Soccer on Sunday 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!

  #51: HIGH TIME FOR HEROES

  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

  SOCCER

  More Magic Tree House®

  GAMES AND PUZZLES FROM THE TREE HOUSE

  MAGIC TRICKS FROM THE TREE HOUSE

  MY MAGIC TREE HOUSE JOURNAL

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales 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.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Osborne, Mary Pope.

  Soccer on Sunday / by Mary Pope Osborne; illustrated by Sal Murdocca.

  pages cm. — (Magic tree house; #52)

  Summary: “Jack and Annie search for the fourth secret of greatness for Merlin the

  Magician in Mexico City at the 1970 World Cup Games. They hope to learn something new from soccer player great, Pele.” —Provided by publisher.

  ISBN 978-0-307-98053-3 (trade) — ISBN 978-0-307-98054-0 (lib. bdg.) —

  ISBN 978-0-307-98055-7 (ebook)

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

  4. Soccer—Fiction. 5. Pelé, 1940—Fiction. 6. Mexico—History—1946–1970—Fiction.]

  I. Murdocca, Sal, illustrator. II. Title.

  PZ7.O81167 Sl 2014 [Fic]—dc23 2013042092

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

  v3.1

  To Malcolm Edson Nascimento DeLuca,

  grandson of Pelé the Great

  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Prologue

  1. Seriously?

  2. Lucky Ducks

  3. Hurry Up for the World Cup!

  4. Follow Me!

  5. High in the Sky

  6. Annie? Roberto?

  7. Bye, Pelé

  8. Game of a Lifetime

  9. GOOOOAAAALLLL!!!!

  10. Candles in the Forest

  Author’s Note

  Excerpt from Soccer

  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 secrets of greatness from four people who are called great by the world. Jack and Annie have completed three of the four missions. They took a trip to ancient Macedonia, where they spent time with Alexander the Great and his war-horse, Bucephalus; they visited Coney Island in 1908, where they saw Harry Houdini and his wife, Bess, perform a magic show; and they had an adventure in Egypt in the 1800s, where they met Florence Nightingale.

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

  Slowly and carefully, Jack ran his hands over the face of the stony cliff. His fingers gripped ridges and bumps. He lodged his bare toes into cracks in the rock. He knew he had to get to the top. He pushed with his legs and pulled with his hands. He was almost there. He reached up and grabbed the overhang of the cliff.

  The wind screamed and blew against Jack, knocking him off balance. H
is feet slipped! He was dangling by one hand! “Jack!”

  Jack opened his eyes. It was dark. He could faintly see Annie in the moonlight. “Annie!” he whispered.

  “We have to go,” she said.

  “Have to get down,” said Jack. He closed his eyes. He was still hanging from the cliff.

  Annie shook his shoulder. “Jack! Wake up!”

  “Oh! Whoa …” Jack sat straight up. “Oh, man, I was hanging from a cliff in Egypt—you—”

  “You were dreaming about our last mission,” interrupted Annie. “Remember—you were hanging from a cliff, but everything turned out okay. We saved Koku. Remember? The little baboon?”

  “Right … right,” breathed Jack. He rubbed his eyes and looked at Annie. “What’s going on? What time is it? Why are you awake?”

  “We have to go to the woods,” said Annie. “It’s back.”

  “How do you know?” said Jack.

  “I couldn’t sleep,” said Annie. “I was looking out my window and saw the streak of light—”

  “That’s it,” said Jack, jumping out of bed. “Let’s go. Are Mom and Dad awake?”

  “No. If we leave now, we’ll be back before they get up,” said Annie. “Meet you outside.” She slipped out of Jack’s room.

  Jack didn’t even turn on his light. He changed into a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. He pulled on his socks and sneakers. He threw his notebook and pencil into his backpack. Then he tiptoed down the hall, down the stairs, and out the front door.

  Annie was waiting on the porch. The sun was about to rise, and birds had started to chirp in the warm summer dawn.

