Narwhal on a Sunny Night
Page 1
Dear Reader,
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#1: DINOSAURS BEFORE DARK
#2: THE KNIGHT AT DAWN
#3: MUMMIES IN THE MORNING
#4: PIRATES PAST NOON
#5: NIGHT OF THE NINJAS
#6: AFTERNOON ON THE AMAZON
#7: SUNSET OF THE SABERTOOTH
#8: MIDNIGHT ON THE MOON
#9: DOLPHINS AT DAYBREAK
#10: GHOST TOWN AT SUNDOWN
#11: LIONS AT LUNCHTIME
#12: POLAR BEARS PAST BEDTIME
#13: VACATION UNDER THE VOLCANO
#14: DAY OF THE DRAGON KING
#15: VIKING SHIPS AT SUNRISE
#16: HOUR OF THE OLYMPICS
#17: TONIGHT ON THE TITANIC
#18: BUFFALO BEFORE BREAKFAST
#19: TIGERS AT TWILIGHT
#20: DINGOES AT DINNERTIME
#21: CIVIL WAR ON SUNDAY
#22: REVOLUTIONARY WAR ON WEDNESDAY
#23: TWISTER ON TUESDAY
#24: EARTHQUAKE IN THE EARLY MORNING
#25: STAGE FRIGHT ON A SUMMER NIGHT
#26: GOOD MORNING, GORILLAS
#27: THANKSGIVING ON THURSDAY
#28: HIGH TIDE IN HAWAII
#29: A BIG DAY FOR BASEBALL
#30: HURRICANE HEROES IN TEXAS
#31: WARRIORS IN WINTER
#32: TO THE FUTURE, BEN FRANKLIN!
For a list of Magic Tree House® Merlin Missions and other Magic Tree House® titles, visit MagicTreeHouse.com.
This is a work of fiction. All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some well-known historical and public figures, are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical or public figures appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons are fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2020 by Mary Pope Osborne
Cover art and interior illustrations copyright © 2020 by AG Ford
Excerpt from Narwhals and Other Whales text copyright © 2020 by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce
Excerpt from Narwhals and Other Whales cover photograph copyright © 2020 by Paul Nicklen/National Geographic Creative
Excerpt from Narwhals and Other Whales illustrations copyright © 2020 by Penguin Random House LLC
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks and A Stepping Stone Book and the colophon are trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
Magic Tree House is a registered trademark of Mary Pope Osborne; used under license.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Osborne, Mary Pope, author. | Ford, AG, illustrator.
Title: Narwhal on a sunny night / by Mary Pope Osborne; illustrated by AG Ford.
Description: New York: Random House, [2020] | Series: Magic tree house; #33 | “A Stepping Stone Book.” | Summary: “The magic tree house whisks Jack and Annie away to Greenland, where they discover they’ve traveled back in time to meet Leif Erikson” —Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019018578 | ISBN 978-0-525-64836-9 (hardcover) | ISBN 978-0-525-64837-6 (lib. bdg.) | ISBN 978-0-525-64838-3 (ebook)
Subjects: | CYAC: Time travel—Fiction. | Leiv Eiríksson, d. ca. 1020—Fiction. | Vikings—Fiction. | Narwhal—Fiction. | Magic—Fiction. | Tree houses—Fiction. | Greenland—History—To 1500—Fiction. Classification: LCC PZ7.O81167 Nar 2020 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
Ebook ISBN 9780525648383
This book has been officially leveled by using the F&P Text Level Gradient™ Leveling System.
Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
v5.4
a
To Rose Schwartz,
with deepest thanks
Cover
Magic Tree House® Levels
Other Titles
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
1. Green-land
2. Ice Everywhere
3. Unicorns of the Sea
4. Stand Back!
5. Erik’s Son
6. The Mist of Time
7. Another World
8. Around the Fire
9. The Midnight Sun
10. A Word That Glows
11. You!
Author’s Note
Excerpt from Narwhals and Other Whales
About the Author
Jack and Annie sat on their porch in the warm summer twilight. Jack was reading a library book called Amazing Facts.
“Get this,” he said. “A beehive can have as many as sixty million bees in it.”
“Is that all?” Annie said.
“Ha,” said Jack. “Okay, then get this!” He read: “Some experts say there might be ten billion trillion stars in the universe.”
“Wrong,” said Annie. “In fact, there are ten billion trillion and seventy-three.”
Jack laughed. They both looked up at the dark-blue sky. The first stars were coming out.
