Enter a zip code
(Hardcover)
| More Formats | Online Price |
|---|---|
| Compact Disc - Unabridged | $14.95 |
| Library Binding - Library Edition | $14.99 |
| Audiobook MP3 - Unabridged | $6.22 |
JACK AND ANNIE continue their quest for the secrets of happiness—secrets they need to save Merlin. This time, the Magic Tree House takes them to the one continent they haven’t visited before: Antarctica! What can they hope to learn about happiness in such a barren place? Only the penguins know for sure . . . Jack and Annie are about to find out!
More Reviews and RecommendationsMary Pope Osborne has channeled a lifelong love of exploration and travel into one of the most popular children’s book series of the past two decades. With her fantastic Magic Tree House series, Mary Pope Osborne keeps the good times rolling for kids all over the world.
More About the AuthorReader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
April 27, 2009: I just love all of Mary Pope Osborne,s books. They are really educational. And I like that. (sometimes.)
I Also Recommend: High Tide in Hawaii (Magic Tree House Series #28).
Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
March 14, 2009: Like all the books in the Magic Tree House series, this is an excellent book. It kept my son interested from the beginning, and is not too difficult for him to read (at 7 years old).
Name:
Mary Pope Osborne
Current Home:
New York, New York
Date of Birth:
May 20, 1949
Place of Birth:
Fort Sill, Oklahoma
Education:
B.A., University of North Carolina
Ever since 1992, Mary Pope Osborne has been thrilling kids everywhere with her delightfully exciting Magic Tree House series. The globetrotting escapades of time travelers Jack and Annie are brimming with adventure and magic (not to mention some subtly placed lessons on history and geography). With a life like Osborne's, it's only natural that she would be capable of bringing such wondrous stories to life.
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."
A few fascinating outtakes from our interview with Osborne:
"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...."
What was the book that most influenced your life or your career as a writer?
Egermeier's Bible Story Book by Elsie E. Egermeier. When I was eight years old, I came across Egermeier's voluminous collection of Old and New Testament stories. The book was more than six hundred pages and the writing was unwieldy and difficult. Yet I made the decision to read three stories a day until I had finished the book. It took almost a year, and when I finished, I loved the book so much, I started over at the beginning. By the time I was eleven, I'd read Egermeier's Bible stories three times. My love for old stories and western history began with this book, as well as a thirst to learn about the different cultures and religions of the world.
What are your ten favorite books, and what makes them special to you?
What are some of your favorite films, and what makes them unforgettable to you?
What types of music do you like? Is there any particular kind you like to listen to when you're writing?
I like all kinds of music. Some of my recent favorites include Yo-Yo Ma playing Bach, Jay Ungar's fiddle playing, Kenny Werner's Maybeck Album, Janet Marlow's Relaxation Music for Horses, Bob Dylan's Modern Times. I've listened to all of these while working.
If you had a book club, what would it be reading?
We would be reading The Luminous Ground, which is volume four of architect Christopher Alexander's stunning series The Nature of Order. Alexander dismantles our current machine-like world view and deadly modern architecture and reconnects us to a more personal and spiritual world. I would love to talk with others about it.
What are your favorite kinds of books to give -- and get -- as gifts?
I love to give and receive art books.
Do you have any special writing rituals? For example, what do you have on your desk when you're writing?
I have no rituals or routine. I wish I did, but I'm not that consistent. I write at different times of the day and thanks to my laptop, I write in umpteen different locations. I can write in Grand Central station or in the loneliest little library.
What are you working on now?
I'm working on the Random House Book of Bible Stories, co-authored with my sister, Natalie Pope Boyce, and on a Magic Tree House book about Leonardo Da Vinci.
Many writers are hardly "overnight success" stories. How long did it take for you to get where you are today? Any rejection-slip horror stories or inspirational anecdotes?
In my first ten years of writing for children, I published about 20 different books, such as realistic novels, retellings of mythology and fairy tales, and books about history and biographies. All these interests eventually constellated into the time-travel adventures of my Magic Tree House series. It took me over a year, though, to figure out how my characters would travel through time. I tried a magic cellar, magic whistles, a magic museum, a magic art studio.... After working on seven different manuscripts that didn't work, I took a walk in the woods one day and came across an old tree house....
