Magic Tree House

The Magic Tree House is an American series of children's books written by American author Mary Pope Osborne. The original American series is illustrated by Salvatore Murdocca, although other illustrators have been used for foreign-language editions.

The series consists of two groups. The first group consists of books 1-28, in which Morgan Le Fay sends Jack and Annie Smith, two normal children who are siblings from the fictional town of Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, on numerous adventures and missions with a magical tree house. The second group, referred to as the Magic Tree House "Merlin Missions," begins with book 29, Christmas in Camelot. In the Merlin Missions, Jack and Annie have quests from the ancient wizard Merlin the Magician. These books are longer than the previous 28, and some take place in fantasy realms like Camelot. Kathleen and Teddy are two apprentices who befriend Jack and Annie during their adventures, with one of these adventures being to free Teddy from a spell. The two occasionally join Jack and Annie, and, when they don't, provide them support instead. During 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 her sister Natalie Pope Boyce.

On February 4, 2016, it was announced Lionsgate would be making a feature film adaptation.^[1]

Magic Tree House Books

Magic Tree House Books are for Beginning Chapter Book Readers. Adventures with Jack and Annie, perfect for readers ages 6-9 who are just starting to read chapter books.^[2]

Magic Tree House Merlin Mission Books

Magic Tree House Merlin Mission Books 1-27 for More Advanced Readers. More challenging adventures for the experienced readers ages 7-10. ^[3]

The Magic Tree House Merlin Missions were originally ordered sequentially, starting at Book #29 (Christmas in Camelot). With the 25th anniversary re-prints, the books have been separated into their own distinct series and re-numbered starting at Merlin Mission #1. ^[4]

Magic Tree House Super editions

On January 6, 2015, the first Magic Tree House Super Edition was released. It is 183 pages long. The super editions are longer than the original Magic Tree House books and the Magic Tree House Merlin Missions.

Non-fiction 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. They were first released in 2000 by Scholastic and Random House. They provide more in-depth follow-up information on the topics in the series than already covered.^[9] As of July 2016, 35 have been published. The first two Fact Trackers were published in August 2000 as companions for the first two stories, then 7 to 8 years old. In 2008 story #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; simultaneous production has been common since.

Characters

There are roughly six main characters throughout the Magic Tree House series. These include: Jack, Annie, Merlin, Morgan le Fay, Kathleen, and Teddy. Jack and Annie play the largest role in the series, and they embark on numerous adventures for Merlin and Morgan le Fay throughout the series. They also receive the help of the young magicians Kathleen and Teddy while they embark on their missions.

Jack

Jack is the brother of Annie, the other major character in the series. He has short brown hair and wears red-rimmed glasses that have round lenses. Jack is often shy around others, unlike Annie, and he often takes time to get used to new situations. Jack also believes in science and reason much more than Annie does, and he often keeps a small notebook in which he takes notes about their adventures. Jack often wants to read about a place and time and absorb as much information as he can before embarking on their adventure. He is also older than Annie, which may play a role in his maturity. Jack is extremely intelligent for his young age, and his vast knowledge often helps him and Annie complete their missions. This results in him having unexpected knowledge or talents that help complete their missions such as Jack being able to drive a vehicle despite not being old enough to possess the skill. Jack is courageous, willing to risk his own life to help others, and he is compassionate, caring for everything and everyone. He also reveals in Civil War On Sunday #21 that he thinks war is kind of cool until the end. However, he sometimes lacks self-confidence until something motivates him to perform the needed feat. When he is confident in his abilities, Jack is good at doing the tasks. On one occasion, while driving a truckload of kids past a Nazi checkpoint, his confident demeanor was enough to fool the Nazis into thinking he was a regular truck driver and let him pass without an inspection. He completed the feat thanks to Kathleen lying to him that she'd made them invisible and was left stunned at what he was capable of. He also has a growing crush on Kathleen, as he gets shy around her and notes that she is extremely pretty. Her opinion of him matters to Jack greatly enough that if she shows confidence in his ability to perform tasks, he has more confidence in himself if only for the reason of not wanting to let Kathleen down.

Annie

Annie is the younger sister of Jack, and she is the second major character in the series. Annie has blond hair tied in pigtails, and has blue eyes. Annie believes in magic much more than Jack does, and Morgan le Fay reveals that Annie's belief in magic helped her see the magic tree house. Annie is often impulsive and not as shy as Jack. However, this often leads to trouble that the pair has to deal with. Annie is younger than Jack, which means that she is less mature. Annie also talks to animals much more than Jack does, and she is kind to them.

Morgan le Fay

Morgan le Fay is a witch and Time Librarian from King Arthur's time. She is King Arthur's sister.^[12] In Books 1-3, she was in form of a pteranodon, cat, and knight.^[13] In Book 4, she transforms from a green parrot into human form.^[14] She has since become the kids' mentor and adviser on their quest to become Master Librarians of Time. She is the one who gives Jack and Annie riddles and quests to solve in Books 1 through 28.

Teddy

A young sorcerer and apprentice of Morgan. Jack and Annie first meet Teddy when he's trapped in the form of a dog and spend books 17-20 freeing him from the spell. Teddy is not his actual name but the nickname Jack and Annie gave him when he was a dog. His real name is unknown but everyone calls him Teddy, not just Jack and Annie. When he regained human form, he chose to have Jack and Annie continue calling him Teddy as he liked the nickname though he asked for them to call him Ted, something they only did for his brief appearance as a human at the end of book 20. Teddy is kind-hearted but overconfident in his abilities and isn't actually that good at magic usually, requiring Kathleen to aid him in finishing his spells more often than not. Over the course of the books, Teddy gets better but still requires help a lot. His misfortunes with magic resulted in him turning himself into a dog and Penny the Penguin into stone, resulting in Jack and Annie having to help him break the spells.

William

William is the youngest of 20 brothers, and he is a selkie, or being that can morph into a seal. William is one of Morgan's apprentices, and he is extremely friendly, quickly befriending Annie, Jack, Morgan, Merlin, and Teddy. William is free-spirited and playful, probably due to him being a selkie. William has brown hair that is quite short, and brown eyes. He also wears a seaweed cloth. William is a selkie, which means that he can turn into a seal and turn others in seals as well with a kind of seal skin and magic. In seal form, he can communicate with other seals as well. William is also talented in magic spells. He is also very caring as shown when he is sent to rescue two children in Normandy during World War II and instead risks her life to protect ten children. His empathic nature results in his losing his magic when he loses hope, forcing Jack and Annie to rescue him. Once his hope is restored, so is his magic. He is also 6 turning 7.

Movies

The animated film Magic Tree House (マジック・ツリーハウス), produced by Media Factory, premiered in Japan in October 2011^[15] and was generally released there on January 7, 2012.^[16]

On February 4, 2016, it was announced Lionsgate would be making a feature film adaptation. The new film will be based on the 29th book in the series: "Christmas in Camelot". ^[17]

References

External links

• Official website
• Magic Tree House at Mediafactory (in Japanese)
• Mary Pope Osborne blog
• Magic Tree House series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database