Midnight on the Moon Read online

  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

  Text copyright © 1996 by Mary Pope Osborne.

  Illustrations copyright © 1996 by Sal Murdocca.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright

  Conventions. Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York,

  and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

  www.randomhouse.com/kids

  www.randomhouse.com/magictreehouse

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Osborne, Mary Pope. Midnight on the moon / by Mary Pope Osborne;

  illustrated by Sal Murdocca.

  p. cm. — (Magic tree house; #8) “A first stepping stone book.”

  SUMMARY: The magic tree house takes Jack and Annie to a moon base in the future where they continue to search for the fourth thing they need to free their friend Morgan from the magician’s spell.

  eISBN: 978-0-375-89425-1

  [1. Moon—Fiction. 2. Time travel—Fiction. 3. Magic—Fiction. 4. Science fiction.]

  I. Murdocca, Sal, ill. II. Title. III. Series: Osborne, Mary Pope. Magic tree house

  series; #8. PZ7.O81167Mi 1996 [Fic]—dc20 96-17298

  Random House, Inc. New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Auckland

  v3.0

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Prologue

  1. By Moonlight

  2. Space Motel

  3. Open Sesame!

  4. Moon Rabbits

  5. Hang On!

  6. High Jump

  7. The Moon Man

  8. One Star to Another

  9. Morgan

  10. Earth Life

  Special Preview of Magic Tree House #9: Dolphins at Daybreak

  For Jacob and Elena Levi

  and Aram and Molly Hanessian

  One summer day in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, a mysterious tree house appeared in the woods.

  Eight-year-old Jack and his seven-year-old sister, Annie, climbed into the tree house.

  The tree house was filled with books and it was magic. It could go any place that was in a book. All Jack and Annie had to do was to point to a picture and wish to go there.

  They visited dinosaurs, knights, an Egyptian queen, pirates, ninjas, and the Amazon rain forest.

  Along the way, they discovered that the tree house belonged to Morgan le Fay. Morgan was a magical librarian from the time of King Arthur. She traveled through time and space, gathering books for her library.

  One day, Jack and Annie found a note that said Morgan was under a spell. Jack and Annie set out in the magic tree house to find four special things that would free her.

  With the help of a mouse named Peanut, Jack and Annie found the first thing in old Japan, the second in the Amazon rain forest, and the third in the Ice Age.

  Now Jack, Annie, and Peanut are ready to find the last thing … in Midnight on the Moon.

  “Jack!” whispered a voice.

  Jack opened his eyes. He saw a figure in the moonlight.

  “Wake up. Get dressed.” It was his sister, Annie.

  Jack turned on his lamp. He rubbed his eyes.

  Annie was standing beside his bed. She wore jeans and a sweatshirt.

  “Let’s go to the tree house,” she said.

  “What time is it?” asked Jack. He put on his glasses.

  “Don’t look at your clock,” said Annie.

  Jack looked at his clock. “Oh, man,” he said. “It’s midnight. It’s too dark.”

  “No, it isn’t. The moon makes it bright enough to see,” said Annie.

  “Wait till morning,” said Jack.

  “No—now,” said Annie. “We have to find the fourth M thing. I have a feeling that the full moon might help us.”

  “That’s nuts,” said Jack. “I want to sleep.”

  “You can sleep when we come back home,” said Annie. “No time will have passed.”

  Jack sighed. “Oh, brother,” he said.

  But he got out of bed.

  “Yay!” whispered Annie. “Meet you at the back door.” She tiptoed out of Jack’s room.

  Jack yawned. He pulled on his jeans and sneakers and a sweatshirt. He put his notebook and pencil into his backpack. Then he crept down the stairs.

  Annie opened the back door. Quietly, they stepped outside.

  “Wait—” said Jack. “We need a flashlight.”

  “No, we don’t. I told you—the moon will light our way,” said Annie. And she took off.

  Jack sighed, then followed her.

  Annie was right, thought Jack. The moon was so bright that he could see his shadow. Everything seemed washed with silver.

  Soon they left their street. Annie led the way into the Frog Creek woods. It was much darker under
the shadows of the trees.

  Jack looked up, searching for the tree house.

  “There!” said Annie.

