High Time for Heroes 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

  #47: ABE LINCOLN AT LAST!

  #48: A PERFECT TIME FOR PANDAS

  #49: STALLION BY STARLIGHT

  #50: HURRY UP, HOUDINI!

  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

  PANDAS AND OTHER ENDANGERED SPECIES

  HORSE HEROES

  HEROES FOR ALL TIMES

  More Magic Tree House®

  GAMES AND PUZZLES FROM THE TREE HOUSE

  MAGIC TRICKS 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 © 2014 by Mary Pope Osborne

  Jacket art and interior illustrations copyright © 2014 by Sal Murdocca

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.

  Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks and A Stepping Stone Book and the colophon are trademarks of Random House LLC. Magic Tree House is a registered trademark of Mary Pope Osborne; used under license.

  Visit us on the Web!

  randomhouse.com/kids

  MagicTreeHouse.com

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Osborne, Mary Pope.

  High time for heroes / Mary Pope Osborne; jacket art and interior illustrations, Sal Murdocca. — First edition.

  pages cm. — (A stepping stone book [tm]) (Magic Tree House; #51)

  Summary: Jack and Annie are magically transported to mid-1800’s Thebes where they are saved from a dangerous accident by Florence Nightingale!

  ISBN 978-0-307-98049-6 (trade) — ISBN 978-0-307-98050-2 (lib. bdg.) —

  ISBN 978-0-307-98051-9 (ebook)

  [1. Time travel—Fiction. 2. Magicians—Fiction. 3. Nightingale, Florence, 1820–1910—Fiction. 4. Nurses—Fiction. 5. Tree houses—Fiction. 6. Thebes (Egypt : Extinct city)—Fiction.] I. Murdocca, Sal, illustrator. II. Title.

  PZ7.O81167Hj 2014 [Fic]—dc23 2013019148

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

  v3.1

  For Paul Aiken,

  one of my heroes

  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Other Books by This Series

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Prologue

  1. I Know Her!

  2. Welcome to Thebes!

  3. Beasts on the Nile

  4. Baboon Babysitters

  5. Valley of the Queens

  6. No Big Deal

  7. Panic

  8. Moon over the Nile

  9. Heroes of the Dawn

  10. Good-Bye, Thebes!

  Author’s Note

  Excerpt from Heroes for All Times

  One summer day in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, a mysterious tree house appeared in the woods. It was filled with books. A boy named Jack and his sister, Annie, found the tree house and soon discovered that it was magic. They could go to any time and place in history just by pointing to a picture in one of the books. While they were gone, no time at all passed back in Frog Creek.

  Jack and Annie eventually found out that the tree house belonged to Morgan le Fay, a magical librarian from the legendary realm of Camelot. They have since traveled on many adventures in the magic tree house and completed many missions for both Morgan le Fay and her friend Merlin the magician.

  Now Merlin needs Jack and Annie’s help again. He wants them to travel through time and learn four secrets of greatness from people who are called great by the world. Jack and Annie have completed two of the four missions. They took a trip to ancient Macedonia, where they spent time with Alexander the Great and his warhorse, Bucephalus, and they visited Coney Island in 1908, where they saw Harry Houdini and his wife, Bess, perform a magic show.

  Back in Frog Creek, they are waiting to see where Merlin will send them to find the next secret of greatness.…

  Jack sat in a sunny spot on the front porch, studying a book of magic tricks. He was planning to put on a magic show for his parents and grandparents. He took a sip of lemonade, then started making a list in his notebook:

  flying paper clips

  “Hey.” Annie tapped on the screen door. “Let’s do something.”

  �
�I’m already doing something,” said Jack. He took another sip of lemonade and added more tricks to his list:

  magical clinging pen

  great pepper trick

  Annie gasped. “Did you hear that?” she asked. She opened the door and came out onto the porch.

  “Hear what?” said Jack. He added another trick:

  steal-the-strength trick

  “That whooshing sound,” said Annie.

  “Whooshing sound?” Jack read his list and decided he still needed two or three more tricks.

  “Like the tree house just whooshed into the woods!” said Annie.

  “Yeah, yeah,” said Jack. He flipped through the pages of his book.

  “Come on, go with me,” Annie pleaded. “Let’s check the woods again. Please.”

