Dogs in the Dead of Night (Magic Tree House Merlin Mission Series #18)

by Mary Pope Osborne, Sal Murdocca (Illustrator)

Overview

   The fan-favorite chapter-book series whisks Jack and Annie back in time to the Swiss Alps in search of a rare flower. When they find a monastery where monks and St. Bernards live, Annie offers to train a young dog named Barry. Then Barry runs away, and Jack and Annie have a new task to find Barry! Will he lead them to the mysterious flower? Or into danger?

Mary Pope Osborne brings together just the right combination of history, magic, and fast-paced adventure to satisfy kids, parents, teachers, and librarians all over the world with her New York Times bestselling series.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780375867965
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	05/28/2013
Series:	Magic Tree House Merlin Mission Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	63,060
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	530L (what's this?)
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

MARY POPE OSBORNE is the author of the New York Times number one bestselling Magic Tree House series. She and her husband, writer Will Osborne (author of Magic Tree House: The Musical), live in northwestern Connecticut with their three dogs. Ms. Osborne is also the coauthor of the companion Magic Tree House Fact Trackers series with Will, and with her sister, Natalie Pope Boyce.
 
SAL MURDOCCA has illustrated more than 200 children's trade and text books. He is also a librettist for children's opera, a video artist, an avid runner, hiker, and bicyclist, and a teacher of children's illustration at Parsons School of Design. Sal lives and works in New York with his wife, Nancy.

Hometown:

Goshen, Connecticut

Date of Birth:

May 20, 1949

Place of Birth:

Fort Sill, Oklahoma

Education:

B.A., University of North Carolina

Website:

http://www.marypopeosborne.com

Editorial Reviews

In their latest adventure, Jack and his sister Annie travel via the Magic Tree House to the Swiss Alps to save Penny, the world's cutest baby penguin. Who knew that rescues could be this much fun? (P.S. Mary Pope Osborne's Magic Tree House series hasn't just more than seventy million copies in North America alone; it has been hailed by parents, teachers, and librarians for being as educational as it is entertaining.)

Number forty-six in the "Magic Tree House: A Merlin Mission" series is about St. Bernards who rescue stranded travelers in Switzerland. Annie and Jack are tasked with finding a rare flower to help friends reverse a spell. So they go to their magic tree house and read the message their friends have left them: find a special yellow and white flower and live its meaning for an hour. The book they are about to use is about the Swiss Alps, in particular the Saint Bernard Pass. But when they get there, all they find is snow and mountains. Jack is sure they will never find the flower and to make matters worse they are caught in an avalanche. They are rescued by a Saint Bernard trained by a group of monks who breed the dogs. To repay the monks, Annie helps train an exuberant pup, Barry, and in the end the two children become Saint Bernards for an hour by drinking the magic elixir they had been given. This way they can find Barry who ran off after being scolded for destroying a book. They have a grand time as the dogs, find Barry and rescue a soldier from Napoleon Bonaparte's army. While they are dogs, they explain to Barry how he must behave, winning the gratitude of the monks. One of them gives Jack and Annie a dried yellow and white flower. They get home in time be ready for school. A nice way to teach a little history to kids, this story is fast paced and entertaining. Reviewer: Sarah Maury Swan

Children's Literature - Sarah Maury Swan