Magic Tree House is an American children's series written by American author Mary Pope Osborne. The original American series was illustrated by Salvatore Murdocca until 2016, after which AG Ford took over. Other illustrators have been used for foreign-language editions.
The series is divided into two groups. The first group consists of Books 1–28, in which Morgan Le Fay sends Jack and Annie Smith, siblings from the fictional small town of Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, on adventures and missions through a magical tree house. The second group, called Magic Tree House: Merlin Missions, begins with Book 29, Christmas in Camelot, and has ancient wizard Merlin the Magician giving Jack and Annie quests. These books are longer, and some take place in fantasy realms such as Camelot. Kathleen and Teddy are apprentices who befriend Jack and Annie and provide support, occasionally joining them on adventures. In Super Edition #1, Teddy sends them on a mission instead of Morgan or Merlin. The companion Magic Tree House Fact Trackers are co-written by Mary Pope Osborne with her husband Will Osborne or sister Natalie Pope Boyce.
Series background
After graduating from college, Osborne and her roommate went traveling. She spent time in Crete and traveled through Iraq, Iran, India, Afghanistan, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, and Pakistan. The trip ended when Osborne experienced sepsis in Nepal and was hospitalized for several weeks, during which she read The Lord of the Rings.
Osborne's writing career began "one day, out of the blue" Her work includes young adult novels, picture books, retellings of mythology and fairy tales, biographies, mysteries, a six-part series of the Odyssey, a book of American Tall Tales, and a book for young readers about major world religions.
The idea for the series came when Penguin Random House asked Osborne to start writing a series of children's books. She knew from the beginning that she wanted to include time travel, and has used space at shared office space, The Writer's Room. She has modeled her writing after Hemingway by trying to be simple and direct After writing her in, Osborne eventually decided to make her a main character. He tends to be cautious. According to the original illustrations by Sal Murdocca, Jack has brown hair, wears red glasses, and is taller than Annie.
Annie
Annie is the younger sister, who is known for her bravery, impulsive decisions, and caring for the people and animals around her. and the 2010 Heidelberger Leander Award. She has also received awards from the Carolina Alumni Association, the Virginia Library Association
Osborne served two separate terms as president of the Authors Guild and also chaired its Children's Book Committee. The film grossed 5.7 million dollars; Osborne donated all proceeds into her educational works.
She was profiled on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams for her continued efforts to give children books while on a Magic Tree House-themed tour bus.
Adaptations
Magic Tree House Children's Theatre
The Magic Tree House brand has expanded into other forms. A musical adaptation, Magic Tree House: The Musical, was created by Will Osborne and Randy Court based on Christmas in Camelot and premiered in September 2007. Osborne hoped that it would have appeal to both kids and adults, like The Lion King or Mary Poppins. and had a cast album.
A planetarium show, Magic Tree House: Space Mission, also created by Will Osborne, is produced and presented at the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
In 2011, Will Osborne collaborated with New Orleans composer Allen Toussaint and Ain't Misbehavin co-creator Murray Horwitz to write A Night in New Orleans, a musical adaptation of A Good Night for Ghosts about the life of Louis Armstrong which features an ensemble cast and live jazz band. It premiered in 2012 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and was shown free to Newark 4th grade students.
Magic Tree House Kids Shows are theatrical adaptations of select titles in the Magic Tree House series designed specifically for kids' performances. To date, children's shows have been created by husband and wife playwright and composer team Randy Courts and Jenny Laird in collaboration with Will Osborne based on Dinosaurs Before Dark, The Knight at Dawn, Pirates Past Noon, A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time, and was released there on January 7, 2012.
List of Magic Tree House books
According to its official website, Magic Tree House books are for beginning chapter book readers.
Main series
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
! Arc
! Number
! Title
! First printed
! Companion book
|-
|The Mystery of the Magic Tree House (#1)
| align="center" | #1
| Dinosaurs Before Dark (UK Title: Valley of the Dinosaurs)
|
| #1, Dinosaurs
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: Jack and Annie discover the tree house and, using the magical books there, unwittingly travel back to the late Cretaceous period, where they meet a Pteranodon that saves them from a Tyrannosaurus rex. Jack finds a gold medallion with the letter "M" on it.
|-
|The Mystery of the Magic Tree House (#2)
| align="center" | #2
| The Knight at Dawn (UK title: Castle of Mystery)
|
| #2, Knights and Castles
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In medieval England during the Middle Ages, Jack and Annie explore a castle and meet a knight.
