And of course, while working on this book, I was again inspired by the tales of King Arthur and Camelot, which have been told again and again over the centuries. For instance, my sword bridge was inspired by a sword bridge in the French tale “Lancelot,” in which the knight has to cross a bridge created by a magic sword to reach the Isle of Glass.
In many versions of the tales of Camelot, Arthur is given the mighty sword Excalibur by the Lady of the Lake, who lives on the Isle of Avalon. The sword’s name may come from the Latin word chalybs, which means “steel.” Some sources indicate that Excalibur was also known as the “Sword of Light.”
Mary Pope Osborne is the award-winning author of many novels, picture books, story collections, and nonfiction books, including Adaline Falling Star, Kate and the Beanstalk, New York’s Bravest, Favorite Medieval Tales, Favorite Greek Myths, and One World, Many Religions. Her bestselling Magic Tree House series has been translated into many languages around the world. Highly recommended by parents and educators everywhere, the series introduces young readers to different cultures and times in history, as well as to the world’s legacy of ancient myth and storytelling. Mary Pope Osborne is married to Will Osborne, a co-author of many of the Magic Tree House Research Guides. They live in northwestern Connecticut.
Here’s a Special Preview of
Magic Tree House #32
(A Merlin Mission)
Winter of the Ice Wizard
Available now!
Excerpt copyright © 2004 by Mary Pope Osborne.
Published by Random House Children’s Books,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
CHAPTER ONE
Winter Solstice
A cold wind rattled the windowpanes. But inside the house, it was warm and cozy. Jack and Annie were making Christmas cookies with their mom. Jack pressed a star-shaped cookie cutter into the dough.
“Hey, it’s snowing outside,” said Annie.
Jack looked out the window. Huge snow-flakes were falling from the late-afternoon sky.
“You want to go out?” asked Annie.
“Not really. It’ll be dark soon,” said Jack.
“That’s right,” said their mom. “Today’s the first day of winter. It’s the shortest day of the year.”
Jack’s heart skipped a beat. “You mean it’s the winter solstice?” he said.
“Yes,” said their mom.
Annie gasped. “The winter solstice?” she said.
“Yes … ,” their mom said, puzzled.
Jack and Annie looked at each other. Last summer, Merlin the magician had called for their help on the summer solstice. Maybe he would need them again today!
Jack put down the cookie cutter and wiped his hands on a towel. “Actually, Mom, it might be fun to play in the snow for just a few minutes,” he said.
“Whatever you want,” their mom said. “Just dress warmly. I’ll finish up with the cookies and put them in the oven.”
“Thanks!” said Jack. He and Annie raced to the closet and pulled on their boots. They threw on jackets, scarves, gloves, and caps.
“Be home before dark,” their mom said.
“We will!” called Jack.
“Bye, Mom!” Annie shouted.
Jack and Annie slipped out of their house into the snowy cold. Their boots squeaked as they ran across their white yard and headed toward the Frog Creek woods.
At the edge of the woods, Jack stopped. He couldn’t believe how beautiful the trees looked. White powder covered the branches of the hemlocks and pines.
“Look,” said Annie. She pointed to two pairs of footprints that led out to the road and then back into the woods. “Somebody else has been here.”
“It looks like they were walking out of the woods—but turned back,” said Jack. “Let’s hurry!” If the magic tree house had come back today, he didn’t want anyone else finding it first!
Jack and Annie walked quickly through the woods, following the two sets of footprints.
“Stop!” said Annie. She pulled Jack behind a tree. “Over there!”
Through the falling snow, Jack saw two people in long, dark cloaks. They were hurrying toward a tall oak—and high in the oak was the magic tree house!
“Oh, no!” said Jack.
The tree house was back! And someone else had found it!
“Hey!” Jack yelled. “Stop!” The tree house had come for him and Annie—no one else!
Jack started running. Annie followed. Jack slipped and fell in the snow, but he scrambled up and kept going. By the time he and Annie got to the tree house, the two people had climbed up the rope ladder and disappeared inside.
“Come out!” Jack yelled.
“This is our tree house!” shouted Annie.
Two kids poked their heads out of the tree house window. They both looked like they were about thirteen years old. The boy had tousled red hair and freckles. The girl had sea-blue eyes and long, curly black hair. Their cheeks were rosy from the cold. They laughed when they saw Jack and Annie.
“Excellent!” said the boy. “We came to find you, but you have found us instead.”
“Teddy!” cried Annie. “Kathleen! Hi!”
Teddy was the young sorcerer who worked with Morgan in her library in Camelot. Kathleen was the enchanted selkie girl who’d helped Jack and Annie on the summer solstice by magically turning them all into seals.
Jack was stunned. He had never imagined that their two friends from Camelot might someday visit Frog Creek! “What are you guys doing here?” he shouted.
“Climb up and we will tell you!” said Teddy.
Jack and Annie hurried up the rope ladder. When they climbed inside the tree house, Annie threw her arms around Teddy and Kathleen. “I can’t believe you came to visit us!” she said.
