Posted By Vonna on March 9, 2010

Last night, when Mary Pope Osborne, author of the famous Magic Tree House books, and her sister, Natalie Pope Boyce, author of the companion Research Guides for the Magic Tree House series asked the masses of children in their audience to help decide which book Mary should write next, a burst of enthusiasm met each of their suggestions. Mary listed out three ideas and asked the kids to vote on their favorite. Her ideas were:

1)      Jack and Annie go to a bamboo forest in China and have an adventure saving baby pandas. (This brought a lot of cute ooos! And a good show of hands.)

2)      Jack and Annie go to the Alps two hundred years ago when St. Bernard dogs saved people caught in avalanches. The Research Guide would either be about hero dogs or rescue animals. (A burst of excitement and another good show of hands.)

3)      Jack and Annie have an adventure with Abe Lincoln when he was a little boy. (Nearly every small hand in the audience reached for the ceiling! Mary and Natalie laughed and said that in New York, Abe got almost no votes.)

Next she asked the kids which name they would prefer to see in the title: Abe, Abraham, or Lincoln. The kids were firm; they wanted Abe Lincoln, and absolutely not Abraham.

The sisters were in town promoting the latest in the series, #43—LEPRECHAUN IN LATE WINTER and the newest research guide, LEPRECHAUNS AND IRISH FOLKLORE.

Mary Pope Osborne began her talk by explaining that she originally intended to only write four Magic Tree House books. She had been writing a variety of children’s books for ten years when her publisher, Random House, asked her to write a series. She told us she wasn’t keen on the idea because she enjoyed writing many different things and didn’t want to be stuck in the same story over and over. To solve this problem, she came up with the idea of a brother and sister who had some kind of time machine, so she could write about many times, people and places.

Her first idea was a magic museum where a weird lady would put a spell on the kids. That didn’t work out. Next, she thought of sending the brother and sister into the woods where they find a hidden artist’s studio and end up in some of the paintings. That didn’t work either. Mary said she spent a whole year trying to figure out how to make this time travel idea work, but she really just wanted to give up and go back to the kind of books she used to write.

One day, she and her husband came across a tree house and an idea sparked. That evening, the two of them stayed up late with friends talking about how they could incorporate a tree house into the way these kids could go back in time. They thought of books, because books are already magical. She said it seemed like such a simple idea, but aren’t the best ideas always the simple ones?

After the fourth book, children started writing letters to her. She said this had never happened with her other books. Then kids started giving her their ideas for Jack and Annie’s adventures. She began visiting schools and the stories snowballed.

Random House called, wanting twelve more Magic Tree House books.

At book #28, HIGH TIDE IN HAWAII, she began making the books twice as long, upped the reading level and strengthened the fantasy elements. The Merlin Mission books added more history. She and her husband worked together on the research guides, but then her husband, Will, became too busy with his theater work. (He is currently touring with Magic Tree House: The Musical.) They asked Mary’s sister, Natalie Pope Boyce, to take over writing the research guides.

Mary ended the session by asking the kids in the audience to help her decide which book she should write next. So now we know— the kids of Houston want an adventure with Abe Lincoln.

Thanks to Blue Willow Bookshop for hosting this fun event and to Westchester Academy of Inernational Studies for the use of their beautiful auditorium.

Categories: Authors, Reading
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