Read Christmas in Camelot Online
Authors: Mary Pope Osborne
Christmas in Camelot
Here's what kids have to say to
Mary Pope Osborne, author of
the Magic Tree House series:
WOW! You have an imagination like no other.
âAdam W.
I love your books. If you stop writing books, it will be like losing a best friend.
âBen M.
I think you are the real Morgan le Fay. There is always magic in your books.
âErica Y.
One day I was really bored and I didn't want to read â¦Â I looked in your book. I read a sentence, and it was interesting. So I read some more, until the book was done. It was so good I read more and more. Then I had read all of your books, and now I hope you write lots more.
âDanai K.
I always read [your books] over and over â¦Â 1 time, 2 times, 3 times, 4 times â¦Â
âYuan C.
You are my best author in the world. I love your books. I read all the time. I read everywhere. My mom is like freaking out.
âEllen C.
I hope you make these books for all yours and mine's life.
âRiki H.
Teachers and librarians love
Magic Tree House
®
books, too!
Thank you for opening faraway places and times to my class through your books. They have given me the chance to bring in additional books, materials, and videos to share with the class.
âJ. Cameron
It excites me to see how involved [my fourth-grade reading class] is in your books â¦Â I would do anything to get my students more involved, and this has done it.
âC. Rutz
I discovered your books last year â¦Â WOW! Our students have gone crazy over them. I can't order enough copies! â¦Â Thanks for contributing so much to children's literature!
âC. Kendziora
I first came across your Magic Tree House series when my son brought one home â¦Â I have since introduced this great series to my class. They have absolutely fallen in love with these books! â¦Â My students are now asking me for more independent reading time to read them. Your stories have inspired even my most struggling readers.
âM. Payne
I love how I can go beyond the [Magic Tree House] books and use them as springboards for other learning.
âR. Gale
We have enjoyed your books all year long. We check your Web site to find new information. We pull our map down to find the areas where the adventures take place. My class always chimes in at key parts of the story. It feels good to hear my students ask for a book and cheer when a new book comes out.
âJ. Korinek
Our students have “Magic Tree House fever.” I can't keep your books on the library shelf.
âJ. Rafferty
Your books truly invite children into the pleasure of reading. Thanks for such terrific work.
âS. Smith
The children in the fourth grade even hide the [Magic Tree House] books in the library so that they will be able to find them when they are ready to check them out.
âK. Mortensen
My Magic Tree House books are never on the bookshelf because they are always being read by my students. Thank you for creating such a wonderful series.
âK. Mahoney
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2001 by Mary Pope Osborne
Illustrations copyright © 2001 by Sal Murdocca
Christmas ornament illustration copyright © 2009 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. Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Random House Children's Books in 2001.
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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The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition of this work as follows:
Osborne, Mary Pope
Christmas in Camelot / by Mary Pope Osborne; illustrated by Sal Murdocca.
p. cm.â(Magic tree house)
“A Merlin mission.”
“A Stepping Stone book.”
Summary: On Christmas Eve, Jack and Annie's tree house transports them to King Arthur's castle at Camelot, where they undertake a quest to the Otherworld.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89452-7
[1. Time travelâFiction. 2. MagicâFiction. 3. Arthur, KingâFiction.
4. ChristmasâFiction. 5. Tree housesâFiction. 6. Brothers and sistersâFiction.]
I. Murdocca, Sal, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.O81167 Ch 2001 [Fic]âdc21 2001019693
Random House Children's Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
v3.0
For Mallory Loehr,
the
real
Keeper of the Cauldron
     Â
Cover
     Â
Title Page
     Â
Copyright
     Â
Dedication
     Â
Prologue
 Â
3. The Knights of the Round Table
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4. Who Will Go?
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5. Rhymes of the Christmas Knight
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6. A White Comet
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7. A Good Trick
     Â
A Note from the Author
      Special Preview of
Magic Tree House #30:
Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve
O brother, had you known our Camelot,
Built by old kings, age after age, so old
The King himself had fears that it would fall,
So strange, and rich, and dim â¦Â
Alfred Lord Tennyson
Idylls of the King
O
nce upon a time, in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, a mysterious tree house appeared in the woods. A boy named Jack and his sister, Annie, climbed into the tree house. They found that it was filled with books.
Jack and Annie soon discovered that the tree house was magic. It could take them to the places they read about in the books. All they had to do was point to a picture and wish to go there. They discovered that during their adventures, no time at all passed in Frog Creek.
Jack and Annie eventually learned that the tree house belonged to Morgan le Fay, an enchantress from Camelot, the long-ago kingdom of King Arthur. On one of their journeys, Jack and Annie visited Morgan's library in Camelot and brought hope and courage to King Arthur.
Now it is winter. Jack and Annie have not seen Morgan or the magic tree house for many months.â¦Â
S
unlight had faded from the late-afternoon sky. Puffy snow clouds were moving in.
“Let's hurry. I'm cold,” said Jack.
He and Annie were walking home from school. Their Christmas vacation was just beginning.
Coooâcooo.
“Wait,” said Annie. “Look.”
She pointed to a white bird sitting on a bare tree branch at the edge of the woods. The bird was staring straight at them.
“It's a dove,” said Jack.
“It's a messenger,” said Annie, “from Morgan.”
“No,” Jack said, afraid to get his hopes up. They hadn't seen Morgan le Fay in a long time. He really missed her.
“
Yes
,” said Annie. “She has a mission for us. I can feel it.”
In the hush of the cold twilight, the dove spread its wings and flew into the Frog Creek woods.
“Come on!” said Annie. “The tree house is back!”
“You're just hoping!” said Jack.
“I'm
knowing
!” said Annie. She ran into the woods, following the white dove.
“Oh, brother,” said Jack. But he took off after Annie.
Even in the growing darkness, they easily found their way. They zigzagged between the bare trees and ran over the frozen ground until
they came to the tallest oak in the woods.
“See?” said Annie, pointing to the top of the tree.
“Yeah,” whispered Jack.
There it was: the magic tree house.