“It pleases me to see you, Annie,” said Kathleen. “And you also, Jack.” Her large blue eyes sparkled.
“It pleases me, too,” Jack said shyly. He still thought Kathleen was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Even when she’d been a seal, she’d been lovely.
“We went looking for you!” said Teddy. “We climbed down and walked through the woods to a road.”
“But the road was full of monsters!” said Kathleen. “A big red creature nearly ran over us! It made a honking sound!”
“Then before we knew it, a giant black monster charged at us! It had a ferocious growl!” said Teddy. “We came back here to gather our wits.”
“Those weren’t monsters!” said Annie, laughing. “They were just cars!”
“Cars?” said Teddy.
“Yeah, they have motors and people drive them,” said Jack.
“Motors?” said Teddy.
“It’s hard to explain,” said Annie. “Just remember—in our world, you have to watch out for cars every time you cross a road.”
“Indeed we will,” said Teddy.
“Why have you come here?” asked Jack.
“We found a message for you in Merlin’s chambers,” said Teddy, “and decided to deliver it ourselves.”
“So we climbed into the tree house outside Morgan’s library,” said Kathleen. “Teddy pointed to the words Frog Creek in the message and made a wish to come here. The next thing we knew, we were here in these woods.”
Teddy pulled a small gray stone from his cloak. “And this is the message we brought you,” he said.
Jack took the stone from Teddy.
The message was written in tiny handwriting. Jack read it aloud:
“Oh, wow,” said Annie. “That sounds serious.”
“Yeah,” said Jack. “But why didn’t Merlin send us the message himself?”
“We do not know,” said Teddy. “Neither Merlin nor Morgan has been seen for days.”
“Where did they go?” asked Annie.
“’Tis a mystery,” said Teddy. “Last week I journeyed to the selkie cove to bring Kathleen to Camelot. She is going to be a helper in Morgan’s library. But when we returned, we could not find M
erlin or Morgan.”
“We only found this message for you,” said Kathleen.
“Aye, and I thought that when Merlin does return,” said Teddy, “he will be greatly pleased to have his staff back. Much of his power comes from its ancient and mysterious magic.”
“Wow,” said Annie.
“In his message, he tells us to go to the Land-Behind-the-Clouds,” said Jack. “Where’s that?”
“’Tis a land far north of my cove,” said Kathleen. “I have never journeyed there.”
“Nor I,” said Teddy. “But I have read about it in Morgan’s books. ’Tis as bleak as a frozen white desert. I am eager to see it for myself.”
“So you and Kathleen are coming with us?” said Annie.
“Indeed!” said Kathleen.
“Great!” said Jack and Annie together.
“If we all work together, we can do anything, aye?” said Teddy.
“Aye!” said Annie.
I hope so, thought Jack.
Annie pointed at the words Land-Behind-the-Clouds in Merlin’s message. “Okay, ready?” she said to the others.
“Yes!” said Kathleen.
“I guess so,” said Jack.
“Onward!” said Teddy.
“I wish we could all go there!” Annie said.
The tree house started to spin.
It spun faster and faster.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still.
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Discover the facts
behind the fiction with the
Magic Tree House® Books
#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
Merlin Missions
#29: CHRISTMAS IN CAMELOT
#30: HAUNTED CASTLE ON HALLOWS EVE
#31: SUMMER OF THE SEA SERPENT
#32: WINTER OF THE ICE WIZARD
#33: CARNIVAL AT CANDLELIGHT
#34: SEASON OF THE SANDSTORMS
#35: NIGHT OF THE NEW MAGICIANS
#36: BLIZZARD OF THE BLUE MOON
#37: DRAGON OF THE RED DAWN
#38: MONDAY WITH A MAD GENIUS
#39: DARK DAY IN THE DEEP SEA
#40: EVE OF THE EMPEROR PENGUIN
#41: MOONLIGHT ON THE MAGIC FLUTE
#42: A GOOD NIGHT FOR GHOSTS
#43: LEPRECHAUN IN LATE WINTER
#44: A GHOST TALE FOR CHRISTMAS TIME
Magic Tree House® Research Guides
DINOSAURS
KNIGHTS AND CASTLES
MUMMIES AND PYRAMIDS
PIRATES
RAIN FORESTS
SPACE
TITANIC
TWISTERS AND OTHER TERRIBLE STORMS
DOLPHINS AND SHARKS
ANCIENT GREECE AND THE OLYMPICS
AMERICAN REVOLUTION
SABERTOOTHS AND THE ICE AGE
PILGRIMS
ANCIENT ROME AND POMPEII
TSUNAMIS AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS
POLAR BEARS AND THE ARCTIC
SEA MONSTERS
PENGUINS AND ANTARCTICA
LEONARDO DA VINCI
GHOSTS
LEPRECHAUNS AND IRISH FOLKLORE
RAGS AND RICHES: KIDS IN THE TIME OF CHARLES DICKENS
More Magic Tree House®
GAMES AND PUZZLES FROM THE TREE HOUSE
Summer of the Sea Serpent Page 5