|-
|The Mystery of the Magic Tree House (#3)
| align="center" | #3
| Mummies in the Morning (UK title: Secret of the Pyramid)
|
|#3, Mummies and Pyramids
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In Ancient Egypt, Jack and Annie help the ghost of Queen Hutepi find her missing Book of the Dead.
|-
|The Mystery of the Magic Tree House (#4)
| align="center" | #4
|Pirates Past Noon (UK title: Pirates' Treasure!)
|
|#4, Pirates
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: Jack and Annie encounter pirates in the Caribbean Sea and meet Morgan le Fay, who turns out to be the mysterious "M".
|-
|The Mystery of the Magic Spell (#1)
| align="center" | #5
|Night of the Ninjas
|
|#30, Ninjas and Samurai
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: Morgan le Fay is under a spell, and Jack and Annie must find four magical objects to reverse it with help from a mouse named Peanut. In ancient Japan, they encounter ninjas and samurai and get a moonstone.
|-
|The Mystery of the Magic Spell (#2)
| align="center" | #6
|Afternoon on the Amazon (UK title: Adventure on the Amazon)
|
|#5, Rain Forests
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: Jack and Annie search the Amazon rainforest for the second magical object, a mango.
|-
|The Mystery of the Magic Spell (#3)
| align="center" | #7
|Sunset of the Sabertooth (UK title: Mammoth to the Rescue)
|
|#12, Sabertooths and the Ice Age
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In the last ice age, Jack and Annie encounter Cro-Magnons, woolly mammoths, and a saber-toothed cat while searching for the third object, a mammoth bone flute.
|-
|The Mystery of the Magic Spell (#4)
| align="center" | #8
|Midnight on the Moon (UK title: Moon Mission)
|
|#6, Space
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: Thirty-five years into the future (2031), Jack and Annie travel to a moon base on the moon to look for the fourth object, a moon rock, or so they think.
|-
|The Mystery of the Ancient Riddles (#1)
| align="center" | #9
|Dolphins at Daybreak (UK title: Diving with Dolphins)
|
|#9, Dolphins and Sharks
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: Jack and Annie have to solve four ancient riddles, the first of which is at the Pacific Ocean with bottlenose dolphins.
|-
|The Mystery of the Ancient Riddles (#2)
| align="center" | #10
|Ghost Town at Sundown (UK title: A Wild West Ride)
|
|#38, Wild West
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In the American Wild West, Jack and Annie meet the cowboy Slim to solve the second riddle.
|-
|The Mystery of the Ancient Riddles (#3)
| align="center" | #11
|Lions at Lunchtime (UK title: Lions on the Loose)
|
|N/A
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: At the African Savannah, Jack and Annie set out to solve the third riddle.
|-
|The Mystery of the Ancient Riddles (#4)
| align="center" | #12
|Polar Bears Past Bedtime (UK title: Icy Escape)
|
|#16, Polar Bears and the Arctic
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: At the North Pole, Jack and Annie meet an Inuk and solve the fourth and final riddle, as well as an extra riddle.
|-
|The Mystery of the Lost Stories (#1)
| align="center" | #13
|Vacation Under the Volcano (UK title: Racing with Gladiators)
|
|#14, Ancient Rome and Pompeii
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: Now Master Librarians, Jack and Annie travel to Pompeii on the eve of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius to save a lost story for Morgan.
|-
|The Mystery of the Lost Stories (#2)
| align="center" | #14
|Day of the Dragon King (UK title: Palace of the Dragon King)
|
|#31, China: Land of the Emperor's Great Wall
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: Jack and Annie travel to China 2,000 years in the past, when it was ruled by the Dragon King, Emperor Qin. Their mission is to save a story from the book burning Qin ordered.
|-
|The Mystery of the Lost Stories (#3)
| align="center" | #15
|Viking Ships at Sunrise (UK title: Voyage of the Vikings)
|
|#33, Vikings
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In medieval Ireland, Jack and Annie encounter Vikings raiding a village of monks where one was writing a lost story of a sea serpent named Sarph.
|-
|The Mystery of the Lost Stories (#4)
| align="center" | #16
|Hour of the Olympics (UK title: Olympic Challenge!)
|
|#10, Ancient Greece and the Olympics
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In Ancient Greece, Jack and Annie witness the first Olympic games. At the end, Morgan revealed that every lost story they saved, including Pegasus, are in the stars.
