Here’s what kids have to say to
Mary Pope Osborne, author of
the Magic Tree House series:
WOW! You have an imagination like no other.—Adam W.
I love your books. If you stop writing books, it will be like losing a best friend.—Ben M.
I think you are the real Morgan le Fay. There is always magic in your books.—Erica Y.
One day I was really bored and I didn’t want to read … I looked in your book. I read a sentence, and it was interesting. So I read some more, until the book was done. It was so good I read more and more. Then I had read all of your books, and now I hope you write lots more.—Danai K.
I always read [your books] over and over … 1 time, 2 times, 3 times, 4 times … —Yuan C.
You are my best author in the world. I love your books. I read all the time. I read everywhere. My mom is like freaking out.—Ellen C.
I hope you make these books for all yours and mine’s life.—Riki H.
Teachers and librarians love
Magic Tree House® books, too!
Thank you for opening faraway places and times to my class through your books. They have given me the chance to bring in additional books, materials, and videos to share with the class.—J. Cameron
It excites me to see how involved [my fourth-grade reading class] is in your books … I would do anything to get my students more involved, and this has done it.—C. Rutz
I discovered your books last year … WOW! Our students have gone crazy over them. I can’t order enough copies! … Thanks for contributing so much to children’s literature!—C. Kendziora
I first came across your Magic Tree House series when my son brought one home … I have since introduced this great series to my class. They have absolutely fallen in love with these books! … My students are now asking me for more independent reading time to read them. Your stories have inspired even my most struggling readers.—M. Payne
I love how I can go beyond the [Magic Tree House] books and use them as springboards for other learning.—R. Gale
We have enjoyed your books all year long. We check your Web site to find new information. We pull our map down to find the areas where the adventures take place. My class always chimes in at key parts of the story. It feels good to hear my students ask for a book and cheer when a new book comes out.—J. Korinek
Our students have “Magic Tree House fever.” I can’t keep your books on the library shelf.—J. Rafferty
Your books truly invite children into the pleasure of reading. Thanks for such terrific work.—S. Smith
The children in the fourth grade even hide the [Magic Tree House] books in the library so that they will be able to find them when they are ready to check them out.—K. Mortensen
My Magic Tree House books are never on the bookshelf because they are always being read by my students. Thank you for creating such a wonderful series.—K. Mahoney
For years I’ve wanted Jack and Annie to travel to one of my favorite cities in the world—Paris, France. Finally, one day, while doing some research, I came across the perfect setting for a Paris adventure: the Exposition Universelle, 1889—or, as it’s otherwise known, the Paris World’s Fair of 1889. In the years before air travel, television, and the Internet, people attended world’s fairs to learn about the food, dress, and customs of other cultures. They also saw exhibitions of the newest machines and inventions.
During the late 1800s, the world was experiencing great technological change—even greater change than our world today. Join Jack and Annie as they set out on a dangerous mission to that wondrous time…
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2006 by Mary Pope Osborne
Illustrations copyright © 2006 by Sal Murdocca
Window cling illustration copyright © 2006 by Sal Murdocca
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
RANDOM HOUSE and colophon are registered trademarks and A STEPPING STONE BOOK and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc. MAGIC TREE HOUSE is a registered trademark of Mary Pope Osborne; used under license.
www.randomhouse.com/kids
www.magictreehouse.com
Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at www.randomhouse.com/teachers
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Osborne, Mary Pope.
Night of the new magicians / by Mary Pope Osborne; illustrated by Sal Murdocca.
p. cm. — (Magic tree house; #35)
“A Merlin mission.”
“A Stepping Stone book.”
SUMMARY: Jack and Annie visit the Paris World’s Fair of 1889 in an effort to protect four scientific pioneers from an evil sorcerer.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89457-2
1. Exposition universelle de 1889 (Paris, France)—Juvenile fiction. [1. Paris World’s Fair
(1889)—Fiction. 2. Time travel—Fiction. 3. Magic—Fiction. 4. Brothers and sisters—
Fiction. 5. Science—Fiction. 6. Paris (France)—History—1870-1940—Fiction.
7. France—History—Third Republic, 1870-1940—Fiction.] I. Murdocca, Sal, ill. II. Title.
III. Series: Osborne, Mary Pope. Magic tree house series; #35.
PZ7.O81167Nhu 2006 [Fic]—dc22 2005018280
v3.0
To Joe Alicata, Magician of Design
Cover
Title Page
Dear Reader
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
1. Four New Magicians
2. A Living Encyclopedia
3. Magic? Magicians?
4. Wizard of Menlo Park
5. Hellooo?
6. Invisible Enemies
7. Start Pedaling!
8. Secrets
9. The Sorcerer
10. Good Night, Magicians!
Author’s Note
Special Preview of Magic Tree House #36: Blizzard of the Blue Moon
Clear-eyed Science and active Industry
Have erected, among the spacious palaces,
An iron Tower leading to the heavens.