“Seriously, ten billion trillion…?” said Annie. “I can’t even imagine it.” She stood up. “Hey, do you see that?”
“What?” said Jack.
“That little cloud,” Annie said.
“Where?” said Jack, standing.
“Over the treetops,” said Annie.
“Oh, man,” whispered Jack. He saw it, too: a small, brightly glowing cloud over the Frog Creek woods.
“We’d better check it out,” said Annie.
Jack put his book on a porch chair. “Mom? Dad?” he called through the screen door. “We’ll be back soon!”
“Fifteen minutes!” their dad called. “We’ll watch a movie together!”
“Great!” called Jack. He grabbed his backpack and then turned to Annie. “Let’s go. Hurry!”
Jack and Annie dashed down the porch steps. They tore across their yard and headed up the sidewalk.
When they came to the Frog Creek woods, they crossed the street
and hurried between the trees.
The darkening woods were filled with the sounds of crickets and frogs. The air smelled of warm green leaves and wood and earth.
Soon Jack and Annie came to the tallest oak.
“Hurray!” said Annie.
The magic tree house was back. It was shimmering against the evening sky.
“Yes!” said Jack. He grabbed the rope ladder and started up. Annie followed. They climbed into the tree house.
“Look,” said Jack. In the last light of day, he saw a book on the floor.
He grabbed the book. He read the title on the plain green cover.
GREENLAND
The World’s Largest Island
“Greenland!” said Annie. “That sounds nice!”
“Yeah, our teacher told us about Greenland,” said Jack. “But I don’t remember what he said….”
“Open the book,” said Annie.
Jack opened the book. He found a map in a pocket on the inside cover. He took it out and unfolded it.
Everything was black-and-white, except for Greenland. The huge island was colored green.
“Green-land sounds so beautiful,” said Annie. “Like it’s filled with green grass and green trees.”
“Don’t be fooled. It can’t be very green,” said Jack.
“Why not?” said Annie.
“Because, look.” With his finger, Jack traced a circle on the map. “This is the Arctic Circle. Inside the circle is most of Greenland, Norway, Iceland, and parts of Canada and Russia. It’s one of the coldest regions in the world.”
“Oh. Then why is the island called Greenland?” asked Annie.
Jack shrugged. “And why are we going there?” he said. “Do you see anything from Morgan?”
They looked around the tree house again.
“Here!” said Annie. She picked up a small piece of yellow paper. She read aloud:
On your next journey
You will land on the shore
Of an island with icebergs,
Reindeer, and more.
On a day that seems endless,
With no dark of night,
Travel through fog.
Travel through light.
Explore different worlds.
Show friends where to go.
Unite all these worlds
With a word that will glow.
“No dark of night?” said Jack. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know,” said Annie. “And what about: Unite all these worlds with a word that will glow?”
“Yeah, what word?” said Jack. “It sounds really cold, too, with ‘icebergs, reindeer, and more.’ ”
“But that could be fun,” said Annie. “We can handle cold. Remember our great trip to the Arctic a while ago?”
“Oh, right,” said Jack. “We wore those polar bear masks.”
“And saved the baby bears,” said Annie. “That was fun, right?”
“Yeah, it was,” said Jack. “Okay! Back to the cold!”
Annie pointed at the green island on their map. “I wish we could go there!” she said.
The wind started to blow.
The tree house started to spin.
It spun faster and faster.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still.
Sunlight shone through the tree house window. The sound of splashing water came from outside.
“Hey, it doesn’t feel that cold,” said Annie.
“Maybe because we’re wearing these heavy woolen clothes,” said Jack.
Their summer clothes had changed into wool outfits. Now they had on thick wool coats, wool shirts, wool caps, wool mittens, and wool pants. Even Jack’s backpack had changed into a wool bag. His notebook and pencil were inside.
“You were right,” said Annie, looking out the window. “I don’t see much green here.”
Jack looked out with her. The tree house had landed on the rocky shore of an ocean bay. Across the water were brown mountains with snow-white peaks.
The air felt crisp and clean. Seagulls swooped low over sparkling blue seawater. The sun shined on sheets of ice.
“Ready to explore?” said Annie.
“Yep,” said Jack.
Jack slipped their map back inside the Greenland book. He put the book and Morgan’s rhyme in the wool bag.
Then he and Annie climbed out the window. They stepped onto a pebbly shore.
“Oh, man, ice everywhere,” said Jack.