If you could choose one new writer to be "discovered," who would it be?
I know many great new writers, but the one who most immediately comes to mind is Jenny Laird, a wonderful playwright. I find her lyrical work very moving.
What tips or advice do you have for writers still looking to be discovered?
Actually I don't resonate with the concept of being "discovered," because it implies that you are dependent on the views of others. If you've discovered that you have a love and talent for writing and you focus your life on that passion, then you have already been discovered by yourself.
Their previous Magic Tree House adventures have taken Jack and Annie to every continent but one: Antarctica. In Eve of the Emperor Penguin, these intrepid young helpers continue the quest on the coldest, driest, windiest place on earth, an inhospitable 5 million-square-mile area that greedily keeps its secrets. Can a pudgy, black tuxedoed fish eating wobbler tell the kids what they need to know?
JACK AND ANNIE continue their quest for the secrets of happiness—secrets they need to save Merlin. This time, the Magic Tree House takes them to the one continent they haven’t visited before: Antarctica! What can they hope to learn about happiness in such a barren place? Only the penguins know for sure . . . Jack and Annie are about to find out!
Loading...CHAPTER SIX, All Fall Down
Nancy put away her radio and looked at Jack and Annie. “I don’t know how you two got past me.”
“We’re sorry,” said Annie.
“This is unbelievable!” said Nancy.
Jack couldn’t believe it, either. How did they mess up so badly?
“I’m so sorry I brought you here,” said Nancy.
“No, no, it’s our fault,” Jack said again.
“It’s mine, all mine, oh . . . ,” said Nancy. She seemed near tears. “You’re just little kids.” Not so little! thought Jack again. Gee!
A snowmobile rumbled outside, its engine warming up.
“Oh, dear,” said Nancy. “I’ve got to lead the group up a safe route to the crater, or they’ll be in trouble. But Pete should be back here in just a few minutes. Will you be okay by yourselves till then?”
“We’ll be fine, don’t worry,” said Annie.
“Good,” said Nancy. “Here, sweeties.” She poured some water into two cups and gave them to Jack and Annie. “Drink.” While they drank the water, Nancy spread a blanket on the floor and turned on the small heater.
“Lie down here,” she said. “Just rest.” She patted the blanket.
Jack and Annie lay down. Nancy covered them with another blanket. “If you get thirsty, drink more water,” she said.
“Thanks,” said Annie. Jack was too embarrassed to say anything. He felt like a preschool kid being put down for a nap.
“Okay!” Nancy said with a big sigh. “You kids nearlygave me a heart attack,” she repeated half to herself as she left the hut.
“Sorry,” said Jack.
But Nancy was gone.
Soon the roar and rumble of the snowmobiles filled the air as Nancy led the scientists and journalists up the mountain.
“We really messed up our mission this time,” said Jack, lying under the blanket.
“And we were doing so well, too,” said Annie. She sat up. “Can I see Morgan’s rhyme, please?”
Jack pulled the rhyme out of his pocket and handed it to Annie.
“Okay,” said Annie. She read aloud:
. . . then all fall down,
Till you come to the Cave of the Ancient Crown.
“I wonder if this counts as falling down?” said Annie. She put the rhyme into her pocket.
“I don’t think so,” said Jack. “I don’t know what that means. And there’s no ‘Ancient Crown’ in Antarctica. It’s all science and research and rules and helicopters and snowmobiles. . . . It’s the real world. . . . His voice trailed off.
“Well, I know one thing: I don’t want to waste time lying around here,” said Annie. She threw off the blanket and stood up. “At least I can take a few pictures while we wait for Pete.”
“You really feel like doing that?” said Jack.
“Not really, but I’m going to try,” said Annie.
“I don’t think you should,” said Jack.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon,” said Annie. “Maybe I’ll see an ancient crown.”
“Yeah, sure,” said Jack.
Annie put on her goggles and ski mask and headed outside.
