A Magical Moment with Mary Pope Osborne

Midnight on the Moon.  Tonight on the Titanic.  Afternoon on the Amazon.  Summer of the Sea Serpent.  We discovered the Magic Treehouse series when Ryan was just four years old.  We started with book one, Dinosaurs Before Dark, and kept on reading, right up through book 44, A Ghost Tale for Christmastime.  It took us 5 years, but we finally caught up with the author, a fact that Ryan is quite proud of.  So, when we saw that Mary Pope Osborne, the author of the Magic Treehouse series, was going to be reading and signing her newest book, Crazy Day for Cobras, at Borders in Newark, Delaware, the boys and I decided it would be worth the drive to meet her.

So, today after co-op, we jumped into the car and drove the two hours to Newark.  We arrived at Borders a full three-and-a-half hours before the author was scheduled to appear, but thought we’d rather wait in Borders surrounded by books with a hot chocolate (or coffee) in hand than sit in traffic on Route 95, and that’s just what we did.

For three and a half hours we wandered the store, read books, and made new friends.  As usual, the boys immediately befriended the boy with the Nintendo DS. 

 

Now, lest you think we are the craziest folks alive for driving two hours to meet Mary Pope Osborne, Grandma S. drove down from New Jersey – that’s three hours, and there was actually one family who flew in from Kentucky for the event, so crazy we may be, but… we were in good company!

By the time Mary Pope Osborne arrived, it was standing room only in the bookstore.   Children and adults alike were anxious to hear her read and to have their books autographed.  Instead of actually reading from the book, she gave a synopsis of the story which takes place in India, told the kids what she liked best about writing the story, and then talked about what she was planning for future books.  She engaged the children in her talk, asking them to vote on the story they’d most like to see published next:  a story about rescue dogs, a story about Egypt – perhaps Cleopatra, a story about pandas, a story about Abraham Lincoln, or a sports-related story – possibly baseball or soccer.  Connor voted for a story about pandas and Ryan for a story set in Egypt, no surprises there.  I voted for a book on Abraham Lincoln, after all, we’ve used the Magic Treehouse books in our schooling before, and we’ll be studying Abraham Lincoln in history before you know it.

Next, Mary Pope Osborne unveiled her next two books:  Dogs in the Dead of Night, a story about rescue dogs (available August 9, 2011), and Abraham Lincoln at Last, an adventure that will have Jack and Annie meeting Abe both as a child and when he is President.  We’re thinking books on the other three topics she mentioned may be coming along after these.  We can’t wait!  Yes, we… I must confess, I enjoy the Magic Treehouse books as much as the boys.

Following, her talk, the boys – and Grandma S. – were able to get a stack of their books stamped with Mary Pope Osborne’s signature, as well as the signature of Natalie Pope Bryce, Mary’s sister who writes the MTH research guides, and to have their photo taken with the two ladies.  

We’ve enjoyed Magic Treehouse books at bedtime, and used them in our schooling; the first book Ryan read independently was a Magic Treehouse book; more than one continuing area of interest has been sparked by a Magic Treehouse story (Egypt and the Titanic for Ryan; Dolphins and Merlin of Camelot for Connor); and now, Ryan and Connor can say they’ve met one of their all-time favorite authors.   All in all, it was a fabulous day!