The ocean bay was filled with ice. Small flat icebergs were floating in the middle of the bay. Others were close to shore.
“The water must be freezing,” said Annie.
Jack took off a glove and dipped his hand into the seawater. “Ow!” he yelped. “It’s so cold, it hurts!”
Jack dried his hand and put his glove back on. Then he took out the Greenland book. He read aloud from the first page:
For millions of years, Greenland has been mostly covered with ice. In the twenty-first century, experts worry that the world’s climate is warming and the ice is melting. Scientists from different countries live at research stations in Greenland to study the effects of climate change.
“Now I remember what my teacher told us,” said Jack. “Melting ice in the Arctic can cause sea levels to rise and lead to disaster.”
“That’s serious,” said Annie. “I hope we meet some scientists.”
“Me too,” said Jack. “I wonder who else lives here.” He found a section in the book called “People of Greenland.” He read:
Experts believe that people first occupied Greenland about 4,500 years ago. Today 56,000 people live on the island. Most of them are known as the Inuit (say IN-u-it).
“Inuit!” said Annie. “Like the Inuit seal hunter we met on our other Arctic trip! He was great.”
“Yeah, but I don’t see any signs of Inuit people in this area,” said Jack. He looked around at the cold, barren landscape. “It feels pretty lonely.”
“Wait, look at that!” said Annie. She pointed to a group of small silver-gray creatures resting on an iceberg.
“I think those are seals?” said Jack.
“They’re so little and cute,” said Annie.
Jack found a chapter on seals in the book. He read:
Greenland has three kinds of ice seals. Ringed seals are the smallest.
“Okay, they must be ringed seals!” said Jack.
Suddenly the seals let out high-pitched barks. They spun their heads from side to side. Then they slipped off the ice and disappeared into the water.
“I think we scared them,” said Jack.
A swooshing sound came from across the bay.
“Not us!” cried Annie. “A whale!”
A huge gray whale was skimming across the water. A sharp burst of air spurted out the blowhole on top of its head.
“Whoa!” said Jack.
The whale leapt into the air. Then it crashed down with a giant splash. It dove under the sea.
“A humpback! That was a humpback!” said Annie. “I saw the bump on its back. Humpback whales sing. They sing a different song every year!”
“How do you know that?” said Jack.
“I love whales! I wrote a report on them,” said Annie.
“Great,” said Jack. He looked up whales in the index of their book. He found the right page and read aloud:
Greenland’s waters are filled with whales. Fifteen different kinds can be seen along its coasts and in ocean inlets. They include humpback whales, orcas, narwhals, beluga whales—
“Wait! More whales!” cried Annie. “A bunch more!”
“I know,” said Jack, not looking up from the book. “There are fifteen kinds.” He kept reading:
fin whales, blue whales—
“Stop! I mean more in real life!” shouted Annie. “Look up, Jack!”
Jack looked up.
He couldn’t believe his eyes. About a dozen whales were swimming in the bay now. They had sleek gray backs. Each had a long tusk jutting from its rounded head.
“Narwhals!” shouted Annie. “Real narwhals!”
The narwhals were bounding through the water. Foamy waves washed over the ice.
“I wrote about narwhals in my report!” said Annie. “They’re some of the most mysterious creatures on earth!” She ran down the pebbly shore to get a closer look.
Clutching the book and his bag, Jack ran after her.
“They’re called the Unicorns of the Sea!” Annie shouted over her shoulder.
“I get it!” called Jack. Their long horns looked just like the horns of unicorns!
The narwhals arched out of the water to breathe the fresh air. As they exhaled, puffs of mist burst from their blowholes, like sneezes.
Annie stopped running. “Their horns are really tusks. And almost all narwhals with tusks are male,” she said, panting. “And the tusk is a super-long tooth. It can be as long as ten feet!”
“No kidding, a ten-foot tooth?” said Jack. “What does the tooth do?” He’d heard of narwhals before, but he didn’t know much about them.
“No one knows for sure,” said Annie. “Scientists hardly ever see narwhals. But we just got here, and there they are! I don’t believe it!”
“We’re lucky,” said Jack.
He opened their book. He found a section on narwhals and read aloud:
Narwhals are mysterious whales that live most of their lives in the dark sea. They can dive deeper than any other mammal and stay underwater for twenty-five minutes! No narwhal has ever survived in captivity.
“That’s odd,” said Jack. “Most animals live longer in captivity. They get plenty of food, and they don’t get killed by predators.”