Mary Pope Osborne is an author known for her Magic Tree House series of children's books. She conducts extensive research on various topics and works the factual information she finds into imaginative plots. During her research for a book set in Vienna, Osborne discovered that the palace she wanted to feature in the story had historically housed the first private zoo, allowing her to include wild animals in the story in a surprising but factually accurate way. Osborne advises aspiring writers to read widely to learn about different types of stories and develop their own writing skills.

1. Author of the Month
Mary Pope Osborne
Birthday: May 20, 1949

2. TEACHINGBOOKS: The Magic Tree House series introduces
a great deal of factual information to readers. How do you
conduct research and work it into your books?
MARY POPE OSBORNE: There is definitely a lot of research,
and I bury myself in it. That's most of the work I do. I might get
anywhere from 10 to 20 books on a subject, and I do Internet
research, too. I take copious notes, and I begin to craft a plot
out of the research, because it's almost as if there's a hidden
story in every subject I explore. Sometimes I come across
some wonderful connections.
One of the most magical examples of this happened to me
when I wanted to write about Jack and Annie attending a
concert given by a six-year-old Mozart at the Palace of
Schönbrunn in Vienna. I needed an exciting cover for the book,
so I was reading about The Magic Flute for inspiration. The
only childlike scene in the whole opera is when a great herd of
animals is led by a flute. So I said to my editor, "Somehow I've
got to get wild animals into this palace, because I want them on
the cover, and I want them to be led by Jack playing the flute." I
thought I'd have to invent the animals through some magic
device, but as I kept researching, I found out that ten years
before Mozart was there, Schönbrunn Palace housed the first
private zoo in the world. Can you imagine how blown away I
was? I was able to write the zoo outside the palace, and have
little Mozart, because he's in a tantrum, let the animals loose.
Believe it or not, this sort of historical and factual serendipity
happens over and over again.

3. MARY POPE OSBORNE
has written in many
genres, including
nonfiction and fiction.
She has retold myths
and written fractured
fairy tales.
292.13
OSB
293
OSB
398.2
OSB
937
OSB

4. My advice to children who want to be
writers is to read, read, read! That is
the very best way to find out what
kinds of stories they love and how
they might want to write themselves.
E
OSB
F
OSB
F
OSB

5. Reading is absolutely essential if you want to be
a writer. It teaches you what good writing is all
about, and also stimulates your own imagination
and gives you research and information to bring
to your own work.
The best part of being a writer is being
transported to other places and living other
experiences. By surrounding myself with the
smells, weather, animals, and people of
imaginary landscapes, I feel as if I’m living an
extraordinary life. The worst part of being a
writer is not having enough time or energy to
write all the things I want to write.

6. Quotes from
• http://tbooks.swb.orc.scoolaid.net/interview.cgi?id=108
• http://tpr.org/post/magic-tree-house-kids-branch-out-chapter-books
• http://www.nypl.org/author-chat-mary-pope-osborne
• http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/author/osborne-mary-pope/