Read Twister on Tuesday Online
Authors: Mary Pope Osborne
Twister on Tuesday (6 page)
Jack reached into his bag and pulled out the small slate.
“Our third writing,” he said. He added the poem to the list from the Civil War and the letter from the Revolutionary War.
“You did just what that poem says you should do,” said Annie.
“What do you mean?” Jack asked.
“If at first you don't succeed, try, try again,”
Annie said. “You kept trying to make friends with Jeb. In the end, you did.”
“I guess you're right,” said Jack.
“We have to get only one more special writing for Morgan's library,” said Annie.
“I wonder how that will help save Camelot?” said Jack.
Annie shrugged.
“It's a mystery,” she said.
She and Jack looked around the tree house.
“Lookâ” Annie picked up a piece of paper lying in the corner. She read aloud:
Come back early Wednesday morning.
“Wednesday? Man, that's
tomorrow
!” said Jack.
“So?” said Annie. She started down the rope ladder.
“Not much time to recover,” said Jack, pulling on his backpack.
“Recover from what?” Annie said.
“The twister,” said Jack.
“Oh yeah, I'd almost forgotten about that,” said Annie.
Jack smiled.
Actually, the nightmare of the twister was fading from his memory, too.
We must try to hold on to the good memories,
Miss Neely had said,
and let go of the bad ones.
The kindness of Will and Kate, making friends with Jeb, the courage of Miss Neelyâ
these
memories, Jack thought, he would never forget.
MORE FACTS ABOUT TWISTERS
⢠Twisters, or tornados, are the fastest winds on earth.
⢠Twisters can travel at speeds up to 200 miles per hour.
⢠The spinning winds act like a giant vacuum cleaner as they move across the earth.
⢠Almost 1,000 tornados hit the United States each year.
MORE FACTS ABOUT
PIONEER LIFE ON THE PRAIRIE
From the mid-1800s through the 1880s, thousands of pioneers traveled by wagon across America. Most were headed for the territories of Oregon and California. But a number stopped and settled on the Kansas frontier. They made dugouts and broke up the hard ground to plant crops. These pioneers faced windstorms and dust storms, a shortage of water, and grasshopper plagues. In spite of the hardships, they set up small schools so their children could learn the three R's: “reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic.” Children of varied ages often learned together. It was not unusual for teachers to be as young as 15 or 16 years old.
MORE FACTS ABOUT
PIONEER SCHOOLBOOKS
The most popular American schoolbooks of the 1880s were called McGuffey Readers. They were put together by a schoolteacher from Ohio named William Holmes McGuffey. Poems such as “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” and “If at First You Don't Succeed” became part of American life because they were in the McGuffey Readers.
Webster's Spelling Book was another sig-nificant reference in early American schools. It taught people who'd come here from all over the world how to spell words in the English language.
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Magic Tree House #24
Earthquake in Early Morning
Available now!
Excerpt copyright ©
2001
by Mary Pope Osborne
Published by Random House Children's Books,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Jack sat up in bed. He stared out his window.
The sky was dark gray. The sun would be rising soon.
“It's almost time,” he whispered to himself.
The day before, in the magic tree house, Morgan's note had said, “Come back tomorrow, in the early morning.”
Jack jumped out of bed. He put on his jeans and T-shirt. Then he grabbed his backpack and crept out into the hall.
Jack peeked into Annie's room. She wasn't there. He slipped downstairs and out the front door.
Annie was sitting on the porch steps. Jack sat down beside her.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I was waiting for the birds to start singing,” said Annie. “Then I was going to wake you up.”
Jack and Annie watched the sky go from dark gray to light gray. Then the birds began their song.
“Tweet-tweet,” said Annie.
Without another word, Jack and Annie left their porch. They headed up their street to the Frog Creek woods.
It was cool beneath the trees. Jack and Annie hurried through the woods to the rope
ladder. It hung from the tallest oak. At the top of the oak was the magic tree house.
They climbed up into the tree house. It was barely light inside.
Annie picked up the note lying on the floor. She held it up to the window and read aloud:
Dear Jack and Annie,
Camelot is in trouble. To save the kingdom, please find these four special kinds of writing for my library:
Something to follow
Something to send
Something to learn
Something to lend
         Â
Thank you,
         Â
Morgan
Jack took a deep breath.
“Okay,” he said. “We have our first special writing: a list from the Civil War.”
“We have the second,” said Annie, “a letter from the Revolutionary War.”
“We have the third,” said Jack, “a poem from a pioneer schoolhouse.”
“Now we just need one more,” said Annie.
“I wonder
why
we have to find these special writings for Morgan's library,” said Jack. “How are they going to save Camelot?”
“I don't know,” said Annie. “But let's get going so we can solve the mystery. Where's our research book?”
They looked around the tree house.
Their Pennsylvania book, the book that always brought them home, was lying in the corner. Beside it was another book. Annie picked it up.
“This is it,” she said softly. She showed the book's cover to Jack. It said:
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, 1906
“California?”
said Jack. “I've always wanted to go to California.”
“Me too,” said Annie. She laughed. “I guess I told Miss Neely the truth after all.”
“Yeah,” said Jack, smiling.
The magic tree house had taken them to a pioneer school in their last adventure. There, Annie had told the teacher, Miss Neely, that they were on their way to California.
Annie pointed at the cover of the California book.
“We
really
wish we could go there,” she said.
The wind started to blow.
The tree house started to spin.
It spun faster and faster.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still.
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