Abe Lincoln at Last! Read online

  Magic Tree House® Books

  #1: DINOSAURS BEFORE DARK

  #2: THE KNIGHT AT DAWN

  #3: MUMMIES IN THE MORNING

  #4: PIRATES PAST NOON

  #5: NIGHT OF THE NINJAS

  #6: AFTERNOON ON THE AMAZON

  #7: SUNSET OF THE SABERTOOTH

  #8: MIDNIGHT ON THE MOON

  #9: DOLPHINS AT DAYBREAK

  #10: GHOST TOWN AT SUNDOWN

  #11: LIONS AT LUNCHTIME

  #12: POLAR BEARS PAST BEDTIME

  #13: VACATION UNDER THE VOLCANO

  #14: DAY OF THE DRAGON KING

  #15: VIKING SHIPS AT SUNRISE

  #16: HOUR OF THE OLYMPICS

  #17: TONIGHT ON THE TITANIC

  #18: BUFFALO BEFORE BREAKFAST

  #19: TIGERS AT TWILIGHT

  #20: DINGOES AT DINNERTIME

  #21: CIVIL WAR ON SUNDAY

  #22: REVOLUTIONARY WAR ON WEDNESDAY

  #23: TWISTER ON TUESDAY

  #24: EARTHQUAKE IN THE EARLY MORNING

  #25: STAGE FRIGHT ON A SUMMER NIGHT

  #26: GOOD MORNING, GORILLAS

  #27: THANKSGIVING ON THURSDAY

  #28: HIGH TIDE IN HAWAII

  Merlin Missions

  #29: CHRISTMAS IN CAMELOT

  #30: HAUNTED CASTLE ON HALLOWS EVE

  #31: SUMMER OF THE SEA SERPENT

  #32: WINTER OF THE ICE WIZARD

  #33: CARNIVAL AT CANDLELIGHT

  #34: SEASON OF THE SANDSTORMS

  #35: NIGHT OF THE NEW MAGICIANS

  #36: BLIZZARD OF THE BLUE MOON

  #37: DRAGON OF THE RED DAWN

  #38: MONDAY WITH A MAD GENIUS

  #39: DARK DAY IN THE DEEP SEA

  #40: EVE OF THE EMPEROR PENGUIN

  #41: MOONLIGHT ON THE MAGIC FLUTE

  #42: A GOOD NIGHT FOR GHOSTS

  #43: LEPRECHAUN IN LATE WINTER

  #44: A GHOST TALE FOR CHRISTMAS TIME

  #45: A CRAZY DAY WITH COBRAS

  #46: DOGS IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT

  Magic Tree House® Fact Trackers

  DINOSAURS

  KNIGHTS AND CASTLES

  MUMMIES AND PYRAMIDS

  PIRATES

  RAIN FORESTS

  SPACE

  TITANIC

  TWISTERS AND OTHER TERRIBLE STORMS

  DOLPHINS AND SHARKS

  ANCIENT GREECE AND THE OLYMPICS

  AMERICAN REVOLUTION

  SABERTOOTHS AND THE ICE AGE

  PILGRIMS

  ANCIENT ROME AND POMPEII

  TSUNAMIS AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS

  POLAR BEARS AND THE ARCTIC

  SEA MONSTERS

  PENGUINS AND ANTARCTICA

  LEONARDO DA VINCI

  GHOSTS

  LEPRECHAUNS AND IRISH FOLKLORE

  RAGS AND RICHES: KIDS IN THE TIME OF CHARLES DICKENS

  SNAKES AND OTHER REPTILES

  DOG HEROES

  ABRAHAM LINCOLN

  More Magic Tree House®

  GAMES AND PUZZLES FROM THE TREE HOUSE

  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 fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2011 by Mary Pope Osborne

  Jacket art and interior illustrations copyright © 2011 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 the colophon are registered trademarks and A Stepping Stone Book and the colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc. Magic Tree House is a registered trademark of Mary Pope Osborne; used under license.

