012
Good
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Posted March 26, 2012
for kids!
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Posted March 13, 2011
I absolutly love all of her books i dont usally like to read but i love to read her books
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Posted April 1, 2011
v. ,b vhu
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 8, 2006
I have never read such a nice book in my entire life . I like the part when the serpent helps them .
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Posted March 20, 2005
i've come to a conclusion that i love these books. You're a great writer... I love you're books.
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Posted September 21, 2002
This was a good book. If you are a person who likes adventures you will like this book
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Posted July 12, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted January 28, 2013
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted June 2, 2011
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Overview
"Beware of ...