Where the Trees Take You

Growing up, I never had access to a tree house. My brother and I managed, with some help, to build a platform of sorts in front of the trees on the edge of our woods, but it didn’t quite have the magic of a tree house.

The trees had their own magic though, that changed with every season and drew us outside no matter what the weather. Seeing ice hanging from branches, wind whipping through boughs, or leaves swirling to the ground was a call to adventure!

That pull of trees — as a doorway to imagination — is something author Mary Pope Osborne understands well. Best known for her Magic Tree House series (opens in a new window), Mary has invited generations of young readers into a world where curiosity and courage can send you traveling through time from an enchanted tree house ensconced high in the branches of a magnificent oak. The adventures of Jack and Annie blend history, adventure, and heart, grounded in a deep respect for nature and the power of wonder.

In this reflection for Book Life, she captures the spirit of trees that will resonate with anyone who’s ever looked up into the leaves and felt the world begin to open.

Trees by Mary Pope Osborne

I think of trees as being conscious, caring creatures. Trees give shelter to baby birds who nest in their branches. They harbor hooting owls at midnight. They allow tree frogs to cling to them and croak for a mate on a rainy spring evening. Best of all, when I was a child, trees invited my brothers and me to climb them or swing from them. Trees quietly hid us in twilight games of Hide ‘n Seek. They never scolded us or tattled on us. Whenever we moved to a new army post (which was often), the trees in the new yard became our first new friends.

Years ago, because of my love of trees, it seemed only natural to create a time travel series called The Magic Tree House. I started writing about a boy named Jack and his sister Annie who find a mysterious tree house in the woods. High in an oak filled with books, the small wooden house sky rockets them to different times and places in history. They need only make a wish, swirl in the wind, then land in a different tree in a different world. (Actually, not unlike how my brothers and I moved from one post to another, leaving one set of trees for a new one, and starting fresh adventures wherever we landed.)

The childhood instinct to trust a tree is deep and wise, for the goodness of trees is legendary. Trees clean our air and water. They shade our yards and give shelter to wildlife from bugs and birds to squirrels and monkeys. They give us fruit and nuts to eat. They provide wood to make houses and furniture. Today in my study, my bookshelves are made of pinewood, the floorboards come from maples, I write my books on a cherry tree that came from my neighbor’s property. An expert woodworker, he cut down the tree, planed it, 
sanded it, and shaped it into a L-shaped writing desk. Sitting on top of my beautiful tree-desk are pencils and paper that come from — yes, trees!

And perhaps more than anything, trees make our world beautiful — yellow leaves quivering in the autumn wind, spring trees flowering with pink petals, snow-laden oak branches sparkling in the winter dawn. And nothing is more heart-stirring than the sight of sunlight filtering through green leaves in a summer forest.

There is no way for us to fully express gratitude for the generous help and beauty that trees give to our earth.  But sometimes on summer walks, I’ll pause to pay full attention to a tree, any tree. Even when the air is perfectly still, the tree will almost always mysteriously shake a few leaves to let me know that it sees me.

Resources

• Magic Tree House website (opens in a new window)
• Mary Pope Osborne’s Classroom Adventures Program (opens in a new window)
• Reading Rockets video interview
• Start with a Book: Tree Trekkers (opens in a new window)
• Start with a Book children’s books and activities: Nature: Our Green World (opens in a new window)