  Visit us on the Web!

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Osborne, Mary Pope.

  Abe Lincoln at last! / Mary Pope Osborne ; illustrated by Sal Murdocca. — 1st ed.

  p. cm. — (Magic tree house ; #47)

  “A Merlin Mission.”

  Summary: The magic tree house whisks Jack and Annie to Washington D.C. in the 1860s where they meet Abraham Lincoln and collect a feather that will help break a magic spell.

  eISBN: 978-0-375-89877-8

  [1. Time travel—Fiction. 2. Magic—Fiction. 3. Brothers and sisters—Fiction.

  4. Lincoln, Abraham, 1809–1865—Fiction. 5. White House (Washington, D.C.)—Fiction.

  6. Presidents—Family—Fiction.] I. Murdocca, Sal, ill. II. Title.

  PZ7.O81167 Ab 2011 [Fic]—dc23 2011017350

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v3.1

  For Mary Sams

  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Prologue

  1. The Third Thing

  2. Pirate Captain

  3. Hide! Hide!

  4. Willie!

  5. Leave Nov!

  6. Trust the Magic

  7. Sam’s Farm

  8. Into the Rough

  9. Corn Bread and Molasses

  10. Readin’ and Writin’

  11. Abe Lincoln at Last!

  12. The Feather of Hope

  Author’s Note

  Not often in the story of mankind does a man

  arrive on earth who is both steel and velvet, who

  is hard as rock and soft as drifting fog.…

  —Carl Sandburg

  Prologue

  One summer day in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, a mysterious tree house appeared in the woods. A brother and sister named Jack and Annie soon learned that the tree house was magic—it could take them to any time and any place in history.

  Jack and Annie have since gone on many adventures in the magic tree house and have completed many missions for both Morgan le Fay and Merlin the magician of Camelot. On some of their journeys, Jack and Annie have received help from two young enchanters, Teddy and Kathleen, who are learning magic from Merlin and Morgan.

  Now Teddy is in big trouble. While Merlin and Morgan were away, Teddy accidentally put a spell on Penny, Merlin’s beloved penguin. The spell turned her into a stone statue. Teddy thinks that he could be banished from the kingdom—unless Jack and Annie can help!

  Teddy and Kathleen have found an ancient spell that can undo Teddy’s accidental magic. To make the ancient spell work, Jack and Annie must find four special things—each from a different time and place. They have already found two of these things: an emerald in the shape of a rose and a white and yellow flower.

  Now Jack and Annie are waiting to find out what they must search for next.…

  CHAPTER ONE

  The Third Thing

  Annie peeked into Jack’s room.

  “Ready?” she whispered.

  “Yep,” said Jack.

  Even though it was two hours before school started, Jack and Annie were already dressed. Jack put his notebook and pencil into his backpack. Then he picked up the pack and his sneakers and followed Annie into the hall. In their sock feet, Jack and Annie tiptoed past their parents’ bedroom. Then they slipped down the stairs.
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  When they reached the front hall, Jack and Annie put on their jackets and shoes and stepped outside. The early-morning sky was gray. Everything was quiet, except for the sound of a gentle spring rain.

  “Should we get our raincoats?” Jack asked.

  “It’s clearing up,” said Annie. She pointed to blue sky in the distance.

  “Oh, good,” said Jack. “Let’s hurry.”

  Jack and Annie stepped off their porch. Then they ran up the sidewalk and crossed the street. By the time they started into the Frog Creek woods, the rain had stopped. Misty rays of sunlight slanted down through the wet trees.

  Jack and Annie kept going until they came to the tallest oak. The leaves at the top of the tree sparkled with raindrops, and the magic tree house was lit by the morning sun.

  “It’s waiting for us,” said Jack.

  “I knew it would be,” said Annie. She grabbed the rope ladder and started up.

  Jack climbed after her. Inside the tree house, they looked around for the two special things they had found on their last missions.

