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BIO
Mary Pope Osborne grew up in the military, and by the time she was fifteen had lived in Oklahoma, Austria, Florida and four different army posts in Virginia and North Carolina.
After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the early 1970's, Mary traveled all over Europe, and spent the first six weeks of her trip living in a cave on the island of Crete. She then joined up with a group of European young people and traveled in rickety vans through sixteen Asian countries, including Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal.
She was an acting teacher, a waitress, a travel agent, a window dresser, and a medical assistant--all before becoming an author! Now she is the author of many highly acclaimed picture books, early chapter books, middle-grade biographies, and young adult novels.
In February 1993, Mary was elected the 27th president of the Author's Guild, the oldest, most established organization for writers in the United States.
Mary and her husband Will split their time between an apartment in Greenwich Village, New York and a cabin in Pennsylvania. They own a terrier named Bailey, who sleeps on the top of Mary's desk every day while she writes!
Mary Pope Osborne Branches Out with the Magic Tree House
by Shannon Maughan
What would you do if you saw a cool-looking tree house in the woods? Would you
climb up the ladder to investigate? That's exactly what Jack and Annie do in the Magic
Tree House books by Mary Pope Osborne. When Jack and Annie crawl inside the tree house,
they find piles of books about fascinating places. And when they flip through the books
and use their imaginations, Jack and Annie discover that the tree house is magic --- it
sends them flying through time for adventures in the past and even in the future.
The books have been a smashing success since the first one was published in 1992. To date
more than 1800 kids belong to the Magic Tree House Fan Club and there are even lots of
teachers who use the books in their classrooms. We recently asked author Mary Pope Osborne
a few questions about the series and here's what she had to say.
Kids Reads: Where did the idea for the Magic Tree
House come from?
Mary Pope Osborne: Well, Random House [Osborne's
publisher] had suggested that I try writing a series, but they didn't say what kind. At
first I thought it might be boring to write lots of books with the same characters, but
then I decided it would be fun to write about all the things I like. I love history,
magic, and mythology, and I used to play make-believe games with my brothers all the time
when we were kids.
It took almost a year for me to come up with the actual tree house idea. One day I was
walking on a country road with my husband and we saw an old tree house. It was then that I
settled on the idea of time travel.
Kids Reads: What do you try to achieve in each of The
Magic Tree House books?
Mary Pope Osborne: I'm always aiming for a combination
of fun, adventure and learning. Kids who read the books use their imaginations to travel
with Jack and Annie and they come back with knowledge they didn't have before.
Kids Reads: The Magic Tree House books seem to be a
hit with both boys and girls. Is that something you were trying to achieve?
Mary Pope Osborne: When I was little I played with my
brothers constantly --- my twin brother and our younger brother --- constantly. We were a
military family so we traveled much of the time. I think I saw things through my brothers'
eyes as much as through my own. I think of Jack and Annie as very close, like twins. They
both have different strengths and together they make a whole, just like twins.
Kids Reads: How do you feel about the great success
and popularity of The Magic Tree House books?
Mary Pope Osborne: I love it. I didn't really think
beyond doing a few books at first. But teachers started writing to me and opened me up to
the possibilities of the series. I've never had this kind of relationship with educators
before.
The series has really been navigated by kids and their teachers. I ask them where Jack and
Annie should go next, whenever I visit a school. They really inspire me.
I'm also a little sad that I cannot individually handwrite responses to my fan letters
anymore. I want to personally respond, but there are just too many of them. That's the
only bad thing about the popularity.
Kids Reads: What kind of advice do you have for kids
who would like to become writers?
Mary Pope Osborne: I would say, always try to have
fun, and rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. I like to tell kids that I'm never really hard on
myself. If I write poorly, I don't get mad --- I try to enjoy the process. I make it
perfect by doing it over and over again.
Kids Reads: What are you working on now?
Mary Pope Osborne: Right now I'm working on book #19,
which will be published in August 1999. It's called TIGERS AT TWILIGHT and it's set in
India. I'm also getting ready to begin #20, CIVIL WAR ON SUNDAY, about Clara Barton, which
will be published in October 1999. The Clara Barton idea was actually suggested by a child
who won a contest to decide where Jack and Annie would go. But before these books come
out, you'll see #17 TONIGHT ON THE TITANIC, which will be released in March 1999 and #18,
BUFFALO BEFORE BREAKFAST, about the Plains Indians which will be out in May 1999. After
that, I'm planning to end the series at 24 books.
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