|-
|The Mystery of the Enchanted Dog (#1)
| align="center" | #17
|Tonight on the Titanic
|
|#7, Titanic
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: Jack and Annie are assisted by the dog Teddy, whom they must find gifts for so that he can become human again. They travel back to 1912 on the RMS Titanic during its fateful voyage.
|-
|The Mystery of the Enchanted Dog (#2)
| align="center" | #18
|Buffalo Before Breakfast
|
|N/A
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In the American Old West, Jack and Annie encounter a Lakota boy on the Great Plains.
|-
|The Mystery of the Enchanted Dog (#3)
| align="center" | #19
|Tigers at Twilight
|
|N/A
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: Jack and Annie explore the Indian jungle and save a tiger from a steel trap.
|-
|The Mystery of the Enchanted Dog (#4)
| align="center" | #20
|Dingoes at Dinnertime
|
|N/A
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: Jack and Annie explore the Australian Outback to find the gift from a kangaroo, and along the way help a joey and a koala escape a wildfire. After they receive the final gift and return home, Morgan removes the spell on Teddy, who is revealed to be a young magician who accidentally turned himself into a dog after casting a spell.
|-
|The Mystery of Morgan's Library (#1)
| align="center" | #21
|Civil War on Sunday
|
|N/A
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: Camelot is in trouble, so Morgan had Jack and Annie to bring four pieces of writing for her library. During the American Civil War, they encounter Clara Barton.
|-
|The Mystery of Morgan's Library (#2)
| align="center" | #22
|Revolutionary War on Wednesday
|
|#11, American Revolution
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: During the American Revolution, Jack and Annie cross the Delaware River with George Washington.
|-
|The Mystery of Morgan's Library (#3)
| align="center" | #23
|Twister on Tuesday
|
|#8, Twisters and Other Terrible Storms
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In the 1870s, Jack and Annie encounter a pioneer settlement on the Midwestern prairie and must save a teacher and kids before a tornado hits.
|-
|The Mystery of Morgan's Library (#4)
| align="center" | #24
|Earthquake in the Early Morning
|
|N/A
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In 1906, Jack and Annie experience the San Francisco earthquake. They use what they have learned to inspire King Arthur to battle Mordred; later books show he survived and won the battle.
|-
|The Mystery of Morgan's Rhymes (#1)
| align="center" | #25
|Stage Fright on a Summer Night
|
|N/A
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: Morgan tells Jack and Annie that they are ready to learn magic themselves. In Elizabethan England, the two meet William Shakespeare.
|-
|The Mystery of Morgan's Rhymes (#2)
| align="center" | #26
|Good Morning, Gorillas!
|
|N/A
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In the Congo rainforest, Jack and Annie encounter gorillas.
|-
|The Mystery of Morgan's Rhymes (#3)
| align="center" | #27
|Thanksgiving on Thursday
|
|#13, Pilgrims
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In Plymouth in 1621, Jack and Annie share the first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians.
|-
|The Mystery of Morgan's Rhymes (#4)
| align="center" | #28
|High Tide in Hawaii
|
|#15, Tsunamis and Other Natural Disasters
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In Hawaii, Jack and Annie make two friends and almost get caught in a tsunami.
|-
|Learning from Heroes (#1)
| align="center" | #29
|A Big Day for Baseball
|
|#37, Baseball
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: On Brooklyn's Ebbets Field on April 15, 1947, Jack and Annie witness Jackie Robinson's Major League debut.
|-
|Learning from Heroes (#2)
| align="center" | #30
|Hurricane Heroes in Texas
|
|#39, Texas
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In Galveston, Texas circa 1900, Jack and Annie learn a big storm is coming.
|-
|Learning from Heroes (#3)
| align="center" | #31
|Warriors in Winter
|
|#40, Warriors
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In the early 100s AD, Jack and Annie find themselves in a Roman camp.
|-
|Learning from Heroes (#4)
| align="center" | #32
|To the Future, Ben Franklin
|
|#41, Benjamin Franklin.
