Read Monday with a Mad Genius Online
Authors: Mary Pope Osborne
Monday with a Mad Genius
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.
—Adam W.
I love your books. If you stop writing books, it will be like losing a best friend.
—Ben M.
I think you are the real Morgan le Fay. There is always magic in your books.
—Erica Y.
One day I was really bored and I didn’t want to read … 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.
—Danai K.
I always read [your books] over and over … 1 time, 2 times, 3 times, 4 times …
—Yuan 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.
—Ellen C.
I hope you make these books for all yours and mine’s life.
—Riki 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.
—J. Cameron
It excites me to see how involved [my fourth-grade reading class] is in your books … I would do anything to get my students more involved, and this has done it.
—C. Rutz
I discovered your books last year … WOW! Our students have gone crazy over them. I can’t order enough copies! … Thanks for contributing so much to children’s literature!
—C. Kendziora
I first came across your Magic Tree House series when my son brought one home … I have since introduced this great series to my class. They have absolutely fallen in love with these books! … My students are now asking me for more independent reading time to read them. Your stories have inspired even my most struggling readers.
—M. Payne
I love how I can go beyond the [Magic Tree House] books and use them as springboards for other learning.
—R. 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.
—J. Korinek
Our students have “Magic Tree House fever.” I can’t keep your books on the library shelf.
—J. Rafferty
Your books truly invite children into the pleasure of reading. Thanks for such terrific work.
—S. 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.
—K. 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.
—K. Mahoney
D
uring spring vacation when I was in kindergarten, my brothers and I decided we’d try to fly like birds. We knew that people couldn’t fly, but that didn’t stop us. We were excited by the thought that we’d be the first to do so. For our launch pad, we chose the playground near our house. We tried swinging and then leaping into the air, flapping our arms wildly. Of course, we kept falling to the ground. Next we climbed to the top of the slide and took turns jumping off, again flapping as hard as we could—only to drop again and again to the sand beneath the slide. We were lucky that we didn’t get hurt. All morning we tried to fly, until finally we gave up and went home, satisfied that we’d given it our best shot.
The great thing about being a kid, I think, is that your imagination can make life full of wondrous adventures. Leonardo da Vinci, one of the world’s greatest geniuses, was a lot like a kid who never completely grew up. Even when he was working, he seemed to be playing, always looking at the world and asking, “I wonder what would happen if …” He had great enthusiasm for experimenting with different ways of doing things and for exploring new ideas—including trying to fly! I hope that when you meet Leonardo in this new Merlin Mission, you will feel that you’ve made an amazing new friend.
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 entirely fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the entirely fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2007 by Mary Pope Osborne
Illustrations copyright © 2007 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 colophon are registered trademarks and
A STEPPING STONE BOOK
and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
MAGIC TREE HOUSE
is a registered trademark of Mary Pope Osborne; used under license.
www.randomhouse.com/kids
www.magictreehouse.com
Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at
www.randomhouse.com/teachers
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Osborne, Mary Pope.
Monday with a mad genius / by Mary Pope Osborne ; illustrated by Sal Murdocca. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Magic tree house; #38)
“A Merlin mission.”
“A Stepping Stone book.”
Audience: RL: 3.3
SUMMARY
: Jack and Annie travel 500 years back in time to Florence, Italy, and spend a day helping Leonardo da Vinci in the hope of learning another secret of happiness.
1. Leonardo da Vinci, 1452–1519—Juvenile fiction. [1. Leonardo da Vinci, 1452–1519—Fiction.
2. Time travel—Fiction. 3. Magic—Fiction. 4. Brothers and sisters—Fiction.
5. Curiosity—Fiction. 6. Florence (Italy)—History—1421–1737—Fiction.
7. Italy—History—1492–1559—Fiction.]
I. Murdocca, Sal, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.O81167Mon 2007 [Fic]—dc22 2006101209
eISBN: 978-0-375-89460-2
v3.0
For James Quinn Courts
“
I wish to work miracles.
”
—from the notebooks of
Leonardo da Vinci