  “Ready,” Jack whispered.

  Jack and Annie left the front porch and stepped lightly over the wet grass of their front yard. They hurried up the sidewalk and crossed the street into the Frog Creek woods. As they walked between the dark trees, the purple-blue sky overhead was growing lighter. Birdsong filled the woods.

  “I wonder where we’ll go today,” said Jack.

  “And what will be the secret of greatness that makes the Ring of Truth glow?” Annie said. Then she began to speak in a dramatic voice, like a TV announcer. “What amazing person will Jack and Annie meet today?”

  Jack laughed, then spoke dramatically, too. “And when will they sniff the mist-gathered-at-first-light-on-the-first-day-of-the-new-moon-on-the-Isle-of-Avalon?”

  “And when they do, what great talent will they choose for themselves?” said Annie.

  Jack laughed again and shook his head.

  “Our lives are kind of crazy,” said Annie.

  “You think?” said Jack.

  The chorus of birds grew louder as the pale gold of dawn filtered down through the trees. When Jack and Annie came to the tallest oak in the woods, they looked up into the branches.

  The magic tree house was outlined against the sky. Without a word, Annie grabbed the rope ladder and started up. Jack followed.

  Jack and Annie climbed into the shadowy tree house. A ray of sunlight slanted through a window. It shone directly on a sheet of paper lying on the wooden floor. On the paper, Jack had written the secrets of greatness they had learned on their last three missions:

  HUMILITY

  HARD WORK

  MEANING AND PURPOSE

  A gold ring, a tiny bottle, and a yellowed scroll lay next to the paper. Jack picked up the scroll, unrolled it, and read aloud:

  “Pelé the Great?” said Jack. “He was a brilliant soccer player from Brazil.”

  “I know. Coach Cooney told us all about him,” said Annie.

  “This is so cool!” said Jack.

  “Wait,” said Annie. “There’s more.”

  When you complete your mission, please come to Camelot before you return home.

  —M.

  “So, we’re going to Camelot!” said Jack.

  “Yep,” said Annie. “And I wonder if we’re going to Brazil, too.” She and Jack looked around the tree house for a book that would help them on their journey.

  “There!” said Annie. She picked up a pamphlet lying in a shadowy corner. “I don’t believe it!”

  “What? What?” said Jack.

  “Look.” Annie handed him the pamphlet.

  “The World Cup!” said Jack. “That’s the biggest sports event on the planet!”

  “I know,” said Annie. “Look, it’s in Mexico! I’ve always wanted to go to Mexico.” When she opened the pamphlet, she gasped. “And look what Merlin gave us.” She held up two purple tickets.

  “Mexico 70 Final?” said Jack, reading a ticket. “There are lots of games during the World Cup, but there’s only one final.”

  “Thank you, Merlin!” said Annie with a laugh.

  “So Pelé must be playing in the final!” Jack said.

  “Yep.” Annie shoved their tickets in her back pocket.

  “Don’t forget this,” said Jack. He grabbed the small bottle lying on the floor and held it up to the sunlight. Sparkling mist swirled inside.

  “Mist gathered at first light on the first day of the new moon on the Isle of Avalon,” Jack said. Whenever he and Annie breathed in the mist and made a wish, they magically had a great talent for one hour. Jack tucked the bottle into his backpack.

  Annie picked up the gold ring from the floor. “And here’s the Ring of Truth,” she said. “You get to wear it this time. Just make sure to keep your eye on it when we’re with Pelé.”

  “Don’t worry,” said Jack as he slipped the ring onto his finger. The Ring of Truth would shine with a fiery light when they discovered the fourth secret of greatness.

  “Let’s go,” said Annie.

  “I still can’t believe we’re actually headed to Mexico, to a final World Cup soccer game, to meet Pelé the Great,” Jack said. “I mean, seriously?”

  “Seriously,” said Annie.

  Jack pointed at the cover of their program. “I seriously wish we could go to Mexico City, 1970!”

  The wind started to blow.

