Dear Readers,

Wow. Finally it’s gotten really cold in northwest Connecticut. It was below zero yesterday! While it’s freezing outside, though, I’ve been working in my office, hot on the trail of new Jack and Annie adventures. I’ve just finished writing #38, Monday with a Mad Genius, about a day that Jack and Annie spend with Leonardo Da Vinci. Sal Murdocco (the “genius illustrator” who illustrates all the Magic Tree House books) is working on the art for that book now. I can’t wait to see his sketches, as his work always makes the stories really come alive.

While Sal is working on the art for #38, I’m starting research for the next book, #39, Dark Day in the Deep Sea, which will take place in the 1870’s, during the years of the first major oceanography expeditions. And my sister, Natalie Pope Boyce, is working on Sea Monsters, a Magic Tree House Research Guide which will give you astonishing information on some of the most amazing creatures that actually live under the sea.

While Sal and Natalie and I are all working on our projects, my husband Will is putting together a huge project – a musical of the Magic Tree House that he created with our good friends, composer Randy Courts and director Joe Harmston. We’ll keep sharing information about the musical with you in the coming months. Visit MTHMusical.com to learn more -- and see a video about our experience creating the musical together.

Other news: the next books in the series will be coming out in late February: #37, Dragon of the Red Dawn, in which Jack and Annie visit 17th century Japan and have an adventure with Samurai warriors; and the next Magic Tree House Research Guide written by Natalie will also be coming out: Tsunamis and Other Natural Disasters.

So while Sal is working on his art, and I’m working on my research, and Natalie is working on her next book, and Will and Randy and Joe are working on their musical, what are YOU doing? I hope you are reading, reading, reading --and having great adventures in your imagination!

Mary Pope Osborne

p.s. Visit my blog at marypopeosborne.net to read about what I am doing every week!