Quotes from Mary Pope Osborne

Sunlight flooded through the tree house window. No time had passed in Frog Creek. The school bell was still ringing, announcing that class would start in ten

Suddenly, the front of the ship dipped down into the sea. Deck chairs started to slide past Jack and Annie.

Altitude sickness, also known as mountain sickness, is caused by a lack of oxygen at great heights. Symptoms include headaches, dizziness, and shortness of breath. Climbers traveling up Mount Erebus train for days by climbing to gradually increasing heights.

Loki was a shape changer and a trickster. He could turn into animals like fish, horses, and falcons. At times, Loki helped the gods, but his tricks also made them angry.

Ahhh!" Jack screamed and fell back into the canoe. The

Almost 2,000 years ago, on August 24, A.D. 79, the seaside town of Pompeii (pom-PAY) was a typical Roman town. Many Romans went there on their ?vacation. They built large houses called villas and planted groves of olive trees along the slopes of a mountain called Mount Vesuvius (vuh-SOO-vee-us).

Frigg was the goddess of married women and love. She was also Odin's wife and queen of Asgard. Frigg and Odin had a son named Baldr. He was a beautiful god of light and purity.

Lucy's gift," she said. The watch had stopped. The hands were at 2:20.

ship. 3) The signal SOS was chosen as an international distress call because of the simplicity of the three letters in Morse code: three dots, three dashes, and three dots. 4)

colored farmhouses, apple trees with white flowers

said Annie. "Don't you want to save Morgan

Peanut!" cried Annie. Jack patted

Africa?" said Jack. "Oh, man, I've always wanted to go there." He opened the book. He and Annie stared at a picture. It showed hordes of zebras, tall giraffes, big animals with horns, and tiny, deerlike creatures.

This bird is called a honey guide. It's both a friend and a helper to the Masai (muh-SI) people, an African tribe known for their fierce fighting skills and bravery.

With my writing, I can still play inside an enchanted castle or live inside an old fort. I can run from ghosts or ride dolphins any day of the week.

Writing is a miracle. You can travel anywhere in the world, to any time and any place — and still be home in time to have dinner.

A military childhood in the 1950s was very much informed by WWII. My brothers and I often heard stories from our dad - and from other kids - about things that had happened to their dads. We constantly played war games and, nearly every Saturday, saw a different WWII movie at the post theater.

I discovered writing children's books was a way to keep living in my imagination like a child. So I wrote a number of books before I started 'Magic Tree House.' Then, once I got that, I never looked back because I could be somewhere different in every single book.

I love using my imagination. I love writing about animals.

Sometimes when I go out on the road, I feel almost embarrassed or dismayed because I can't be the image of what kids want me to be. So I just try to be myself, and usually that works out OK.

I love reading all kinds of books. I usually have about ten books going at any one time - books about the past, the present, novels, non-fiction, poetry, mythology, religion, etc. Reading is my favorite thing to do.

When I was growing up, kids would go outside and play all day and invent things. And my brothers and I pretended our picnic table was a ship one summer. Our bikes were horses, and our trees were forts. We turned everything in the world into make-believe.

A vacation for me is when I'm home and I'm writing.

When I was five, we moved to Virginia and lived inside an old fort that was surrounded by a moat. So when I heard stories of American history, I felt as if those dramas were taking place right in my own backyard.