“This is an angel drawn by a great genius named Leonardo da Vinci,” said Annie.
Merlin opened his eyes and peered at the drawing.
“Isn’t she beautiful?” said Annie. “The secret of Leonardo’s happiness was that he had great curiosity about everything—angels, art, noses, feathers, flowers, flying. Every day he felt happy when he learned something new.”
Merlin nodded as he stared at the angel sketch. “Curiosity,” he breathed.
“Yes. And here’s the third secret,” said Annie. She reached into Jack’s pack and pulled out the nautilus shell they’d been given on their trip to the deep ocean.
“A sea creature once lived inside this shell,” said Annie. “We learned from an ocean scientist that a secret of happiness is having compassion for all living things, from a tiny shell creature to a giant octopus.”
Merlin took the shell from Annie. He cupped his hands around it and closed his eyes. His face softened. “Compassion,” he said. But still he didn’t smile.
Jack sighed. Maybe Merlin isn’t going to get better, he thought.
“Give him Penny now, Jack,” whispered Annie.
Jack stepped out from the shadows.
“Merlin,” he said, “we don’t actually know what the fourth secret of happiness is, but we want to give you something else.”
Merlin looked at Jack.
Jack held up the tiny penguin. “Her name is Penny,” he said.
Merlin just stared at Penny. He looked confused.
“She’s an orphan,” said Jack. “Her parents were lost in a terrible storm.”
Merlin frowned. “She is very small,” he said hoarsely.
“Yes. And she wants to live with you,” said Annie.
“The emperor of the Cave of the Ancient Crown wants you to take care of her,” said Jack. “He says she is very brave and full of joy.”
Jack set Penny on the floor. Standing alone, the penguin looked tiny and fragile.
“Go to Merlin,” Jack urged Penny.
Penny waddled across the floor to Merlin. Her little body rocked stiffly from side to side as she held out her wings to keep her balance.
Penny stopped in front of Merlin. The little penguin and the old magician stared at each other for a moment. Merlin’s expression didn’t change.
Peep! said Penny. Peep! Peep!
Merlin’s face twitched. Then he began to laugh. At first his laughter seemed more like coughing than laughing, as if he hadn’t laughed in a long time. But then his laughter grew louder. He stood up and scooped the baby penguin into his arms.
Merlin hugged Penny to his chest, pressing her against his long white beard. His face settled into a warm smile.
“It is your destiny to care for her, Merlin,” said Morgan. “The emperor of the Cave of the Ancient Crown has sent her to you. He is very wise.”
Merlin nodded. Then, cradling Penny in his arms, he walked to the doorway of the cottage and looked out. “The air smells like ripe apples and wood smoke today,” he said.
“Yes, my old friend, it does,” said Morgan. She wiped tears from her eyes.
Merlin turned back and looked at Jack and Annie. “Thank you for bringing—What did you say her name was?”
“Penny,” said Annie.
“Ah, yes, Penny … to me,” said Merlin. “And thank you for your other gifts as well. I will never forget the secrets you have shared with me.”
“You’re welcome,” said Jack and Annie.
Peep.
“Yes, yes,” Merlin murmured to the baby penguin. “You will stay with me. And we will have a happy time together. Let us go into the orchard and I will show you the rising moon.”
Merlin put Penny down on the ground. The baby penguin took tiny quick steps alongside the magician as they walked into the orchard. The two strolled together between the trees, and a round moon rose over the kingdom of Camelot.
“Well done,” Teddy said softly.
“Indeed,” said Kathleen, smiling at Jack and Annie.
Morgan smiled at them, too. “Thank you for your four secrets,” she said.
“You’re welcome,” said Annie. “But we’re not exactly sure what the fourth secret is.”
“I told Annie I don’t think it can be a baby penguin,” said Jack. “Because in our time people aren’t allowed to have baby penguins.”
“That is true,” said Morgan. “But people can always take care of someone—or some creature—who needs them.”
“So that’s the secret?” said Annie.
Morgan nodded. “Taking loving care of another can make one very happy,” she said. “Like the other three secrets, it helps us look outside ourselves. Then we can better see all the gifts the world has to offer.”
“Yeah, taking care of Penny really took my attention off myself,” Jack said. “I forgot about a million things I was worried about.”
“I know you will miss her,” said Morgan. “But I imagine you will see her again someday.”
“So are we going on another mission soon?” asked Annie.
“Return home and rest first, and we will send for you again,” said Morgan.
“Can you try to make it really soon?” said Annie. “We don’t like long rests.”
Morgan laughed. “We will see,” she said.
“Oh, before we leave, I want to take a picture of you three guys,” said Annie. “It’s for my family project at school. You seem like a family to me. Look this way, please.”
Annie aimed her camera at Morgan, Teddy, and Kathleen. “Smile!” she said.
“What are you doing?” asked Teddy. “What are you holding?”
“It’s a camera,” said Annie. “Just smile. Say cheese.”
“Cheese? Why ‘cheese’?” said Teddy.
Click! Flash!
“Got it.” Annie put her camera back into her pocket.
“What was that? What did you do?” asked Teddy.
