Eve of the Emperor Penguin

Magic Tree House "Merlin Missions" #12

by Mary Pope Osborne, Sal Murdocca (Illustrator)

The #1 bestselling chapter book series of all time celebrates 25 years with new covers and a new, easy-to-use numbering system!

Jack and Annie arrive on the one continent they haven’t visited Antarctica! What can they hope to learn about happiness in such a barren place? Only the penguins know for sure…Jack and Annie are about to find out!

Formerly numbered as Magic Tree House #40, the title of this book is now Magic Tree House Merlin Mission #12: Eve of the Emperor Penguin.

Did you know that there’s a Magic Tree House book for every kid?

Magic Tree Adventures with Jack and Annie, perfect for readers who are just beginning chapter books
Merlin More challenging adventures for the experienced reader
Super A longer and more dangerous adventure
Fact Nonfiction companions to your favorite Magic Tree House adventures

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Childrens, Chapter Books, Adventure, Historical Fiction, Animals

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Mary Pope Osborne is an American author of children's books and audiobook narrator. She is best known as the author of the Magic Tree House series, which as of 2017 sold more than 134 million copies worldwide. Both the series and Osborne have won awards, including for Osborne's charitable efforts at promoting children's literacy. One of four children, Osborne moved around in her childhood before attending the University of North Carolina. Following college, Osborne traveled before moving to New York City. She somewhat spontaneously began to write, and her first book was published in 1982. She went on to write a variety of other children's and young adult books before starting the Magic Tree House series in 1992. Osborne's sister Natalie Pope Boyce has written several compendium books to the Magic Tree House series, sometimes with Osborne's husband Will Osborne.

Reviews

[Charissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this! Penguins are so cute~ Especially Emperor Penguins! Jack and Annie traveled to Antarctica and brought a baby penguin named Penny to give to Merlin as one of the secrets of happiness.

[theliterateleprechaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eve of the Emperor Penguin is book #40 in the Magic Tree House series written by Mary Pope Osborne.

Synopsis:
Jack and Annie arrive on the one continent they haven’t visited before: Antarctica! What can they hope to learn about happiness in such a barren place? Only the penguins know for sure…Jack and Annie are about to find out!

I will not be reading this one with my niece and nephew because I didn’t entirely agree with the message. I’ve used this series countless times in my teaching over the years, yet this particular book surprised me. Firstly, I didn’t like that the children took Penny, an orphaned penguin, from Antarctica and brought it to Merlin. Secondly, the children were hiding and being secretive because they knew they were doing something illegal…and then they say something along the lines of ‘we know it’s illegal, we’re only doing it once!’ Hmmm.

Main message: taking care of others makes one happy as well as letting others take care of us.

Now this message is one I can stand behind.

I loved learning about krill, Skuas and Giant Petrels, Leopard seals, altitude sickness, and the 6 different kinds of penguins that live in Antarctica. I was surprised to learn that 90% of the world’s ice is found in Antarctica.

This was my second audio experience…and I think I’m hooked?!

[Tina Loves To Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a middle grade, and this is the 40 book in the Magic Tree House series. I love the Magic Tree House series. This book was cute, and I think it would make kids think about what is the right thing to do.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

What else are my brother and I going to do on Christmas break than go to the library and get Magic Tree House books and see how fast we can read them?

I finished this one in 10 minutes flat, and it was pretty good too!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's our swan song to Winter (sniff, sniff). This one was particularly funny. The kids were cracking up over this one. And I learned a lot about Antarctica while I was reading this to the kids. I love that about this series. After we finish one of these and the kids go to bed, I always end up googling stuff I learned from the book :) This one brought on a long google search :) and p.s., I love penguins :)

[Shae Petersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one as the setting of Antartica was really cool. I liked learning about the climate there, the size of Antartica compared to America etc. I also liked the mention of the Sydney Morning Herald :P The penguin was cute too, especially when it remembered the children saving the young penguin and taking them under his wing.

[Katherine "Kj" Joslin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read with a little neighbor girl named Addie, it was my first Magic Tree House book and it was great.

