Storms Always End: Hurricane Heroes in Texas (Magic Tree House) by Mary Pope Osborne

Jack and were waiting for Mom to take them the baseball practice. A few raindrops spattered on the porch. "Sorry, kids! called Mom. Coach Don just emailed. No practice today. Annie smiled at Jack. "We can go to the woods... "Really? Do you think...?" he asked. "I woke up with a feeling.... Something really important is going to happen today," said Annie.

The date is September 8, the same date as the Great Galveston Hurricane, as the kids learn when they reach the magic tree house and find a book about the most deadly storm of the century which occurred on that date in 1900. The magical librarian Morgan le Fay has left a message for them on their destination: To help the people in Galveston they must learn important truths from a hero. And there is another message:

"DO NOT DELAY! SEEK HIGH GROUND NOW!"

The magic tree house rises and spins, taking them through time to come to rest in a large oak tree in the yard of a large blue house. It's breezy and rainy, but the street is bustling with people with umbrellas going about their business. Jack and Annie discover themselves dressed in old-fashioned clothes and high lace-up shoes and walk away, trying to blend in with the crowd in what seems to be a large, prosperous city. Turning a corner they spot the Lone Star Cafe and hurry inside, taking a small table beside a well-dressed elderly couple who give them friendly smiles.

Annie turned the gray-haired woman. "Excuse me. We're tourists from Pennsylvania. Where is the high ground in Galveston?" The old man pointed to the right. "We call it 'uptown.' The lowest ground is the Strand, the street beside the Gulf," he said, pointing left.

Then Jack has a frightening thought. He looks at Annie. She looks back, her eyes wide.

"Excuse me again, but do you know what is today's date?" she asked the couple. "You don't know that?" said the man. "It's September 8, 1900."

Jack and Annie thank the couple and hurry outside into the rain.

"We got here just in time... said Annie. ....for the worse disaster in U.S. history," said Jack.

Jack and Annie know what they must do. Rushing down the street toward the Strand to warn the kids gawking at the big waves, they shout to them to run for high ground, when a huge wave and ocean surge begins to flood the beach. The waters rise swiftly and Jack and Annie find themselves splashing and swimming down the main street, borne on the flood. They spot their tree house ahead in the backyard tree of the big blue house. A woman holding a baby is on the porch looking fearfully down the street. She beckons Jack and Annie inside and tells them that she's watching for her husband to come home from downtown. Jack and Annie try to warn her that she must get to higher ground, but the flood waters are already rising around them. and they flee first to the second floor, then to the attic, and finally to the roof, which breaks away and carries them, clinging to it. Jack spots a tall building in the distance--the Ursuline Academy, a school run by nuns.

"That's the safe place in our Texas book!" cried Annie. "People survived the hurricane there!"

Paddling with a broom and fence picket, Jack and Annie manage to get the woman and her baby and themselves to a window and inside, where they are welcomed by the Mother Superior, Sister Mary Joseph, helped along to a large room near the top of the building, and given blankets and dry clothes. Jack and Annie watch in awe as Sister Mary Joseph hurries about, making sure that the frightened and injured people are cared for and everyone has a place to warm up and sleep, calming them with her wise words:

"Deadly storms are terrible, but they always end. Then we start over and look at the world a little differently."

Sister Mary Joseph is indeed known as the hero of the Great Galveston Hurricane, and with her wise words, Jack and Annie know this mission is complete, in Mary Pope Osborne's Hurricane Heroes in Texas (Magic Tree House (R)) (Random House, 2018). In what is surely one of the most genuinely exciting stories in Pope's many Magic Tree House books, this one is solidly based on the history of what is still the most deadly hurricane in American history, taking 8,000 to 12,000 lives, and obliterating the then most populous and prosperous port on the Gulf of Mexico. For young readers just moving into chapter books, this one has it all--historical facts and fantasy adventures with likable main characters who definitely have the coolest tree house ever.

Saving King Arthur! Night of the Ninth Dragon by Mary Pope Osborne

"Oki! Wait!" shouted Annie. "Stay!"

But the puppy kept running. He crossed the street and disappeared into the Frog Creek woods.

Jack and Annie raced into the woods after their puppy. "You were right!" wailed Annie. "We should have put him on the leash!"

"Yip, yip!"

They found the puppy at the base of a giant oak tree. The magic tree house was nestled high in the treetop.

Jack and Annie race up their rope ladder into the tree house, expecting to find the usual guidebook and rhyming challenge from Morgan Le Fay or Merlin. But there's nothing. Then Oki begins to bark at a piece of paper blowing toward the ground. Annie scurries down the ladder and retrieves it. It is a brief unsigned note in old-fashioned handwriting:

Dear Jack and Annie,
   Please come to Camelot.

Jack and Annie have never found such a vague message before. But they can't turn down a chance to visit the legendary city of Camelot, so Annie points at the word Camelot and their tree house begins to lift off and spin, and then everything becomes still and shadowy.

The tree house rests in the gnarled branches of an ancient tree in a wood. That's not unusual. But Jack and Annie are perplexed. What is most unusual is that they are still dressed their regular jeans and tee-shirts, not medieval clothes. There's no sign of the spires of Camelot. But following Oki, who pulls them steadily on his leash, they soon see the walls of King Arthur's castle with his flags with the dragon insignia blowing in the wind.

But as they approach the gates, they are met with a disturbing sight--Queen Guinevere herself, appearing distraught and even disheveled, running out to meet them. And her story alarms Jack and Annie.

