July is typically the month when I read more books than any other month of the year. What better way to while away these long, hot summer days than being curled up with a book by the beach, on the sofa, at the ballpark, on a picnic blanket, or up in a treehouse.
“Growing up, I was afraid of many things: spiders, ants, mosquitoes, and tidal waves, to name just a few. But I was never afraid of climbing trees.”—Mary Pope Osborne
While I agree with this author’s fear of spiders, I disagree with her attachment to tree climbing. This was my sister’s forte, not mine. Her love of tree climbing and my vivid memory of her fall from a tree with a book in her hand lead me down the path I’m traveling with Max this month as we focus on the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne.
Max was well into chapter books when she discovered Dinosaurs Before Dark, Book #1 of this series.
According to Mary Pope Osborne’s website, she wrote these books so that her characters Jack and Annie could travel through time, “from the prehistoric land of dinosaurs to the imaginary world of Camelot.”
Ah, Camelot, that “fleeting wisp of glory”!
Christmas in Camelot, the first Magic Tree House book in the Merlin Missions series, begins with a quote from Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, my favorite subject to teach:
O brother, had you known our Camelot,
Built by old kings, age after age, so old
The King himself had fears it would fall,
So strange, and rich, and dim . . .”
My former students will probably remember our study of Malory, Tennyson, and White and my enthusiasm for King Arthur. I loved traveling back in time to days when the good knights rescued damsels in distress and claimed “might for right” as their mission in life. I loved the history in Malory, the allegory in Tennyson, and the symbolism in White.
Like Christmas in July, let’s visit Christmas in Camelot!
In this book Morgan le Fay tells the children that their journey to Camelot will be different from other journeys when they visited real places in history.
“Camelot,” she says, “is a legend, a story that begins in truth. But then imagination takes over. . . . That is how a legend is kept alive.”
This passage in Christmas in Camelot reminds me of how I began our study of King Arthur. I would whisper a message about a Camelot character to the first student in class and then ask each student to whisper that information to the next student. When the message circulated around the room, the last student would share what he or she had heard with the class. Almost always, the information had altered along the journey of its oral transmission. This exercise helped me drive home the point that we can’t always believe everything we hear.
(Note: The image below shows some of my favorite King Arthur books perched atop a treasured project one of my students made years ago. This table, complete with a fleur-de-lis and etchings of the names of famous knights, holds a place of honor in my library. Thank you, Ronald Vaughn!)
Many of the books referenced in Max and Her Stacks carry the same good vs. evil theme found in the Merlin Missions books.
When the main characters Jack and Annie wonder why they have traveled on their adventure to the Otherworld, Morgan le Fay helps them discover this underlying theme:
“[Merlin] knows you both have a great desire to fight for the good. And he knows you use the gift of imagination very well. Those are two special qualities needed to succeed in any quest.”
According to Romans 12:21, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
While Osborne’s works are not overtly Christian, they do emphasize moral virtues and the importance of overcoming evil with good.
Parents might consider using Osborne’s Memories and Life Lessons from the Magic Tree House as a bedtime reflection on moral virtues. For example, this book’s “Look for Heroes, Far and Near” chapter can lead to a discussion of the heroes mentioned in Hebrews 11. A chapter entitled “Be Daring, but Not Foolish” might lead to some pearls of wisdom from Proverbs.
Osborne admits that her own travels inspired her references to magic, myths, history, and heroism. Traveling these roads through the Magic Tree House series can allow children the opportunity to be inspired as well.
The following educator guides and activities might be useful during these summer months: https://sites.prh.com/magic-tree-house/educators/.
For adults who might like to travel back in time to the days of chivalry and King Arthur, I’d love to recommend The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Mary Stewart’s series The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment, and The Wicked Day.
Wherever your own reading road is taking you this summer, I hope you find time to savor some great stories!
“Early literature in English is frequently about, and nearly always informed by, religion. Those questing knights in Sir Gaiwan and the Green Knight and The Fairie Queen are searching on behalf of their religion whether they know it or not.”—from Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor
“Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.”—Alfred, Lord Tennyson
“The hope of making it [a return to Camelot] would lie in culture. If people could be persuaded to read and write, not just to eat and make love, there was still a chance that they might come to reason.”—T. H. White
“Books are time travel.”—Peter Swanson
“Books and doors are the same thing. You open them, and you go through into another world.”—Jeanette Winterson
Galatians 6:10; Ephesians 4:32; Joshua 1:9; 2 Corinthians 5:7; Proverbs 3:5-6