“It’s hard to explain,” said Jack. “It’s like magic. From our time.”
“Good-bye now,” said Morgan, smiling. “Have a safe journey home to your family.”
“Thanks,” said Jack.
“See all you guys again soon—real soon, we hope!” said Annie.
“We hope so, too!” said Teddy.
“Good-bye,” said Kathleen.
Jack and Annie left the garden cottage and hurried back to the tree house.
They climbed up the rope ladder. Jack grabbed the Pennsylvania book and opened it to a picture of the Frog Creek woods.
“Wait, I see Merlin and Penny! Look!” Annie pointed toward Merlin in the distance. He was still walking through the apple orchard with Penny at his side.
“They look like a little family now, too,” said Jack.
“Yeah, they do. I should take their picture,” said Annie. She aimed her camera at Merlin and Penny and took a picture. Then she sighed. “Okay, home now.”
“Bye, Penny,” Jack said softly. Then he pointed in the book to the words Frog Creek. “I wish we could go there!” he said.
The wind started to blow.
The tree house started to spin.
It spun faster and faster.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still.
“We’re home,” Annie said. “That was a great trip.” She and Jack were back in the Frog Creek woods.
“Yeah. I hope we see Penny on our next mission,” said Jack.
“If we see Merlin, we’ll probably see Penny,” said Annie. “I think those two are a team now. At least we have a picture of them—and a picture of Teddy, Kathleen, and Morgan.”
Annie held up her camera and clicked through the photo display. “Oh, no!” she said. “I don’t believe it!”
“What?” said Jack.
“All my pictures are gone!” said Annie. “No Antarctica! No Merlin or Morgan! No penguins!”
“Really?” said Jack. “Maybe you can’t keep the pictures you take on a magical trip.”
“I thi
nk you’re right,” said Annie. “I only have one picture. I took it right before we left home.” She held up her camera to show Jack. It was a picture of him. He had a grin on his face.
“That’s when I saw the streak of light over the woods,” said Jack, “and I knew the tree house was back.”
“Well, at least I captured that moment,” said Annie, sighing.
“Yep.” Jack put the Antarctica book on the floor of the tree house and pulled on his pack. Then he climbed down the rope ladder. Annie followed. As they started tramping over the fallen leaves, the woods were growing dark. Jack felt a little cold and hungry.
“So the fourth secret is take care of someone who needs you,” said Annie. “I guess that could mean lots of things. Like take care of a sad person, a baby, a puppy, or a new kid in school …”
Jack nodded. “Yep,” he said. “And maybe it works the other way, too.”
“What do you mean?” said Annie.
“I think sometimes you can make other people happy by letting them take care of you,” Jack said.
“Oh, right,” said Annie. “It seems to make Mom and Dad happy to take care of us.”
“Like when they tell us to wear scarves and gloves,” said Jack.
“And make us dinner,” said Annie.
“And tell us to be home before dark,” said Jack.
“We better hurry,” said Annie.
“Yep, let’s go make Mom and Dad happy—” said Jack, laughing.
“By letting them take care of us!” said Annie.
The wind shook the tree limbs, and leaves fluttered to the ground. Geese honked overhead as Jack and Annie hurried home through the chilly November twilight.
• Today Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent in the world.
• The land area of Antarctica is more than 5 million square miles.
• More than 99 percent of Antarctica is covered with thick ice.
• Ninety percent of all the world’s ice can be found in Antarctica.
• In winter, the sea around Antarctica freezes and the continent becomes much bigger.
• Much of the land is unreachable by humans in winter.
• Mount Erebus is the most active volcano in Antarctica, with daily eruptions.
• Mount Erebus was named after Erebus, a god from Greek mythology who was the son of Chaos. Erebus was the god of darkness, and Antarctica is in darkness for much of the year.
• The continent of Antarctica was first seen by humans less than 200 years ago.
• In the twentieth century, more than forty permanent stations were built in Antarctica by people from many countries.
• For over fifty years, the United States has had a full-time research site called McMurdo Station.
• There are six kinds of penguins in Antarctica: the Adélie, chinstrap, gentoo, macaroni, king, and emperor.
• Only emperor penguins can winter on Antarctica, because only they can survive the cold.
• In the winter, thousands of emperor penguins march inland and create colonies on the ice of Antarctica. There the female penguin lays her egg. Then she marches north back to the sea to get food for her chick.
• While the female is gone, the male penguin stays with the egg and protects it from the brutal weather. For the next two months, the male penguins all huddle together against the howling winds. Not until their mates finally return do the hungry males head to the sea to eat.
Mary Pope Osborne is the award-winning author of many novels, picture books, story collections, and nonfiction books. Her bestselling Magic Tree House series has been translated into many languages around the world. Highly recommended by parents and educators everywhere, the series introduces young readers to different cultures and times in history, as well as to the world’s legacy of ancient myth and storytelling. Mary Pope Osborne is married to Will Osborne, a co-author of many of the Magic Tree House Research Guides and librettist and lyricist for Magic Tree House: The Musical, a theatrical adaptation of the series. They live in northwestern Connecticut with their Norfolk terriers, Joey and Mr. Bezo. You can visit Mary, Will, and even Joey and Mr. Bezo on the Web at www.marypopeosborne.com.
