Midnight on the Moon (Magic Tree House Series #8) by Mary Pope Osborne, Salvatore Murdocca

Synopsis

Illustrated in black-and-white. Jack and Annie are whisked forty years forward in time and land at an international space station on the moon. There they don space suits and go exploring the lunar surface in search of the fourth object needed to free the enchantress Morgan le Fay from a powerful spell.  

Annotation

The magic treehouse takes Jack and Annie to a moon base in the future where they continue to search for the fourth thing they need to free their friend Morgan from the magician's spell.

Children's Literature

Eighth in the series, Jack and Annie are off to the moon to find the fourth item in their quest to free Morgan le Fay from a magic spell. In previous adventures, the brother and sister team had obtained a Moonstone, mango, and a mammoth bone, but what were they supposed to find on the moon? In addition to the adventure and a touch of suspense, kids learn some facts about the moon. The pattern of these books is similar, and they offer both entertainment and education.

Biography

Mary Pope Osborne grew up in the military, and by the time she was fifteen had lived in Oklahoma, Austria, Florida and four different army posts in Virginia and North Carolina.  After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the early 1970's, Mary traveled all over Europe, and spent the first six weeks of her trip living in a cave on the island of Crete.  She then joined up with a group of European young people and traveled in rickety vans through sixteen Asian countries, including Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal.   She was a bartender, an acting teacher, a waitress, a travel agent, a window dresser, and a medical assistant -- all before becoming an author!  Now she is the author of many highly acclaimed picture books, early chapter books, middle-grade biographies, and young adult novels.  In February 1993, Mary was elected the 27th president of the Author's Guild, the oldest, most established organization for writers in the United States.

Mary her husband Will spilt their time between an apartment in Greenwich Village, New York and a cabin in Pennsylvania.  They own a terrier named Bailey, who sleeps on the top of Mary's desk every day while she writes!