  “We’ve already checked five times since Tuesday,” said Jack.

  “Once more won’t kill you,” said Annie. “I have this feeling … I’m serious.”

  Jack sighed. “Okay. You win,” he said. “One more time.” He put his notebook and pencil into his backpack. Leaving his book of magic tricks on the porch, he stood up and followed Annie down the steps and across their yard.

  “Aren’t you dying to find another secret of greatness for Merlin?” Annie asked as they headed up the sidewalk. “And what about the magic mist? Don’t you want to have another great talent for an hour?”

  “Of course,” said Jack. “But I’m also tired of looking for the tree house and not finding it! For two weeks you’ve had these hunches.”

  Jack and Annie crossed the street and headed into the Frog Creek woods. Winding through the shadows of trees, Jack took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of warm earth and summer leaves. Hidden birds sang from the tree branches. As Jack and Annie drew closer to the tallest oak, Jack’s heart started to pound. This time, something was there, high in the branches of the tree.

  “Whoosh,” Annie said softly.

  Jack grinned as he looked up at the small wooden house nestled high in the branches. “Okay,” he said. “I’m glad we checked.”

  Annie ran to the rope ladder and started up. Jack followed. Inside the magic tree house, the shadows of branches danced on the wooden walls. A piece of paper, a gold ring, a tiny bottle, a small book, and a scroll were waiting on the floor.

  “A new message from Merlin!” said Annie. She picked up the scroll, unrolled it, and read aloud:

  “Florence Nightingale?” said Annie. “I know her! I gave a report on her!”

  “I just know her name. Who is she?” said Jack.

  “She’s amazing! She’s one of my heroes!” said Annie.

  “Yeah, okay, but what did she do?” asked Jack.

  “Florence Nightingale lived in the 1800s, in England,” said Annie. “The English army was fighting in this place called the Crimea, on the Black Sea, and Florence Nightingale was a nurse there. The soldiers called her the Lady with the Lamp, because after the hospital was quiet and dark at night, she went alone from bed to bed with a lantern. She gave light and comfort and took care of wounds. She was so brave and amazing, she became famous everywhere! Later she changed the world of nursing by organizing—”

  “Okay, you don’t have to give your whole report,” Jack interrupted. “I get the picture. She sounds cool. Let’s go meet her.”

  “I feel like I already know her!” said Annie with a laugh. “Oh, wow! I can’t wait!”

  “So let’s see where we’re going,” said Jack. He picked up the small book from the floor. Its faded leather cover had an old-fashioned look.

  “I’ll bet it’s about England,” said Annie, “or the Crimea.”

  “Neither,” said Jack. He showed the cover to Annie:

  “Egypt?” said Annie. “I never read that Florence Nightingale was a nurse in Egypt.”

  “We’ve been to Egypt before,” said Jack. “Remember the mummy in the pyramid?”

  “The ghost-queen,” said Annie. “She was on her way to the Next Life.”

  Jack shivered. “That was weird,” he said.

  “Don’t worry. The ghost-queen was thousands of years in the past,” said Annie. “Now we’re just going to 1850.”

  “Ohhh … right,” said Jack drily. “I guess all the ancient ghosts were gone by then.”

  “Whatever. Ready?” said Annie.

  “Hold on,” said Jack. He picked up the gold ring and gave it to Annie. “It’s your turn to wear this,” he said.

  Annie slipped the ring onto her finger. They both stared at it for a moment. The ring was magic. When Florence Nightingale shared a secret of greatness with them, it would glow like a burning ember.

  “The Ring of Truth,” said Annie.

  “Yep. Just remember to keep checking it when we’re talking to Florence,” said Jack.

  “Don’t worry, I will,” said Annie. “Here, you carry this.” She picked up the tiny glass bottle and handed it to Jack.

  Jack held the bottle up to the dappled sunlight and looked at the silver vapor swirling inside. “Mist gathered at first light on the first day of the new moon on the Isle of Avalon,” he said.

  “Yep. Good for one hour of great talent,” said Annie.

  Jack smiled, remembering their hour as horse trainers and their hour as stage magicians. “I wonder what we’ll be great at this time,” he said.

  “Maybe great nurses?” said Annie.