Jack reached into his pack and pulled out their book. He took off his glove and looked up ancient crown in the index. He wasn’t surprised to find it wasn’t there.
Jack put the book back in his pack and took out his notebook. He read over his notes:
Go slow!
Stay with others!
Cracks in ice!
Never touch wildlife!
Jack’s hand was cold, so he put his glove back on. He put away his notebook, and then laid his head back down and closed his eyes. He just wanted to sleep. The heat from the small heater felt good. The sound of the snowmobiles was fading into the distance. As he started to fall asleep, his notes ran through his mind: Stay with others! Cracks in the ice!
Oh, no! thought Jack. He sat straight up. He tossed off the blanket. He threw on his pack and rushed out of the hut.
The wind was blowing the snow into icy clouds. Jack pulled up his ski mask and lowered his goggles. “Annie!” he shouted.
“What?” Her voice came from the distance.
Jack caught sight of her. She was aiming her camera up the slope at the smoking crater of the mountain.
“You have to come back now!” he shouted, walking toward her. “You shouldn’t be walking around by yourself!”
“Okay, okay.” Annie put her camera in her pocket.
“Come on,” said Jack. He took Annie’s hand. They held on to each other and walked through the blowing snow, toward the hut. “Remember Nancy’s rules?” said Jack. “There are deep cracks in– AHHH!”
Before Jack could finish, the ground beneath him gave way and he and Annie crashed through a thin layer of snow into a deep crack.
Jack and Annie landed on a ledge of ice. Clumps of snow fell on top of them. Silence filled the air. A thin shaft of light came from the opening they had fallen through. It was at least ten feet above them.
“You okay?” Jack said.
“I think so,” said Annie.
They both sat up slowly. Annie peered over the edge of the ledge. “Uh-oh,” she said. “Look.”
Jack looked. He and Annie were on the ledge of a ravine that plunged thousands of feet down into darkness.
“This must be one of those hidden places in the mountain Nancy talked about,” said Jack, “the ones made by the lava and hot gases.”
“It’s incredible,” said Annie. She reached into her pocket for her camera.
As soon as Annie moved, Jack heard the ice crack. “Don’t move!” he said.
Annie froze.
“Forget pictures,” said Jack. “We’re facing serious danger here. If we move, the ice might break under us and we’ll fall thousands of feet.”
“Got it,” said Annie. She took a deep breath. “Maybe we should use the wand.”
“We can’t,” said Jack. “The wand won’t work. We can only use it for the good of others, not just ourselves.”
“Darn,” said Annie.
They were both still for moment, listening to the immense silence around them.
“Okay,” said Annie. “The way I see it, if we don’t use the wand, we’ll be stuck here forever. Soon we’ll make the wrong move and fall.”
“Right,” said Jack.
“So we’ll never find the secret of happiness for Merlin,” said Annie. “Merlin will fade away completely from sorrow. And Camelot will lose his magic forever.”
“Right,” said Jack.
“So maybe in this case, rescuing ourselves isn’t just our good,” said Annie. “Our good is also the good of others, like Merlin.”
“Good thinking,” said Jack. “Let’s try it.” He carefully twisted around and took off his backpack. Then he very slowly reached inside and pulled out the Wand of Dianthus.
“Okay. Five words . . . ,” Jack whispered. “I guess I’ll just wish for it to save you and me and Merlin. Hey, why didn’t we make that wish a long time ago?”
“We couldn’t,” said Annie. “We hadn’t tried our hardest yet.”
“Right. Get ready . . . ,”said Jack. He closed his eyes, held up the gleaming silver wand, and said:
“SAVE ANNIE, MERLIN, AND ME!”
Jack waited a moment. Then he opened his eyes and looked around. “What happened?” he said.
“Nothing,” said Annie.
“So I guess it didn’t work,” said Jack. He turned to put the wand away. “I guess the rules must–”
CRACK! The ice broke! The ledge gave way!
“AHHH!” called Jack and Annie as they fell through the twilight, down through darkness,
down,
down,
down,
down into blackness.
loading...
loading...
loading...
Terms of Use, Copyright, and Privacy Policy
© 1997-2009 Barnesandnoble.com llc