  The magic tree house was shining in the moonlight.

  Annie grabbed the rope ladder and started climbing up.

  “Careful—go slowly,” said Jack.

  He followed her up the ladder and into the tree house.

  Moonlight streamed through the window.

  It shone on the letter M that shimmered on the wooden floor.

  It shone on the three M things that rested on the M: a moonstone from the time of the ninjas, a mango from the Amazon rain forest, and a mammoth bone from the Ice Age.

  “We need just one more M thing,” said Annie, “to free Morgan from her spell.”

  Squeak.

  “Peanut!” said Annie.

  In the dim light, Jack saw a tiny mouse. She sat on an open book.

  “You didn’t expect to see us this late, did you?” said Annie.

  She picked up Peanut. And Jack picked up the open book.

  “So where are we going this time?” Annie asked him.

  Jack held the book up to the moonlight.

  “Uh-oh,” he said. “I knew we should have brought a flashlight. I can’t read a thing.”

  He could make out diagrams and shadowy pictures. But he couldn’t read a word.

  “Look at the cover,” said Annie.

  The letters were bigger on the cover. Jack squinted at them.

  “It’s called Hello, Moon,” he said.

  Annie gasped. “We’re going to the moon?”

  “Of course not,” said Jack. “It’s impossible to go to the moon without tons of equipment.”

  “Why?”

  “There’s no air. We couldn’t breathe. Not only that, we’d boil to death if it was day and freeze to death if it was night.”

  “Yikes,” said Annie. “So where do you think we are going?”

  “Maybe a place where people train to be astronauts,” said Jack.

  “That sounds neat,” said Annie.

  “Yeah,” said Jack. He’d always wanted to meet astronauts and space scientists.

  “So say the wish,” said Annie.

  Jack opened the book again. He pointed to a picture of a dome-shaped structure.

  “I wish we could go there,” he said.

  The wind started to blow.

  The tree house started to spin.

  It spun faster and faster and faster.

  Then everything was silent.

  Absolutely silent. As quiet and still as silence could be.

  Jack opened his eyes.

  He looked out the window. The tree house had landed inside a large white room.

  “What kind of training place is this?” asked Annie.

  “I don’t know,” said Jack.

  The room was round. It had no windows. It had white floors and a curved wall lit by bright lights.

  “Hello!” Annie called.

  There was no answer.

  Where were all the astronauts and space scientists? Jack wondered.

  “There’s nobody here,” said Annie.

  “How do you know?” said Jack.

  “I just feel it,” said Annie.

  “We’d better find out where we are,” said Jack.

  He looked at the page in the moon book. He read the words below the picture of the dome.

  A moon base was built on the moon in the year 2031. The top of the dome slides open to let spacecrafts enter and leave.

  “Oh, man—” Jack whispered.

  “What’s wrong?” said Annie.

  Jack’s heart pounded with excitement. He could hardly speak. “We’ve landed inside a moon base,” he said.

  “So … ?” said Annie.

  “So the moon base is on the moon!” said Jack.

  Annie’s eyes widened. “We’re on the moon?” she asked.

  Jack nodded. “The book says the moon base was built in the year 2031,” he said. “So this book was written after that! Which means this book is from the future!”

  “Oh, wow,” said Annie. “Morgan must have gone forward in time to borrow it from a future library.”

  “Right,” said Jack. “And now we’re in the future, on the moon.”

  Squeak, squeak!

  Annie and Jack looked at Peanut. The mouse was running around in circles.

  “Poor Peanut,” said Annie.

  She tried to pick the mouse up. But Peanut hid behind the mango on the letter M.

  “Maybe she’s nervous about being on the moon,” said Annie.

  “She’s not the only one,” said Jack. He let out a deep breath, then he pushed his glasses into place.

  “So what’s a moon base?” asked Annie.

  Jack looked at the book. He read aloud:

  When scientists visit the moon for short periods, they eat and sleep in the moon base.

  “A space motel!” said Annie.

  “I guess,” said Jack. He read more:

  The small base has a landing chamber and a room for storing spacesuits. Air and temperature controls make breathing possible.

  “So that’s why we can breathe,” Jack said.

  “Let’s explore,” said Annie. “We have to find the fourth thing for Morgan.”