[Marco De La Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is about when Jack and Annie go on another mission to help Merlin fell happy again because he won't eat, sleep, drink,or even talk. So Morgan Le Fay sends them on this mission to the antartic to go find something really special just for him.So as the magic tree house transported them to the cold lands, they wondered were are the animals or people? It was a quiet, windy,chilly,cold,frosty,snowy, icey and deep freezing. They really wondered what are they going to find all the way in the middle of nowhere. As they kept walking and walking they saw nice penguins walk with their little babies hugging each other warmth.They were really amazed that they actually saw those penguins for the first time ever.They at least started walking and spotted this red bus who carried a lot of coated people looking out the windows and Jack and Annie were supried so they shouted. They didn't stop maybe they haven't heard them. So they kept walking while talking to each other. They also wondered what that red bus was doing here out in the cold. As they kept walking they got really excited as they spotted tyhe red bus again and this time stopped at a big huge tent. They started running and saw the people leaving the bus heading to the huge tent and as they went inside they noticed that it was well heated and cookies/hot chocalate were waiting on a huge table.

[Stephanie (Reading is Better With Cupcakes) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute read. Learned a bit about both Antarctica and emperor penguins while going on a fun adventure!

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute little story to listen to while doing little things around the house. I still like they travel in a magic tree house. I also liked how they discovered the 4 things to happiness.

[Cora Galpern]

Magic Treehouse is also awesome in Spanish. Me encantan estas historias

[Jan Z · Rating 3 out of 5]

1.5 out 5 on terror faces. They look more surprised than scared
Not a bad story, but a some environmental faux pas. Do not handle or make pets of wildlife.

[Caitlyn Boyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

My students LOVED this book!! They didn’t want this one to end and rated it 4 stars!

[Ashley Li · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eve Of The Emperor Penguin Review

PERSONAL RESPONSE

This book taught me a lot of knowledge about Antarctica. For example, Mount Erebus is the most active volcano in Antarctica, with daily eruptions; only emperor penguins could survive winter in Antarctica, because only they could handle the cold and so on. And this book also taught me to take loving care of another can make one very happy, and also sometimes I can make other people happy by letting them take care of me.

THE PLOT

Jack and Annie went to the magic tree house and started the new adventure. They got their mission to find the fourth secret of happiness for Merlin the magician. And for the final secret, they must went to a burning mountain of ice and snow. On wheels. by air, then all fall down, until they come to the Cave of the Ancient Crown. The magic tree house whisked them to the super-cold continent of Antarctica--- the land of ice and snow and penguins. There they met a group of scientists and reporters, Annie and Jack went to see Mount Erebus which is the volcano they were finding with the group. And they fell in a hole and they found so many penguins which were the ancient crown they were finding. They brought a baby penguin who was an orphan back to Merlin for making him happy. In the end they found the fourth secret of happiness which was, ”Taking loving care of another can make one very happy.”

RECOMMEND

Eve Of The Emperor Penguin is a book which combines geography. Therefore, when we read this book we also can learn some knowledge of geography about Antarctica. After I read this book, I knew some geography which I didn’t know before. For example, I learned new information about more than 99 percent of Antarctica is covered with thick ice and in the twentieth century, more than 40 permanent stations were built in Antarctica by people from many countries. Children are easily fascinated by the plots in the novel, so I think this book is recommended for children who are in elementary school. When children read this book, they also can learn some geography. And those interesting facts will let the children be interested in this book and in geography; thus, arouse the interest of study.

[midnightfaerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 6 yr old is becoming a voracious reader and his teacher recommended this series so I picked up a few from the library. My son loves it. Magic and fun and adventure rolled into a chapter book that's easy to read, yet challenging enough that he's not bored. Many of these are educational as well, focusing on a particular point in history such as a president's reign, or a location, like Ireland in this one, which goes really well with his geography and history lessons. He's loving it, and already has said these are the books he wants to read for the challenge. Overall a great step into chapter books for the advanced reader.

[Heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

My five-year-old loves this series, but he didn't like this book. It was too tense for him when Jack and Annie were caught by the tour guide, and he made me skip over a few chapters. I usually like how this series teaches nature facts as well as amuses children with the stories, but this book seemed short on facts and cast the scientists as the bad guys, opposing Jack and Annie's mission. Taking a baby penguin out of Antarctica illegally and disobeying rules right and left also seemed like poor messages to give kids.

[Deb Bethel]

Hehehe I don’t care that this is a children’s book; I finally picked it back up after it had collected some dust and am happy to get back into reading for French practice! I read The Magic Treehouse books in English when I was young & reading some of them in French is a fun way to keep up some light reading, grammar practice, and still learn new expressions. Ne vous inquiétez pas, je vais lire Colette au prochain !