—from The Song of the Century
by the Comédie Française
One summer day, a mysterious tree house appeared in the woods. A brother and sister named Jack and Annie soon learned that the tree house was magic—it could take them to any time and any place in history They also learned that the tree house belonged to Morgan le Fay a magical librarian from the legendary realm of Camelot.
After Jack and Annie traveled on many adventures for Morgan, Merlin the magician began sending them on “Merlin Missions” in the tree house. With help from two young sorcerers named Teddy and Kathleen, Jack and Annie visited four mythical places and found valuable objects to help save Camelot.
For their next four Merlin Missions, Jack and Annie were told they must travel to real times and real places in history and prove to Merlin that they could use magic wisely. First they went on a mission to the city of Venice, and then they journeyed to the ancient city of Baghdad. Now they are waiting to hear from Merlin again….
Jack sat on the porch, reading in the summer twilight. Crickets chirped in the Frog Creek woods. The bell of an ice cream truck jingled down the street.
Annie stepped out the front door. “Let’s go,” she said.
“Where?” said Jack.
“Mom gave us money for ice cream,” s
aid Annie.
“Cool,” said Jack. He pulled on his backpack. Then he followed Annie down the porch steps. As they headed up the sidewalk, the smell of damp leaves and moss wafted from the woods.
Annie stopped walking. “Listen,” she said.
Jack listened. “What?” he said. “I don’t hear anything.”
“That’s the point,” said Annie. “A minute ago, the crickets were blaring away. Now everything’s super quiet.”
Jack listened again. Annie was right. All the Frog Creek woods seemed to be holding its breath.
“Do you think …?” said Jack.
“Maybe,” said Annie, grinning. “Let’s go check!”
Jack and Annie hurried across the street and into the dimly lit woods. They walked quickly between the leafy trees, until they came to the tallest oak. A rope ladder dangled from the tree-top. The magic tree house sat high in the branches, catching the last light of day.
Jack smiled. “I guess ice cream will have to wait,” he said.
“Yep,” said Annie. She grabbed the ladder and climbed up. Jack climbed up after her.
Inside the tree house, dusky light filtered through the window. Lying on the wooden floor was a folded piece of paper and a slim book with a red cover.
Annie grabbed the paper. Jack picked up the book. “This must be a research book from Morgan,” he said.
The book’s title was written in gold letters:
“Paris World’s Fair?” said Jack.
“That sounds like fun!” said Annie.
“Yeah, but I wonder why we’re going there,” said Jack.
“This should tell us,” said Annie. She unfolded the paper. “It’s Merlin’s handwriting.” She read aloud:
To Jack and Annie of Frog Creek: I have discovered that an evil sorcerer is plotting to steal the secrets of four new magicians at the Paris World’s Fair.
Your mission is to find the magicians, warn them, and learn their secrets for me. The four new magicians are:
The Magician of Sound—
his voice can be heard
for a thousand miles.
The Magician of Light—
his fires glow,
but they do not burn.
The Magician of the Invisible—
he battles deadly enemies
no one can see.
The Magician of Iron—
he bends the metals of earth
and triumphs over the wind.
Good luck,
M.
“Our mission sounds more like a fairy tale than real life,” said Jack. “An evil sorcerer. Magicians of the Invisible, Light, Sound, and Iron. They sound like they belong in a magical place like Camelot, not a real place like Paris, France.”
“But we’re going to a World’s Fair,” said Annie. “That sounds kind of magical, doesn’t it?”
“Maybe,” said Jack. “But why do such powerful magicians need our help in the first place? Why can’t they defeat the evil sorcerer with their own powers?”
“Maybe the sorcerer’s power is stronger than theirs,” said Annie.
“So maybe we can help them with Teddy and Kathleen’s rhymes,” said Jack.
Annie gasped. “Oh, no! We need the rhyme book! We have to go back home and get it!”
“Don’t worry, I have it,” said Jack. “Ever since we got back from Baghdad, I’ve been taking it with me everywhere I go—-just in case Merlin sends for us.”
“Whew,” said Annie. “Let’s take a look.”
Jack reached into his backpack. He pulled out the small book written by their two young sorcerer friends from Camelot:
10 MAGIC RHYMES FOR ANNIE AND JACK FROM TEDDY AND KATHLEEN
Jack turned to the table of contents. “Okay, we’ve used five rhymes on our last two missions,” he said. “So we have five left for the next two. We haven’t used Spin into the Air, or Make Something Disappear, or Pull a Cloud from the Sky, or Find a Treasure You Must Never Lose, or Turn into Ducks.”
“Quack! Quack!”
Jack looked up.
“Just kidding,” said Annie.