  “Great, they’re still here,” said Jack, pointing to a green jewel and a white and yellow flower in the corner.

  “And it looks like Teddy and Kathleen sent some stuff for us,” said Annie.

  Lying in the shadows was a book. Next to it were a small folded note and a tiny blue bottle. Jack picked up the book. Its cover showed an old black-and-white photograph of a building. It looked like the White House in Washington, D.C.

  Jack gasped. “Oh, man! Abraham Lincoln!”

  “Wow,” said Annie, looking at the book’s cover. “He was a great president.”

  “No kidding,” said Jack. “Do you think we’re actually going to meet him?” He opened the book to the first page and read aloud:

  Abraham Lincoln served as president of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He led the country through the terrible crisis of the American Civil War. He preserved the union of states and outlawed slavery.

  “I can’t believe it,” Jack said, closing the book. “Abraham Lincoln! Do you think he’s supposed to help us find the third thing to break the spell that turned Penny into a statue?”

  “Maybe,” said Annie. “Let’s see what else Teddy and Kathleen left for us.…” She picked up the tiny bottle and the note. She unfolded the note and read aloud:

  The third thing to break the spell

  is a single feather from a hero’s hand.

  Use it wisely to give him hope—

  the hope he needs to heal his land.

  “That sounds like a riddle,” said Jack.

  “I’ll bet Abraham Lincoln is the hero,” said Annie. “And”—she looked at the note again—“we have to get a feather from him. Then we’ll use the feather to give him hope.”

  “Confusing,” said Jack.

  “A lot of our missions sound confusing at first, don’t you think?” said Annie. “But in the end, they all make sense.”

  “Yeah, I guess,” said Jack. “But that doesn’t help us right now. There must be a magic potion in the bottle. What does the label say?”

  Annie held up the small blue bottle and read the tiny writing on its label aloud:

  Take a sip. Make a wish for one thing to help you on your mission. Remember: Trust the magic.

  “That sounds kind of general,” said Jack. “Wish for one thing to help us on our mission? That could be anything.”

  “And remember to trust the magic,” said Annie. She shrugged.

  “Okay … we’ll try to do that,” said Jack. He took the bottle and the note from Annie and put them into his backpack.

  “We’ve got everything we need,” said Annie. “A mission, a research book, and a little bit of magic. Ready to go?”

  “Yep,” said Jack. He pointed to the picture of the White House on the cover of their book and said, “I wish we could go there!”

  The wind started to blow.

  The tree house started to spin.

  It spun faster and faster.

  Then everything was still.

  Absolutely still.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Pirate Captain

  Jack shivered. The air was chilly, but the sun was bright. Bare branches outside the tree house swayed in the wind. Annie was wearing a long dress with an apron. Jack wore a cotton shirt over a red undershirt and a pair of trousers with suspenders. His backpack had turned into a leather bag.

  Jack looked into the bag. Inside were his notebook and pencil, the message from Teddy and Kathleen, and the bottle with the magic potion. “Good,” he said, “it’s all here.”

  “We’ve worn clothes like these before,” said Annie.

  “Yeah, when we ran from that twister on the prairie,” said Jack.

  “And when we helped Clara Barton in the Civil War,” said Annie.

  “Right,” said Jack. “So, did we land at the White House?”

  They looked out the window. The tree house had landed in a grove of bare, sunlit trees. Beyond the trees, horse-drawn carriages rumbled over a circular carriageway toward a stately white mansion with tall columns.

  “Oh, man,” whispered Jack.

  The White House was breathtaking in the morning air, bathed in sunlight. A crowd was gathered outside the front entrance: men in long black coats and tall hats, and women in hoopskirts and bonnets with big bows.

  “Looks like lots of people are visiting Abraham Lincoln today,” said Annie.

  Jack thumbed through their research book until he found another black-and-white photograph of the White House. He read aloud:

  When Abraham Lincoln became president in 1861, the White House was considered to belong to all the citizens of the country, as well as to the president and his family. Anyone could walk right in. President Lincoln sometimes found it hard to work in his White House office because of the number of people swarming through the building.