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: Jack and Annie meet Benjamin Franklin, only to cause a time paradox when he returns to their time with them.
|-
|Animal Rescues (#1)
| align="center" | #33
|Narwhal on a Sunny Night
|
|#42, Narwhals and Other Whales
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In Greenland, Jack and Annie learn their mission is to save a narwhal.
|-
|Animal Rescues (#2)
| align="center" | #34
|Late Lunch with Llamas
|
|#43, Llamas and the Andes
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In South America, Jack and Annie must rescue llamas.
|-
|Animal Rescues (#3)
| align="center" | #35
|Camp Time in California
|
|#28, Heroes for All Times
|-
| colspan="5" |Plot: In California, Jack and Annie must save the wilderness.
|-
|Animal Rescues (#4)
| align="center" | #36
|Sunlight on the Snow Leopard
|
|#44, Snow Leopards and Other Wild Cats
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In the Himalayas in Nepal, Jack and Annie must find the Gray Ghost.
|-
|Animal Rescues (#5)
| align="center" | #37
|Rhinos at Recess
|
|N/A
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In South Africa, Jack and Annie must rescue a rhino.
|-
|Animal Rescues (#6)
| align="center" | #38
|Time of the Turtle King
|
|#23, Snakes and Other Reptiles
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In the Galapagos Islands, Jack and Annie must rescue a sea turtle from a volcanic eruption.
|-
|Animal Rescues (#7)
| align="center" | #39
|Windy Night with Wild Horses
|
|#27, Horse Heroes
|-
| colspan="5" | Plot: In Mongolia, Jack and Annie meet its little horses, who are recovering from near extinction, and the people who take care of them, and must protect them from wolves.
|-
|
Animal Rescues (#8)
|#40
|Sea Otter Sunrise
|July 1, 2025
|N/A
|}<!-- Do not add any additional entries without a reference naming a reliable and verifiable source. New unsupported entries will be deleted.-->
Merlin Missions subseries
Magic Tree House: Merlin Missions Books 1-27 were written for more advanced readers ages 7–10.
|
|Greatness arc #2
|Jack and Annie meet magician Harry Houdini.
|Magic Tricks from the Tree House
|-
|51
|23
|High Time for Heroes
|
|Greatness arc #3
|In Egypt, Jack and Annie meet Florence Nightingale.
|#28, Heroes for All Times
|-
|52
|24
|Soccer on Sunday
|
|Greatness arc #4
|In Mexico during the 1970 FIFA World Cup, Jack and Annie seek out Pelé for him to tell them the "secret of greatness".
|#29, Soccer
|-
|53
|25
|Shadow of the Shark
|
|none
|Morgan and Merlin allow Jack and Annie to go on vacation, but they accidentally travel to ancient Mayan times after pointing at the wrong illustration; there, they encounter sharks, Mayan warriors, and Yohl Ikʼnal.
|#32, Sharks and Other Predators
|-
|54
|26
|Balto of the Blue Dawn
|
|none
|In Alaska in 1925, Jack and Annie meet Balto.
|#34, Dogsledding and Extreme Sports
|-
|55
|27
|Night of the Ninth Dragon
|
|none
|Jack and Annie must help save Merlin, Morgan, Teddy, and Kathleen, who are trapped in Avalon, and King Arthur, who has been injured, when invaders threaten Camelot.
|#35, Dragons and Mythical Creatures
|}
Magic Tree House Super Edition book
On January 6, 2015, the first and currently only Magic Tree House Super Edition book was released. At 183 pages long, it is longer than both the original Magic Tree House books and the Magic Tree House: Merlin Missions.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! #
! Title
! Published
! Story Arc
! Plot Summary/Notes
! Companion book
|-
|1
|Danger in the Darkest Hour
|January 6, 2015
|none
|The first Magic Tree House Super Edition is called Danger in the Darkest Hour. It was reprinted as World at War, 1944 in 2017.
During World War II, shortly before D-Day, Jack and Annie must rescue Kathleen from behind enemy lines. It features the first time they have had to deal with a situation using their own talents, without help from magic.
|#36, World War II
|}
Nonfiction books
The Magic Tree House Fact Trackers (formerly called Magic Tree House Research Guides) are non-fiction companions to the fiction books written by Mary Pope Osborne, Will Osborne, and Natalie Pope Boyce, which provide more in-depth information on topics featured in the series. They were first released in 2000 by Scholastic and Random House. 44 have been published. The first two Fact Trackers were published in August 2000 as companions for the first two stories. In 2008, book #39, Dark Day in the Deep Sea, and its fact tracker, #17, Sea Monsters, were the first story and fact tracker to be published simultaneously.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! No.
