Mary Pope Osborne Biography

• Magic Tree House Series
• Run, Run As Fast As You Can
• The Deadly Power of Medusa
• Jason and the Argonauts
• Favorite Greek Myths
• American Tall Tales
• Spider Kane and the Mystery under the May-apple
• Mermaid Tales from around the World
• Haunted Waters
• Favorite Norse Myths
• Rocking Horse Christmas
• Favorite Medieval Tales
• My Secret War: the World War II diary of Madeline Beck
• My Brother’s Keeper
• Kate and the Beanstalk
• Tales from the Odyssey
• Moonhorse

Mary Pope Osborne (1949) is an eminent American children’s book writer. With her use of vivid imagination in the stories she has captured the hearts of millions of little ones and old ones around the globe. Osborn has kept children entertained for over two decades with her evergreen Magic Tree House series.

Born in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Osborn was a daughter of US Army Colonel, William Pope and homemaker Barnette nee Dickens. Due to her father’s postings, Osborns had to keep moving from one region to another. They finally settled in North Carolina after their relocation from Florida and Austria. Osborn never felt tired of going places and resettling time and again. She opted for drama at the University of North Carolina but later switched her majors to comparative religion as she developed interest in different cultures, mythology and religion.

As Osborn graduated from the college, in 1970s she set out on a journey around the world. She joined a group of European people heading toward the Eastern countries. On her expedition she travelled through several Asian countries and faced countless obstacles of journey but she relentlessly braved the elements. Osborn continued the travel until she suffered from a bad case of food poisoning. During her convalescence she spent her time reading Tolkien’s trilogies. On her return to the real life she worked a number of odd jobs before starting off her journey as a writer.

She holds her nomadic childhood and the adventurous streak in her inspirational for her literary works. Osborn made her writing debut in 1982 with a young adult novel entitled, Run, Run, As Fast As You Can. The novel is semi-autobiographical about a Southern eleven-year-old. Before jumping on children’s books Mary Pope Osborne produced several novels for young adults. Ten years after her first novel publication, she introduced the Magic Tree House series. The series is about a magic tree house filled with books that teleports the two protagonists in time these books are set in. By far Osborn has penned down 45 books in the series which is now renamed as Magic Tree House Merlin Missions.

The success of Magic Tree House books is accredited to Osborn’s unique writing style. Her uncanny ability to heighten the suspense and adventurous elements in the books is unparalleled. Moreover, the cliffhangers she has employed at the end of chapters, piques her readers’ curiosity which tempts them to read the next book in the series at once. These books are essentially educational, providing the precise geographic and historical details. The non-fiction companions to Magic Tree House are composed by her husband Will Osborne and sister Natalie Pope Boyce.

In addition to children’s book, Osborn has also written in different genres including mysteries, biographies, stories inspired by Greek & Norse mythology, American tall tales and picture books. Her graduation major facilitated her to write a book on world religions for which Homer’s Odyssey served as a model. In the last 3 decades Osborn has written prolifically and produced over 100 books. Some of her recognized works include, Tales from the Odyssey, My Brother’s Keeper, Favorite Medieval Tales, and Haunted Waters. Osborn believes in the magic of writing as she expresses her delight as an author, “Writing is a miracle. You can travel anywhere in the world, to any time and any place — and still be home in time to have dinner.”

REFERENCE:http://www.famousauthors.org/mary-pope-osborne