War has come to the kingdom of Camelot, and King Arthur has been mortally injured in battle and lies inside in a secret chamber in the castle, kept perilously alive only by a dwindling supply of magical waters from Avalon. The only hope for saving Arthur and the kingdom of Camelot is to get him to Avalon's curative lake and find the stolen golden Ninth Dragon icon and return it to Morgan LeFay's secret garden to restore Merlin's protective spell over Camelot against their enemies.

In ragged hooded cloaks which disguise them as peasants, Jack and Annie, Guinevere, and King Arthur set out in an ox cart for the cottage of a a famous seer, Cafelle, whose vision comes in the form of a riddle for Jack and Annie:

Moon so bright,
Munith Mor night.
Curtain of white,
Hides from sight.
Magic for flight,
Before dawn's light,
Or lose the fight."

Cafelle's vision tells them to follow the cart path across the moor, and with the supply of magical waters running low and King Arthur growing dangerously weak, Jack and Annie set forth toward Avalon. But suddenly, the oxen's harness breaks in the middle of nowhere.

"We have to keep going."

"Never give up!" said Jack.

Jack takes a place behind the cart to push, and Annie and Queen Guinevere take up the wagon's tongue and begin to pull the cart toward Avalon.

Will Jack and Annie's gift for solving riddles save King Arthur and Camelot? As the past 54 books in this series suggest, Jack and Annie will come through, in Mary Pope Osborne's latest, Night of the Ninth Dragon (Magic Tree House (R) Merlin Mission) (Random House, 2016), a series which celebrates the ordinary powers of imagination and perseverance that Jack and Annie together have. Osborne's best-selling beginning chapter books provide plucky young heroes and a taste of folklore, history, and geography that combine fantasy adventure and plenty of incidental learning along the way, all with the help of the inspired black and white illustrations of Sal Murdocca. For kids who want "just the facts," along with their magic, pair this one with its companion Fact Finder volume by Natalie Pope Boyce, Dragons and Mythical Creatures (Magic Tree House (R) Fact Tracker).

Saving King Arthur! Night of the Ninth Dragon by Mary Pope Osborne

"Oki! Wait!" shouted Annie. "Stay!"

But the puppy kept running. He crossed the street and disappeared into the Frog Creek woods.

Jack and Annie raced into the woods after their puppy. "You were right!" wailed Annie. "We should have put him on the leash!"

"Yip, yip!"

They found the puppy at the base of a giant oak tree. The magic tree house was nestled high in the treetop.

Jack and Annie race up their rope ladder into the tree house, expecting to find the usual guidebook and rhyming challenge from Morgan Le Fay or Merlin. But there's nothing. Then Oki begins to bark at a piece of paper blowing toward the ground. Annie scurries down the ladder and retrieves it. It is a brief unsigned note in old-fashioned handwriting:

Dear Jack and Annie,
     Please come to Camelot.

Jack and Annie have never found such a vague message before. But they can't turn down a chance to visit the legendary city of Camelot, so Annie points at the word Camelot and their tree house begins to lift off and spin, and then everything becomes still and shadowy.

The tree house rests in the gnarled branches of an ancient tree in a wood. That's not unusual. But Jack and Annie are perplexed. What is most unusual is that they are still dressed their regular jeans and tee-shirts, not the medieval clothes they had worn in Camelot before. And there's no sign of the spires of Camelot in sight. But following Oki who pulls them steadily on his leash, they soon see the walls of Camelot with King Arthur's flags with the dragon insignia blowing in the wind.

But as they approach the gates, they are met with a disturbing sight--Queen Guinevere herself, appearing distraught and even disheveled, running out to meet them. And her story alarms Jack and Annie.

War has come to the kingdom of Camelot, and King Arthur has been mortally injured in battle and lies inside in a secret chamber in the castle, kept perilously alive only by a dwindling supply of magical waters from Avalon. The only hope for saving Arthur and the kingdom of Camelot is to get him to Avalon's curative lake and find the stolen golden Ninth Dragon icon and return it to Morgan LeFay's secret garden to restore the Merlin's protective spell against their enemies over Camelot.
Disguises as peasants in ragged hooded cloaks, Jack and Annie, Guinevere, and King Arthur set out in an ox cart for the cottage of a a famous seer, Cafelle, whose vision comes in the form of a riddle for Jack and Annie:

Moon so bright,
Munith Mor night.
Curtain of white,
Hides from sight.
Magic for flight,
Before dawn's light,
Or lose the fight."

Cafelle's vision tells them to follow the cart path across the moor, and with the supply of magical waters running low and King Arthur growing dangerously weak, Jack and Annie set forth toward Avalon. But suddenly, the oxen's harness breaks in the middle of nowhere.

"We have to keep going."

"Never give up!" said Jack.

Jack takes a place behind the cart to push, and Annie and Queen Guinevere take up the wagon's tongue and begin to pull the cart toward Avalon.

Will Jack and Annie's gift for solving riddles save King Arthur and Camelot? As the past 54 books in this series suggest, Jack and Annie will come through, in Mary Pope Osborne's latest, Night of the Ninth Dragon (Magic Tree House (R) Merlin Mission) (Random House, 2016), a series which celebrates the ordinary powers of imagination and perseverance that Jack and Annie together have. Osborne's best-selling beginning chapter books provide plucky young heroes and a taste of folklore, history, and geography that combine fantasy adventure and plenty of incidental learning along the way, all with the help of the inspired black and white illustrations of Sal Murdocca. For kids who want "just the facts," along with their magic, pair this one with its companion Fact Finder volume by Natalie Pope Boyce, Dragons and Mythical Creatures (Magic Tree House (R) Fact Tracker).