[Jenny Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final book in the quartet where Jack and Annie have to find four secrets of happiness for Merlin. This time, they visit modern day Antarctica. These are fun little adventures. The Fact Tracker for this is Penguins and Antarctica

[Helen Plum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every year Jack and Annie get a mission from the magic tree house. This year they have to find out the Ancient Crown. However, this time they went to the extremely cold place, Antarctica, where they have faced problems, but they assisted and assured each other. They had helped penguins and many others.

Star Rating:: 5 Stars

Find it in our Library Catalog

[Christian · Rating 2 out of 5]

This just didn't hold my interest.

[Dree · Rating 2 out of 5]

Same old same old. Mediocre plot and now (being that this is #40) very predictable. But my 6 yo enjoyed it, of course.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the magic treehouse series, not only in Merlin Missions, Jack and Annie found a magic treehouse. They soon discovered that in the magic treehouse there were lots of books and when they point to a picture in the book and make a wish to go there the magic treehouse just magically transports them there! They soon learned that the treehouse belongs to Morgan Le Fay from Camelot. Jack and Annie have helped Morgan with a humongous amount of missions in all places and time periods with the help of the magic treehouse. However in Merlin Missions it is not however Morgan that sends them on these missions. It is Merlin, a fantastic magician. During Merlin Missions, Jack and Annie make two friends named Teddy and Kathleen. They soon completed four missions that showed they could properly handle magic. On those missions, they were given a book of ten magic rhymes to use on four missions. Each rhyme can only be used once. Since they succeeded in those four missions, they were given the Wand of Dianthus. A magic wand that could create magic. On this mission, Jack and Annie are going to find the final secret of happiness for Merlin to cheer him up. They already found three secrets of happinesses so this is their fourth and last mission to find a secret of happiness to cheer Merlin up! On this mission they need to be quick though, because Merlin is falling very quickly. Soon he will disappear!

In this book Annie was just taking a picture of Jack for her family project for school when Jack saw a light shoot towards the woods! They decided to see if the magic treehouse was back, and it was! They meet their friends Teddy and Kathleen and they gave them a research book and a note from Morgan to help them with their mission. Teddy and Kathleen told them they would be going to Antarctica! Since they really didn’t want Merlin to fall very quickly and disappear, they pointed to the research book and wished to go to Antarctica. On this mission they have a research book, a note, and the Wand of Dianthus. Soon Jack and Annie met a group of penguins. Soon something like a bird came and wanted to eat the penguins. Luckily, Jack and Annie protected them. Then they said goodbye to the penguins and left. They soon saw a group of scientists and reporters visiting Antarctica. They put on their goggles and masks and pretended to be one of the scientists and reporters. They also decided to pretend they were short grown ups so the bus driver and guide, Nancy, won’t freak out and have a heart attack about the fact that Jack and Annie were children. Since Nancy thought Jack and Annie were adult researchers she let them in the bus. Nancy talked about their training with a disease, to stay together, and that there were holes in the ice so watch out. She also talked about driving a snowmobile! Soon Nancy also wanted everyone to introduce themselves! What are Jack and Annie going to say? They can’t just say they are kids because then everybody will freak out, and Nancy will have a heart attack! This is not the only problem Jack and Annie have though, this is way too risky! Pretending to be a adult and researcher! They know none of the things the other researchers know! If Nancy figures out that they didn’t have any training including preventing the disease, she will freak out! Plus, she will have a heart attack when she figures out Jack and Annie are kids! Oh, and there are still the disease and the holes in the ice to worry about! What if they catch the disease? What if they fall in the holes in the ice? On top of all of that, how are they going to complete this mission quickly so Merlin doesn’t disappear? What are Jack and Annie going to do?

[Lauren Ellington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grade: 4th Grade
Genre: Adventure

Eve of the Emperor Penguin is the fortieth book in the series of the Magic Tree House written by the accredited author, Mary Pope Osborne. This book follows Annie and Jack to a land most will never visit... Antarctica! Along the journey, these two pals are trying to find the art of happiness and four secrets that are hidden in Antarctica. Will the Penguins be their allies or their enemies? Do these furry two webbed feet creatures contain the secrets? Definitely read this book to find out!!

This book was a WOW book for me because I love animals and what better than a book with animals AND an adventure! Annie reminds me of myself in many cases since I love adventures and learning new things each and every day. She is very eager and wants to be involved in everything just like me! I have always been drawn to books where I can relate to the main character and picture myself in their shoes.

One activity that could be taught with this book is the importance of using pictures to decipher what the text is saying. There are quite a few illustrations in this novel and being able to decide what the novel is stating based on the picture is a characteristic that a great reader contains. In order to further this idea even more, children in the classroom could choose a paragraph that they like the most out of a certain chapter and draw their own picture to coincide with the paragraph.

