Magic Tree House

After graduating from college, Osborne and a friend went traveling.^[1] Osborne spent time in Crete and traveled through Iraq, Iran, India, Afghanistan, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, and Pakistan.^[2] The trip ended when Osborne experienced blood poisoning in Nepal and was hospitalized for several weeks, during which she read The Lord of the Rings.^[1] Remarking on her travels, Osborne said, "That journey irrevocably changed me. The experience gathered serves as a reference point every day of my life. I encountered worlds of light and worlds of darkness — and planted seeds of the imagination that led directly to my being an author of children's books."^[2]

Osborne's travels and experiences have largely factored into her writing, which has allowed her to experience the thrills of traveling. She has stated that, "Without even leaving my home, I’ve traveled around the globe, learning about the religions of the world."^[3]

Osborne's writing career began "one day, out of the blue"^[3] when she wrote Run, Run As Fast As You Can in 1982, which she has said is semi-autobiographical, as she stated: "The girl was a lot like me and many of the incidents in the story were similar to happenings in my childhood."^[3] The book served as the starting point for Osborne's writing career; her early work received mixed reviews.^[4][5] 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.^[6] Osborne knew from the beginning that she wanted to include time travel,^[6] and the idea for the treehouse as the means of time travel came to her when she and her husband saw one while on a walk in the forest in Pennsylvania.^[6]

Osborne says that she can work on Magic Tree House up to 12 hours a day and seven days a week^[7] and has used space at shared office space, The Writer's Room.^[8] She has modeled her writing after Hemingway by trying to be simple and direct^[7] and is "noted for writing clear, lively, well-paced prose in both her stories and her informational books."^[2]

When Osborne started writing the series, she wrote Jack as a main character and added Annie as a typical annoying younger sister.^[9] After writing her in, Osborne eventually decided to make her a main character.^[9] Osborne highlights Annie’s bravery as a characteristic that is the main difference between Annie and herself, as Osborne has noted she often wished she was braver.^[9]

Jack is the older brother, who is known for his love of books and learning, an attribute Osborne says connects her to him.^[10] He tends to be cautious.^[11] According to the original illustrations by Sal Murdocca, Jack has brown hair, wears red glasses, and is taller than Annie.^[12]

Annie is the younger sister, who is known for her bravery, impulsive decisions, and caring for the people and animals around her.^[10] According to the original illustrations by Sal Murdocca, Annie is depicted as having medium-length blonde hair, often worn in double braids, and bangs.^[12]

Mary Pope Osborne's books have been featured in several Best Books of the Year Lists, including School Library Journal, Parents’ Magazine, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, and Bank Street College of Education.^[2] She has received honors from organizations as the National Council of Teachers of English, The Children's Book Council, and the International Reading Association.^[2] She received the 1992 Diamond State Reading Association Award,^[2] 2005 Ludington Memorial Award from the Educational Paperback Association^[13] and the 2010 Heidelberger Leander Award.^[14] She has also received awards from the Carolina Alumni Association,^[15] the Virginia Library Association^[2] and in spring 2013, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.^[16]

Osborne served two separate terms as president of the Authors Guild and also chaired its Children's Book Committee.^[2] She has since traveled extensively in the states and throughout the world, visiting schools and speaking on issues related to reading and books. In 2011, she attended the Tokyo International Film Festival for the premiere of the Magic Tree House anime film and visited schools in the tsunami-hit area of Japan.^[17] The film grossed 5.7 million dollars; Osborne donated all proceeds into her educational works.^[18]

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.^[18] She spoke of the pressure she feels as an author that children look up to, "for a child to value someone who writes books is so extraordinary."^[18]

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Magic Tree House series in 2012, Osborne created a Magic Tree House Classroom Adventures Program, through which she aims to inspire children to read and love reading^[19] while helping them to read at grade level by the end of 3rd grade.^[18] The program is free of charge and provides a set of online educational resources for teachers and allows for Title 1 schools to apply for free Magic Tree House books.^[19] Under Classroom Adventures, Osborne, in partnership with the First Book organization in Washington, D.C., has donated hundreds of thousands of Magic Tree House books to underserved schools.^[20]

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.^[21] Osborne hoped that it would have appeal to both kids and adults, like The Lion King or Mary Poppins.^[21] The musical has toured nationally^[21][22] and had a cast album.^[23]

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.^[24]

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.^[25]

Magic Tree House Kids Shows are theatrical adaptations of select titles in the Magic Tree House series designed specifically for kids' performances.^[26] To date, children's shows have been created by husband and wife playwright and composer team Randy Courts and Jenny Laird^[27] in collaboration with Will Osborne based on Dinosaurs Before Dark, The Knight at Dawn, Pirates Past Noon, A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time,^[27] and A Night in New Orleans. Stage Fright on a Summer Night, based on the life of William Shakespeare, premiered at the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre in October 2017.^[22]

The animated film Magic Tree House (マジック・ツリーハウス, Majikku Tsurī Hausu), produced by Media Factory, premiered in Japan in October 2011^[28] and was released there on January 7, 2012.^[29]

According to its official website, Magic Tree House books are for beginning chapter book readers.^[30]

Magic Tree House: Merlin Missions books 1-27 were written for more advanced readers ages 7–10.^[30] 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.^[30]

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.

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.^[38] They were first released in 2000 by Scholastic and Random House. As of January 2022,^[update] 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.

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