Author: Mary Pope Osborne

Pat Conway interviews Mary Pope Osborne in the Litchfield County Times. The article is full of interesting facts about Osborne's life, travels and writing. She is well known for her "Magic Tree House Series."

Each book in the fiction series usually takes six months to write on her laptop, but also includes many revisions. "Every time I get stuck, I take a break. When I come back," she said, "I've broken through."
Taking a break might mean walking in the woods near her country home in Goshen. Or it just might be relaxing in the sunroom and gazing out on the Marshepaug River that gently flows through the backyard-or playing with Joey, her friendly 5-month-old terrier, or having a cup of tea on the back deck of her home and watching a family of turkeys in the yard.

The article is full of information to share with students and fans of her books. Her next Treehouse books will be #33 and "will be out in the spring [March 8, 2005.] It is entitled Carnival at Candlelight, and it has the two young heroines, Jack and Annie, saving Venice from a flood."


One of my favorite Osborne books is New York's Bravest, her retelling of the American tall tale of Mose the New York City firefighter from the 19th century. The book was her way of dealing with the events of 9-11. She writes that Mose is with every firefighter today that climbs a ladder "toward a blazing sky." I choke up everytime I read it.