Sal Murdocca is best known for his amazing work on the Magic Tree House series. He has written and/or illustrated over two hundred children’s books, including Dancing Granny by Elizabeth Winthrop, Double Trouble in Walla Walla by Andrew Clements, and Big Numbers by Edward Packard. He has taught writing and illustration at the Parsons School of Design in New York. He is the librettist for a children’s opera and has recently completed his second short film. Sal Murdocca is an avid runner, hiker, and bicyclist. He has often bicycle-toured in Europe and has had many one-man shows of his paintings from these trips. He lives and works with his wife, Nancy, in New City, New York.
Here’s a special preview of
Magic Tree House #41
(A Merlin Mission)
Moonlight on the Magic
Available now!
Excerpt copyright © 2009 by Mary Pope Osborne.
Published by Random House Children’s Books,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Jack was sitting at the computer in the living room. He was doing research on penguins for a school project. His mom and dad were cooking in the kitchen. Jack could smell bread baking in the oven and spaghetti sauce bubbling on top of the stove.
“Jack!” Annie burst into the living room. “Come with me!” she said.
“What’s going on?” said Jack.
“They’re here!” said Annie.
“Teddy? Kathleen?” asked Jack.
Annie nodded, her eyes shining.
“Oh, man!” Jack whispered. He jumped up from his chair and grabbed his jacket and backpack. “Mom, Dad—we’ll be back soon!” he called.
“Dinner’s in thirty minutes,” their mom called from the kitchen.
“No problem!” said Annie. Then she and Jack headed out the front door into the cool spring air.
“Where did you see them?” said Jack.
“At the edge of the woods!” said Annie. “I was riding my bike home from my piano lesson. When they saw me, they waved.”
“You didn’t stop and talk to them?” said Jack.
“No, I pointed to the house,” said Annie, “to let them know I had to get you first.”
“Oh! Thanks!” said Jack. “We’d better hurry!”
“I wonder where they’re sending us!” said Annie as they crossed their yard and headed up the sidewalk. “I wonder what our next mission is! Hey, did you bring the Wand of Dianthus?”
“Yep, it’s in my backpack!” said Jack.
Jack and Annie ran into the Frog Creek woods. They hurried through the shadowy light of late afternoon, until they came to the tallest tree. Jack looked up. The tree house was back. The two young enchanters from Camelot were looking out the window.
“Hi!” yelled Jack and Annie.
“Hello!” Teddy and Kathleen shouted.
Annie grabbed the rope ladder and climbed up into the tree house. Jack followed.
“We’re so glad you’re back!” said Annie. She hugged Teddy and Kathleen. Jack hugged them, too.
“How’s Penny?” Jack asked. He’d been missing the little penguin they had given Merlin on their last adventure.
“Oh, Penny and Merlin have become the best of friends,” said Kathleen. “She has brought him much joy and laughter.”
“Cool,” said Jack. He wasn’t surprised. Penny had made him really happy, too.
“What do you want us to do now?” said Annie.
“On your last missions, you found secrets of happiness to help Merlin,” said Kathleen.
Jack and Annie nodded.
“Now, on your next mission, Merlin wants you to help bring happiness to millions of people,” said Kathleen.
“Whoa,” said Jack. “That’s a big job.”
Teddy and Kathleen laughed.
“How do we do that?” asked Jack.
; “Simple,” said Teddy. “You must seek out a brilliant artist—”
“Do you mean like a painter?” asked Annie.
“It could be,” said Teddy. “But it could also be any person who uses passion and imagination to create something beautiful.”
“Merlin wants you to help put that artist on the right path,” said Teddy, “to share his or her gifts with the world.”
“Oh, cool!” said Annie. “Where do we start?”
Kathleen took a creamy white envelope from her cloak. It was sealed with melted red wax. In fancy writing, it said: For Jack and Annie of Frog Creek. “‘Tis a royal invitation,” said Kathleen.
Jack took the envelope. He carefully broke the seal and pulled out a thick card with gold edges and gold script. He read aloud:
“A party at a summer palace! In 1762!” said Annie.
“Yes,” said Teddy. “The palace is in Vienna, Austria. It is one of the most splendid palaces in all the world.”
“That sounds like fun,” said Annie.
“Indeed, it should be,” said Kathleen. “But you must watch your manners. And beware of unexpected dangers.”
“What kind of dangers?” asked Jack.
“I do not know,” said Kathleen. “But Merlin believes you will need magic to keep safe. Did you bring the Wand of Dianthus?”
“Yes,” said Jack. He reached into his backpack and pulled out the silvery wand. It was shaped like the horn of a unicorn.
Kathleen took the wand from Jack. She closed her eyes and spun it through the air, as if she were spinning a baton. In a blur of light and movement, the wand changed into a small silver flute.
“Wow,” said Annie.
“A flute?” asked Jack.
“A magic flute,” said Teddy. “Playing this flute will deliver you from danger.”
“But Jack and I don’t know how to play the flute,” said Annie.
“Do not worry,” said Kathleen. “If the time is right, the flute will make its own music.”
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