  “We’ll see,” said Jack. He put the tiny bottle in his backpack; then he picked up the piece of paper from the floor. On the paper he had written the two secrets of greatness they’d already learned:

  HUMILITY

  HARD WORK

  “Ready to find the third secret from Florence Nightingale?” he asked.

  “A thousand times yes!” said Annie.

  Jack pointed to the picture on the cover of the Travelers’ Handbook to Egypt. “I wish we could go there,” he said.

  The wind started to blow.

  The tree house started to spin.

  It spun faster and faster.

  Then everything was still.

  Absolutely still.

  Warm, dry air filled the tree house. Jack wore a helmet-type hat, leather boots, a long-sleeved shirt, and a pair of heavy linen pants with a leather belt. A large pouch was attached to the belt.

  “I wish I was dressed like you,” said Annie, making a face. She was wearing a long white dress with frilly lace. “You look like a cool explorer. I look like I’m going to a tea party.”

  “Don’t feel bad,” said Jack. “My clothes are really scratchy and heavy.”

  HEE-HAW!

  “Is that a donkey?” said Annie. She and Jack looked out the window of the tree house. Leaves and branches completely blocked their view.

  “I think we landed in a sycamore tree,” said Jack, studying the leaves.

  Annie pushed some branches aside. All they could see below were more leaves. But straight ahead, in the distance, was a wide plain dotted with sand-colored ruins. Beyond the plain, mountains loomed against a cloudless blue sky. The Egyptian sun was blindingly bright.

  HEE-HAW!

  “That’s definitely a donkey,” said Annie. “Let’s go look.” She gathered up her long white dress and started down the rope ladder.

  Jack stuck the small handbook into his leather pouch. He saw that his notebook, his pencil, and the bottle of magic mist were also inside the pouch, along with some coins that showed images of pharaohs. “Hey, we have some Egyptian money!” he called down to Annie.

  “Great, come on down!” said Annie. She was already on the ground.

  Jack buckled his pouch, then clumsily climbed down the rope ladder in his leather boots. As soon as he stepped onto the grass, flies landed on his face. He shook his head and waved his hands, trying to brush them away.

  The sycamore tree was surrounded by bushes and other plants on a lush green riverbank. Across the river, several dozen sailboats were anchored near a temple.

  HEE-HAW!

  The sound came from beyond t
he bushes. Jack and Annie stepped around them and peeked out. “Yep, donkeys. Two of them,” said Jack. “And there’s a little kid with them.”

  About fifty feet down the river, two small donkeys were standing under a cluster of palm trees. They were shaking their long, furry ears and swishing their tails to keep the flies away. A boy was napping in a rowboat on the riverbank. He wore a striped robe.

  “Want to talk to him?” said Annie.

  “Sure,” said Jack.

  They walked out of the bushes and headed toward the boy. “Hello!” Annie called.

  The small boy scrambled out of the rowboat. He looked to be only six or seven. “I did not see you coming,” he said. “Welcome to Thebes! My name is Ali. Do you need donkeys and a guide?”

  “No thanks,” said Jack.

  “My grandfather is the best guide in Thebes,” Ali said with pride. “He is returning now with two travelers from England. There he is! On the horse!”

  In the distance, a white-bearded man wearing a turban was riding a packhorse. He was leading a man and woman on donkeys toward the river.

  “After my grandfather rows them across the Nile to their boat, he can guide you to the tombs in the cliffs!” said Ali. “Or the Temple of Luxor.” He pointed to the temple across the river.

  “Thanks. Maybe later,” said Jack.

  “We are here every day. Come back!” said Ali, and he ran to meet his grandfather and the travelers from England.

  “We just learned a lot,” Jack said to Annie. “It seems we landed in Thebes, Egypt, on the River Nile, across from the Temple of Luxor.”

  “Sounds like a fairy tale,” said Annie.

  Jack pulled out their Egypt handbook. He found Thebes and read aloud:

  Travelers enjoy visiting the area of Thebes in Egypt. Four thousand years ago, the Egyptian city was the capital of the known world. At that time, it was the noisiest and liveliest place on the River Nile.

  “Seriously?” said Jack. He looked around at the quiet riverbank, the donkeys, and the distant bare mountains.

  “I guess times have changed for Thebes,” said Annie.

  “No kidding,” said Jack. “So I wonder what Florence Nightingale is doing here.”