Read A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time Online
Authors: Mary Pope Osborne
A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time
This is a work of fiction. All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some well-known historical and public figures, are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical or public figures appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons are fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2010 by Mary Pope Osborne
Illustrations copyright © 2010 by Sal Murdocca
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks and A Stepping Stone Book and the colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc. Magic Tree House is a registered trademark of Mary Pope Osborne; used under license.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Osborne, Mary Pope.
A ghost tale for Christmas time/by Mary Pope Osborne ; illustrated by Sal Murdocca.
p. cm. — (Magic tree house ; #44)
“A Stepping Stone book.”
“A Merlin mission.”
Summary: Jack and Annie travel back to Victorian London when Merlin asks them to use their magic to inspire Charles Dickens to write “A Christmas Carol.”
eISBN: 978-0-375-89467-1
[1. Time travel—Fiction. 2. Magic—Fiction. 3. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 4. Dickens, Charles, 1812–1870—Fiction. 5. London (England)—History—19th century—Fiction. 6. Great Britain—History—Victoria, 1837–1901—Fiction.]
I. Murdocca, Sal, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.O81167 Gh 2010
[Fic]—dc22
2009046171
Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
v3.0
For Jack and Cathy Desroches
W
hen I was in high school, I spent most of my free time at our town’s little theater, acting in plays or working behind the scenes. One year, I was involved in a production of Charles Dickens’s
A Christmas Carol
, a timeless story that readers and theater audiences have enjoyed for over 150 years. After weeks of working backstage, I felt as if I had really visited the exciting, dramatic world of Charles Dickens’s Victorian England. One reason I decided to write
A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time
is that I was eager to revisit that world.
That’s the magic of using your imagination: whether you put on a play, write a story, or read a novel, you often end up feeling as if you’ve actually visited other places, met new people, and shared their adventures. After you finish this book, I hope you’ll feel that
you’ve
just spent time with Jack, Annie, and Charles Dickens—that you’ve escaped an angry crowd with them, feasted in an old inn with them, and seen three ghosts with them!
So get ready to wander the twilight streets of London, England, long ago. Horses clomp over the cobblestones, and soon the fog will be rolling in.…
2.
Two Gentlemen from Frog Creek
6.
To Jail
More Facts About Charles Dickens
Special Preview of Magic Tree House #45: A Crazy Day With Cobras
“There is probably a smell of roasted chestnuts and other good comfortable things all the time, for we are telling Winter Stories—Ghost Stories … round the Christmas fire …”
—Charles Dickens, from “A Christmas Tree”
O
ne summer day in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, a mysterious tree house appeared in the woods. A brother and sister named Jack and Annie soon learned that the tree house was magic—it could take them to any time and any place in history. They also learned that the tree house belonged to Morgan le Fay, a magical librarian from the legendary realm of Camelot.
After Jack and Annie had traveled on many adventures for Morgan, Merlin the magician began sending them on “Merlin Missions” in the tree house. With help from two young sorcerers named Teddy and Kathleen, Jack and Annie visited four
mythical
places and found valuable objects to help save Camelot.
On their next four Merlin Missions, Jack and Annie once again traveled to
real
times and
real
places in history. After they proved to Merlin that
they knew how to use magic wisely, he awarded them the Wand of Dianthus, a powerful magic wand that helped them make their own magic. With the wand, Jack and Annie were then able to find four secrets of happiness to help Merlin when he was in trouble.
Now Merlin wants Jack and Annie to bring happiness to others by helping four creative people give their special gifts to the world. They have already helped the first three—Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Louis Armstrong, and Lady Augusta Gregory. Now Jack and Annie are ready to find the last person.…
J
ack and Annie were walking home from soccer practice. It was four-thirty in the afternoon. Sunlight was fading quickly.
“November has really short days,” said Jack.
“Yeah, but it has really beautiful skies,” said Annie.
The horizon glowed with the orange light of sunset. Suddenly a streak of light blazed over the Frog Creek woods.
“Whoa!” said Jack. “Did you see that?”
“See what?” said Annie.
“A streak of light!” said Jack. “Like a shooting star!”
“Over the woods?” asked Annie.
“Over the woods!” said Jack. He started to run.
“Run!” said Annie.
“I’m running!” said Jack.
Jack and Annie ran down the sidewalk and into the Frog Creek woods. Their feet crunched through fallen leaves as they raced among the shadows. Finally they came to the tallest oak in the woods. The magic tree house sat high in the branches.
Teddy and Kathleen were looking out of the tree house window. The two young enchanters seemed to glow in the fading daylight. Teddy was grinning and waving. Kathleen’s long dark hair blew in the breeze.
“Hello!” Teddy called.
“Hello yourself!” Annie shouted back.
“Come up!” called Kathleen.