  “So anyone can just walk right into the White House and look for the president?” said Annie.

  “That’s crazy,” said Jack.

  “But it’s good for us!” said Annie.

  “I guess,” said Jack, “but I don’t want to be one of those people who make it hard for the president to work.”

  “Don’t forget,” said Annie, “we’re supposed to give him hope.”

  “With a feather that he’s supposed to give us,” said Jack. He shook his head, then took out their note from Teddy and Kathleen.

  The third thing to break the spell

  is a single feather from a hero’s hand.

  Use it wisely to give him hope—

  the hope he needs to heal his land.

  “How can we get a feather from him?” said Jack. “And how can it give him hope?”

  “It’s better to do just one thing at a time,” said Annie. “First we have to find the president.”

  “Hey, Willie! Look!” someone shouted from below. “It’s a tree house! See? See?”

  “Oh, no!” whispered Jack.

  Jack and Annie peeked out the window. A boy about seven or eight years old was looking up at the tree house. The boy wore baggy gray trousers with suspenders and a white shirt. He had dark, piercing eyes.

  “Hello!” the boy shouted when he saw Jack and Annie. “Who are you? Why are you in our tree house?”

  “Your tree house?” said Jack. “It’s not your tree house!”

  “Yes, it is!” the boy said confidently.

  “Tad, hush!” An older boy ran to join the younger one. He had a friendly, open smile and looked to be around Jack’s age. “Don’t mind my brother Tad!” he shouted.

  “But it’s ours, Willie!” said Tad. “The White House is our house! And the tree house is in our yard!”

  Oh, man, thought Jack. That was what the book said, too: the White House was considered to belong to all the citizens of the country, as well as to the president.

  “I’m sorry, but this tree house is not like the White House,” Jack called. “It d
oesn’t belong to the citizens of the country. It’s ours!”

  “No, it’s not!” yelled Tad. “I’m coming up!”

  “No, you’re not!” Jack yelled back. He reached for the rope ladder to pull it up. But Tad had already started climbing.

  “Hide our stuff!” Jack said to Annie.

  Jack quickly pushed the Lincoln book into his leather bag. Annie stuck their note and the tiny bottle into her apron pocket.

  “Tad, come back!” called Willie. “Leave them alone!”

  Tad scrambled into the tree house. He grinned at Jack and Annie, his dark eyes gleaming. “I’m a pirate captain, and I’m taking over your ship!” Tad shook his small fists in Jack’s face. “Fight me!” he shouted.

  “Cut it out,” said Jack, waving him away.

  “Tad!” Willie shouted from below.

  The boy just laughed like a maniac and danced around the tree house, trying to box with Jack. “This is my ship now, matey!”

  “Quit it!” said Jack.

  “Tad!” his brother yelled again.

  “Your brother’s calling you,” Annie said firmly to Tad. “Go! Now!”

  “Who are you to boss me, missy?” Tad said, jutting out his chin.

  Annie laughed. “I’m not a missy, shrimp,” she said. “I’m Annie. And this is my brother, Jack.”

  Tad lowered his fists. “Oh! Hello, Annie, I’m Tad.” He put out his hand, and Annie shook it. “Pleased to meet you,” said Tad, completely dropping his role as pirate captain. “What are you and Jack doing today?”

  “Actually, we’re hoping to meet with President Lincoln,” Annie said.

  “Really?” said Tad. “Me and Willie know a secret.…” He gave them a sly grin. “If you come with us, we’ll take you straight to the president. I give you my word.”

  “Thanks, but we can handle it ourselves,” said Jack. The last thing he wanted was for this kid to get in their way.

  “But I want to help you. Come with me,” said Tad. He started down the ladder.

  “Should we go with him?” Annie whispered.

  “No, he’s just making stuff up,” said Jack.

  “Are you coming down?” called Tad. “Or should I come back up so we can play?”