“You’d better not make jokes about these rhymes,” Jack said. “You might end up saying the wrong one at the wrong time and really get us in trouble.” He closed the rhyme book. “Ready to go?”
“Ready,” said Annie.
Jack took a deep breath and picked up the guide book to the 1889 Paris World’s Fair. He pointed to the title. “I wish we could go there,” he said.
The wind started to blow.
The tree house started to spin.
It spun faster and faster.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still.
Jack opened his eyes. The scent of roses floated through the warm twilight. Jack was wearing an old-fashioned cap, a rust-colored jacket, and knee-length pants. His backpack had turned into a leather satchel.
Annie was wearing a puffy white blouse and a long purple skirt with a ruffle. “Look, there’s the Eiffel Tower,” she said.
Jack looked. They had landed in a park filled with trees. Beyond the park, rising into the sky, was a tall tower with lights beaming from the top.
“That’s the Eiffel Tower, all right,” said Jack. “But where’s the World’s Fair?” He opened their guide book and found a map. “Oh, great, it looks like the fair is directly below the tower. That should make it easy to find.”
“Let’s get going,” said Annie.
“Wait, we need to go over what we have to do on our mission,” said Jack.
“It’s simple,” said Annie. “We have to find the Magician of Sound, the Magician of Light, the Magician of the Invisible, and the Magician of Iron. We have to warn them about the evil sorcerer and then learn their secrets for Merlin.”
“That doesn’t sound simple to me,” said Jack. “It sounds like a huge responsibility.”
“So we’d better start now,” said Annie. “Come on.” Annie led the way down the tree house ladder.
Jack put their World’s Fair guide into his satchel, along with their letter from Merlin and the book of rhymes from Teddy and Kathleen. Then he followed Annie down the ladder.
As Jack and Annie started across the park, a clinking sound came from Annie’s skirt pocket. She reached into the pocket and pulled out a handful of coins. “Hey, our ice cream money got changed into French coins!” she said.
“Good,” said Jack. “We might need them at the fair.”
Jack and Annie followed a gravel path that led out of the park and onto an avenue lit by gas streetlamps. Horse-drawn carriages and old-fashioned bicycles clattered over the cobblestones. They all seemed to be headed toward a crowded bridge that crossed a wide river.
Boats were gliding down the river, their lights reflecting in the water. On the far side of the river, thousands of tiny lamps twinkled along the bank. The Eiffel Tower glowed in the silver twilight.
“Paris is so beautiful,” said Annie.
“No kidding,” said Jack. “Let’s cross that bridge to the fair.” They hurried to join the people streaming across the bridge.
Jack and Annie blended in easily with the happy crowd. The kids in the crowd were all wearing clothes like theirs. Most of the men wore black top hats and black coats and pants. The women wore hats as big as flower baskets. Their long, colorful dresses puffed out in back.
There seemed to be visitors from many countries. Jack saw Chinese straw hats, Dutch caps, several Indian turbans, and a Mexican sombrero.
“This reminds me of the carnival we went to in Venice,” said Annie.
“Me too,” said Jack. “Except in Venice, people were wearing costumes. Here, they’re wearing their real clothes. Remember, this is a world’s fair.”
“Cool,” said Annie.
Jack looked around. How would they recognize the four new magicians? he wondered. Would they be dressed like people from Paris? Or people from another country? Or would they look like Merlin or Morgan in flowing medieval robes? And what about th
e evil sorcerer?
“Looks like we buy our tickets over there,” said Annie as they reached the end of the bridge.
Jack and Annie headed for a ticket booth near an entrance gate. Above the gate, a giant banner read:
Welcome to the 1889 Paris World’s Fair
As they stood in line waiting to buy tickets, Jack pulled out their guide book. “We need to prepare for our mission,” he said. He turned to the first page and read aloud:
Welcome to the World’s Fair—a living encyclopedia with over 60,000 exhibits from all over the globe!
“Maybe some of the exhibits are magic shows,” said Annie. “And that’s where we’ll find the new magicians.”
“Maybe,” said Jack. He kept reading:
This World’s Fair is a showcase of progress! Discover the genius of man! Learn all about science and technology! See wondrous new machines and inventions!
Jack looked up. “Hmm,” he said. “It sounds like this fair is mainly about inventions and scientific stuff. I don’t see anything here about magic or magicians.”
“How many?” the ticket seller asked gruffly. They had reached the front of the line.
Annie held out a handful of French coins. “Two, please,” she said.
The ticket seller took two coins. Annie put the remaining change back into her pocket. Then she and Jack walked through the gate into the 1889 Paris World’s Fair.
“Wow,” said Jack and Annie together.
Inside the crowded fairgrounds, below the looming Eiffel Tower, a band played a lively march. Fountains shot colored water high into the sky. A small train chugged through the crowd, blowing its whistle.
Night of the New Magicians Page 1