  The tree house started to spin.

  It spun faster and faster.

  Then everything was still.

  Absolutely still.

  The air in Mexico City was hot, humid, and smoggy. Jack heard screeching car tires, honking horns, and roaring truck motors. He looked at his clothes. He was wearing his own shorts and T-shirt. “Our clothes didn’t change,” he said.

  “That’s because kids wore shorts and T-shirts in the 1970s. Remember the photos of Mom and Dad?” said Annie.

  “Right,” said Jack. He and Annie looked out the window. The tree house had landed in a row of tall, leafy trees lining a busy street. Beyond the branches was a jagged skyline with towers and tall buildings. Below the branches, traffic moved noisily up an avenue.

  “It looks like we landed in the middle of the city,” said Jack. He opened their World Cup program to the first page and read:

  Mexico City is one of the largest cities in the world. Its citizens are overjoyed that their city has been chosen to host the 1970 World Cup games. Held every four years, the games are played for several weeks. This year, sixteen countries will compete in the matches to determine the final winner.

  “And we’ve got tickets to see the final winner!” Jack said, grinning. “I wonder which two teams will be playing!” He thumbed through the booklet and saw page after page of black-and-white photos of the teams competing in the World Cup games. “Mexico, Belgium, Sweden, Israel, Italy, England …”

  “Romania … West Germany … Brazil …,” Annie said, looking over his shoulder.

  “There he is!” said Jack. “Arantes Nascimento—Pelé!”

  “Well, we know Brazil made it to the final game, or we wouldn’t be here,” said Annie. “But I wonder who they’re playing.”

  “We’ll soon find out.” Jack closed the program. As he put it into his backpack, he saw his notebook and pencil, the bottle of magic mist—and some coins and bills inside. “Look, Mexican money—pesos. We have five- and ten-peso coins, and bills worth fifty pes
os.”

  “Sounds like a lot,” said Annie. “We can buy Mexican food when we get hungry. Tacos. Enchiladas. Burritos. I love Mexican food!”

  “Who doesn’t?” Jack said. “Who doesn’t love everything we’re about to do?” He pulled on his backpack and led the way down the rope ladder.

  When Jack and Annie reached the ground, they saw a large white building with an American flag. Engraved on the front wall of the building were the words EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES. A uniformed guard stood under a green awning at the entrance.

  “Perfect. We landed in front of the U.S. Embassy,” said Jack.

  “Why is that perfect?” asked Annie.

  “A country’s embassy is supposed to help its citizens when they visit another country,” said Jack.

  “Oh, that is perfect,” said Annie. “Come on.”

  Jack and Annie headed toward the entrance. Before they got to the door, the guard stepped out from under the awning.

  “Sorry, kids,” he said. “The embassy is closed on Sundays.” The man looked very formal in his blue uniform jacket and white hat and gloves, but he sounded friendly. He spoke with a Southern accent.

  “Oh, we were just looking for information,” said Jack. “We’re Americans.”

  “Groovy. Where y’all from?” the guard asked.

  “We’re Jack and Annie from Frog Creek, Pennsylvania,” said Annie.

  “I’m Benny from Valdosta, Georgia,” said the guard. “Pleased to meet you.”

  “Hi, Benny,” said Jack. “We’re going to the World Cup game that’s being played today. And—”

  “Lucky ducks!” Benny broke in. “It’s going to be the game of a lifetime!”

  “Game of a lifetime?” Jack said.

  “Today’s the final match—best two teams in the world. Italy’s playing Brazil!” said Benny.

  “Brazil? That’s Pelé’s team, right?” said Jack.

  “Sure is,” said Benny. “Pelé the Great.”

  Jack grinned at Annie. “This is so cool!” he said.

  “No kidding!” said Annie.

  “Y’all seem to really love soccer,” said Benny.

  “We do. We love to watch it and play it,” said Annie.

  “Well, y’all are unusual,” said Benny. “Most American kids hardly know anything about soccer.”