  “No, first we should study this map,” said Jack. He pulled out his notebook.

  “You study it,” said Annie.

  Jack copied the map. Then he drew in the tree house.

  “Okay,” he said. He pointed at the X in his drawing. “We’re here.”

  Jack looked up. Annie was gone.

  “Oh, brother,” Jack said. As usual, she had left without him. Before they could even make a plan.

  Jack put the moon book and pencil into his pack. Carrying his notebook and backpack, he started out the window.

  Squeak! Squeak!

  Jack looked back at Peanut. The mouse was running back and forth on the M.

  “Stay here and be safe,” said Jack. “We’ll be back soon.”

  Jack swung himself over the window sill. His feet touched the floor of the landing chamber.

  “Annie!” he called.

  There was no answer.

  Jack looked at his diagram.

  It showed only one way to go. Jack walked along the curved white wall to the stairs.

  He climbed the steps to a hallway.

  “Jack—hurry!” Annie was at the end of the hallway, standing in the airlock. She peered out a window in a giant door.

  Jack hurried toward her. Annie stepped aside so he could look out the window, too.

  “Oh, man,” said Jack. What he saw took his breath away.

  He stared at a rocky gray land. The land was filled with giant craters and tall mountains. The sun was shining. But the sky was ink-black!

  “Say hi to the moon,” Annie said softly.

  “The fourth M thing must be out there,” said Annie.

  Beside the door was a button with the word OPEN on it. Annie reached for the button.

  “Wait!” Jack grabbed her hand. “There’s no air on the moon. Remember?”

  “Oh. Right. But we have to go out to find the M thing.”

  “Let’s see what the book says,” said Jack.

  He pulled the book out of his pack. He flipped through it until he found a page that showed the surface of the moon. He read aloud:

  It takes fourteen Earth days to equal one day on the moon. No air protects the moon from the sun’s rays, so daytime heat reaches 260 degrees.

  Jack looked at Annie. “I told you our blood would boil if we went out there,” he said.

  “Yuck,” she said.

  Jack read from the book again:

  Moon scientists wear spacesuits, which have controls to keep them from getting too hot or too cold. They have tanks, which provide air for two hours.

  “Where do we get spacesuits?” asked Annie. She looked around then trotted back down the hall. “Maybe there … ?”

  Jack was studying his m
ap. “Let’s try the spacesuit storeroom.”

  “Don’t look at the map,” said Annie. “Look at the real room!”

  Jack glanced up. Annie was peering through a doorway off the hall.

  “There’s a ton of space stuff in here!” she said.

  Jack went to look.

  Bulky white suits hung from hangers. Air tanks, helmets, gloves, and boots sat in neat rows on shelves.

  “Wow, it’s like the armor room in a castle,” said Jack.

  “Yeah, with huge armor,” said Annie.

  “Let’s pick out the smallest stuff,” said Jack. “The suits can go over our clothes.”

  Annie found the smallest white suit. And Jack found the next smallest. They stepped into them.

  Then Annie locked Jack’s air tank into place.

  “Thanks,” he said. And he did the same for her.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “Gloves?” said Jack. He and Annie pulled on white gloves.

  “Boots?” said Annie. They each pulled on a pair of huge white boots.

  “Helmets?” said Jack. He reached for a helmet.

  “Wow, they’re pretty light,” he said. “I thought they’d be like knights’ helmets.”

  Jack and Annie put the helmets on. They locked each other’s into place.

  “I can’t move my head right or left,” said Annie.

  “Me neither,” said Jack. “Let’s try walking.”

  Jack and Annie moved clumsily around the room. Jack felt like a fat snowman.

  “Close your visor,” said Annie.

  They both closed their see-through visors. Cool air filled Jack’s helmet.

  “I CAN BREATHE!” Annie yelled. Her voice boomed in Jack’s ears.

  “Ow! Talk quietly,” Jack said. “We have two-way radios inside our helmets.”

  “Sorry,” whispered Annie.

  Jack put the moon book back in his pack. Then he slung the pack over his shoulder.

  “Okay!” he said. “Remember, we only have two hours of air in our tanks. So we need to find the fourth M thing really fast.”