So, you want to read

a cool author?

Click on the books above to learn more!

Which will you choose?

Silly stories or adventure stories?

Mary Pope Osborne

Click the boxes to learn more!

Jon

Scieszka

Click the boxes to learn more!

Biography

• Seventy four year old Mary Pope lives in Massachusetts with her husband Will.
• Mary Pope traveled the world after college but that came to an end once she almost died from blood poisoning in Kathmandu.
• She then began writing Magic Tree House books and has been writing for 30 years.
• Mary Pope is the author of more than 100 books , including the Magic Tree House Fact Finders series wtih her sister Natalie.
• From 1993-1997 she served as President of the Author's Guild.
  

Biography

• 69 year old Jon lives with wife Jeri. They have two children.
• Jon started out as an elementary school teacher and has taught 1st-8th grades.
• He took a year off teaching to write books and was finally published in 1989.
• That book was The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! and it has sold over 3 million copies in 14 different languages.
• All of his books (Jon says there are too many to count but is actually 54) have sold over 11 million copies worldwide.
  

If you only read one Mary Pope Osborne book, it should be...

The very first MagicTree House Novel - Dinosaurs Before Dark - so you can learn how and why Jack and Annie become involved in the Magic Tree House. Fun fact - this book is now available in graphic novel form!

If you only read one Jon Scieszka book, it should be...

In this clever take on the classic Three little Pigs Story, Alexander T. Wolf explains what really happened. Wolf claims he was baking a cake for his grandma when he had to borrow a cup of sugar. Unfortunately, he had a cold so he sneezed and two of the pig's houses fell down. The third pig called the police and now Wolf is spending 10 years in jail.

Brief Summaries...

In the Night of the New Magicians, Jack and Annie go to the 1889 World's fair in Paris to find 4 magicians, Edison, Bell, Eiffel, and Paseur learning tons of science along the way.

Jack and Annie travel to AFrica in Rhinos at Recess and they get to join a real safari. They are tasked with saving a mom and baby rhino from poachers.

In Monday with a Mad Genius, Jack and Annie go to to Italy to find Leonardo DaVinci. They learn much about art and they also learn curiousity is the secret to happiness.

In To the Future, Ben Franklin, Jack and Annie travel to 1787 Pennslyvania with the task of convincing Ben Franklin to sign the Constitution. To persuade him, they bring him to 2019 briefly.

Brief Summaries...

Astronuts Mission 1: The Plant Planet is the beginning of the silly series that follows 4 super animals in their quest to find a new planet. Humans have destroyed Earth and the Astronuts find a plant planet.

The Time Warp Trio: Oh Say, I Can't See is the 15th installment of the series. The series follows Joe, Sam, & Fred on their quest to go back in time and help George Washington cross the Delaware.

In Spaceheadz Book 1 we meet Michael K., a fifth grader at a new school. He meets two other new kids and those kids turn out to be aliens. The aliens are on a mission to catch all humans.

The protagonist's teacher in Math Curse tells the class everything can be a problem so he starts seeing problems everywhere. He names this the "math curse". The curse is finally lifted after he has a nightmare about math.

1992 Diamond State Reading Association Award

2010 Heidelberger Leander Award

2005 Ludington Memorial Award

Gifted over 1.5 million books in hands of undeserved children

First National Ambassador of Young People's Literature, 2009

Caldecott Honor 1993 - STinky Cheese Man

Jeremiah Ludington Memorial Award, 2009

Five ALSC Notable Children's Books

References

Mary Pope Osborne's website - https://mthclassroomadventures.org

References

Jon Scieszka's website - https://jonscieszka.com

Additonal Titles by Mary Pope Osborne

Osborne, M.P. (2000). The magic tree house #21: Civil War on a Sunday. Random House.

Jack and Annie have the opportunity to help Clara Barton with wounded soldiers.

Jack and Annie bring Pilgrims and Indians together for the first Thanksgiving.

Osborne, M.P. (2002). The magic tree house #27: Thanksgiving on a Thursday. Random House.

Jack and Annie get stuck on a iceberg, hoping to be saved by a polar bear.

Osborne, M.P. (1998). The magic tree house #12: Polar bears past bedtime. Random House.

Osborne, M.P. (2003). The magic tree house #28: High tide in Hawaii. Random House.

During a tidal wave, Jack and Annie need to save their new friends!

Additonal Titles by Jon Scieszka

The princess and the frog don't live happier ever after in this story! The princess is annoyed by the frog and tries to get him changed back.

Scieszka, J. (1994). The frog prince continued. Puffin Books.

This book contains many silly reimaginings of classic fairy tales.

Scieszka, J. (1992). Stinky cheese Man andn other fairly stupid tales. Viking books.

This book continues in the same vein as Math Curse, except this time exploring science.

Scieszka, J. (2004). Science verse. Viking books.

Scieszka, J. (2022). The real dada mother goose. Candlewick.

More silly reimaginings, but this time, classic nursery rhymes are the focus.

Additional

Information

• Mary Pope takes about 6 months to write a Magic Tree House Book. Her sister, Natalie Pope, works alongside on the fact finder series at the same time.
• The Magic Tree House series has sold more than 143 million books worldwide and has been translated into 36 languages.
• Some of the Magic Tree House books have been made into stage productions and they tour around the country!
  

Additional

Information

• Jon has devoted a whole book series to get boys reading. It's called Guys Read and includes 7 short stories guaranteed to delight young boys, or even girls!
• Jon is currently working on a preschool program called Trucktown, a collection of books featuring trucks as the main characters.