! Title
! Companion To:
! Date Published:
|-
| 1
| Dinosaurs
|
|
|-
| 2
| Knights and Castles
|
|
|-
| 3
| Mummies and Pyramids
|
|
|-
| 4
| Pirates
|
|
|-
|5
|Rain Forests
|Magic Tree House #6: Afternoon on the Amazon
|September 25, 2001
|-
| 6
| Space
|
|
|-
| 7
| Titanic
|
|
|-
| 8
| Twisters and Other Terrible Storms
|
|
|-
| 9
| Dolphins and Sharks
|
|
|-
| 10
| Ancient Greece and the Olympics
|
|
|-
| 11
| American Revolution
|
|
|-
| 12
| Sabertooths and the Ice Age
|
|
|-
| 13
| Pilgrims
|
|
|-
| 14
| Ancient Rome and Pompeii
|
|
|-
| 15
| Tsunamis and Other Natural Disasters
|
|
|-
| 16
| Polar Bears and the Arctic
|
|
|-
| 17
| Sea Monsters
|
|
|-
| 18
| Penguins and Antarctica
|
|
|-
| 19
| Leonardo da Vinci
|
|
|-
| 20
| Ghosts
|
|
|-
| 21
| Leprechauns and Irish Folklore
|
|
|-
| 22
| Rags and Riches: Kids in the Time of Charles Dickens
|
|
|-
| 23
| Snakes and Other Reptiles
|
|
|-
| 24
| Dog Heroes
|
|
|-
| 25
| Abraham Lincoln
|
|
|-
| 26
| Pandas and Other Endangered Species
|
|
|-
| 27
| Horse Heroes
|
|
|-
| 28
| Heroes for All Times
|
|
|-
<!-- Do not include "Magic Tricks from the Tree House" here, as it is not a Fact Tracker. -->| 29
| Soccer
|
|
|-
| 30
| Ninjas and Samurai
|
|
|-
|31
| China: Land of the Emperor's Great Wall
|
|
|-
| 32
| Sharks and Other Predators
|
|
|-
|33
| Vikings
|
|
|-
|34
| Dogsledding and Extreme Sports
|
|
|-
|35
| Dragons and Mythical Creatures
|
|
|-
|36
| World War II
|
|
|-
|37
| Baseball
|
|
|-
|38
| Wild West
|
|
|-
|39
| Texas
|
|
|-
|40
| Warriors
|
|
|-
|41
| Benjamin Franklin
|
|
|-
|42
| Narwhals and Other Whales
|
|
|-
|43
| Llamas and the Andes
|
|
|-
|44
| Snow Leopards and Other Wild Cats
|
|
|}
<!-- Do not add any additional entries without a reference naming a reliable and verifiable source. New unsupported entries will be deleted.-->
Other Magic Tree House books
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!#
!Title
!Published
!Story Arc
!Summary/Notes
|-
|1
|Memories and Life Lessons from the Magic Tree House
|September 6, 2022
|none
|This book serves as a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Magic Tree House series, including quotes from the series and illustrations by the original artist, Sal Murdocca. Mary Pope Osborne fills this book with advice and with life lessons to share with readers of the series.
|-
|1
|Magic Tree House Survival Guide
|Sep 07, 2021
|none
|Jack and Annie have survived all kinds of dangers on their adventures in the magic tree house. Now they’re sharing their secrets with you! Find out how you can tackle lots of scary situations, including shark encounters, earthquakes, fires, shipwrecks, pandemics, and many more! With full-color photographs and illustrations, facts about real-life survival stories, and tips from Jack and Annie, this is a must-have for all survivors of the bestselling Magic Tree House series.
|-
|1
|Magic Tree House Incredible Fact Book
|Sep 27, 2016
|none
|"Our Favorite Facts about Animals, Nature, History, and More Cool Stuff!"
|-
|1
|Magic Tricks from the Tree House
| Jul 23, 2013
|none
|"A Fun Companion to Magic Tree House Merlin Mission...:Hurry Up, Houdini!"
|-
|1
|Animal Games and Puzzles
|Sep 01, 2020
|none
|"Take a walk on the wild side with Magic Tree House® animal activities! From cobras to koalas to emperor penguins, Jack and Annie have met all kinds of animals on their adventures. Now you can test your animal awareness and Magic Tree House® mastery with this flock of fantastic activities. Includes Tic-Cat-Toe, A Perfect Time for Riddles, Marsupial Maze, Crazy Critter Charades, Which Animal Are You?, and much more."
|-
|1
|Magic Tree House Games & Puzzles from the Tree House
|April 27th, 2010
|none
|"Travel through time and around the world with Jack and Annie to help them solve mazes and crossword puzzles, break secret codes, play games, draw pictures, and more They've seen the age of the dinosaurs and the high-tech future; they've visited freezing Antarctica and scorching deserts - and now Jack and Annie need your help with five activities from every Magic Tree House adventure..."
|}
References
External links
- Magic Tree House at Media Factory
- Mary Pope Osborne blog