[Ali Book&Seaglasshunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third Magic Treehouse book I’ve read recently with my two young kids. We’ve obviously not read them in order but just by the subjects that caught our attention (thank goddess because after the first one they are rough to get through as an adult). This one was quite a bit longer than the first two and I felt it.
In this one Jack and Annie are sent by enchantress Morgan to find the final secret of happiness for the rapidly fading away Merlin. Jack and Annie find themselves in Antarctica with only a riddle and a magic wand with one wish to help them in their quest. They are quickly “caught” by an adult but are able to conceal their true identities as children for awhile, while learning a little bit about the continent. When their ages are discovered, Jack and Annie fear they will lose their chance to find what they need. But then some magic thrusts them into a kingdom of emperor penguins and they are given a gift. At this point Jack and Annie seem to forget what the entire reason of their mission was and they quickly head back to Merlin. Somehow the gift ends up being good enough and Merlin is saved, but it seems like such a stretch to get that at the end of the story.
Overall not my favorite. There’s a little too much mixing between genres for me and I think that holds the book from being good enough in either arena.

[Hannah Eliza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this as the "polaroid" challenge in the vsco girl readathon (read something nostalgic)! I loved the magic tree house series when I was in elementary school, and although I still had vague memories of Teddy, Merlin, Jack & Annie before rereading this, I forgot just how DELIGHTFUL and CUTE this book is! Not gonna lie, I did learn new things while reading this lol. It's always a nice trip to go on Jack and Annie, and the message at the end is all about the secrets of happiness that I deeply appreciated and felt moved by.

My biggest take away from rereading a MTH book was this: Mary Pope Osbourne knows how to write about important topics (safety, respecting parents, be kind to peers, etc.) without full-on lecturing or talking down to children, something I found very annoying as a child reading chapter books for the first time. From their adventures, these lessons are inserted in very unique and relevant ways, and THAT is how Jack, Annie, and consequently the reader, throughout the series.

[Lila Glover · Rating 5 out of 5]

""Jack and Annie are on a mission to learn the final secret of happiness! This time, the magic tree house whisks them away to the super-cold continent of Antartica-the land of ice and snow and penguins-where they're supposed to find the Cave of the Ancient Crown. But when they meet a group of scientists and reporters, Jack and Annie are surprised to discover that they are in contemporary times! How will they find an ancient crown if they're with these people?" (This is the blurb on the back of the book.)
Mary Pope Osborne
Eve of the Emperor Penguin

[Wilhelm Molina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Genre: Fantasy
Grade Level: 2nd/3rd
Although I was more of an "AZ Mysteries" kid as a child, I still read The Magic Tree House and found their worlds very immersive. As for today, the series (or at least this book) is still good and holds up... somewhat. I didn't find it as enjoyable as I used to as a kid, and it kind of made me want to read "AZ Mysteries" instead since I loved that series more as a child. That being said, it is still a good book. Jack and Annie are still fun characters and the stories feel classic. Although there are some comedic scenes and good moments, I doubt I'd be coming back to this series in the near future.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This as another interesting title in a great children's series. I especially like that Jack and Annie come from a family with caring parents (which we don't see much in children's literature). I think it's important for kids to see themselves and their situations represented in literature, and having a traditional family shown is unusual but refreshing. I liked the facts about Antarctica and penguins, but felt the story didn't need to veer so far into fantasy with the emperor penguins. Other than that, it was another great addition to a wonderful series, which I still highly recommend for its intended audience.

[Renee Masterson Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jack and Annie are on a quest to find the 4th secret which is the key to helping Merlin heal. They journey to Antarctica and meet penguins. Very easy for kids to follow. The children enjoyed it. They would give it 5 starts. I wish there was a little more complexity, but I like that Magic Treehouse always gives a small window into the bigness and diversity of the world.

The only problem I have with Magic Treehouse in general is the usual deception of the children to adults; and particularly in this book, evolutionary view of the earth. However, not a reason in my opinion to avoid the book. It was an easy and productive conversation.

[betanine · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like Magic Tree House books, this one will likely work for you. Pope has found a story design that works for her audience. As is often the case, there are a few interesting facts about the real world mixed in with a healthy dose of imagination. After a number of Tree House books this year, I’m beginning to feel that each review sounds much the same. At my house, the boy likes them and chooses them regularly. That is a good thing in my book because they keep him aware of stories in the pages.