Ghost Town at Sundown

(The Mystery of the Ancient Riddles 2)

(Magic Tree House 10)
by
Mary Pope Osborne

illustrated by

Sal Murdocca

Scholastic, September 1997, 73 pp.
ISBN: 0-590-70636-5

Genre: Early Chapter
Subgenres: Time Travel / Wild West
Reviewed: 2/4/2004

Reviewed by: Conan Tigard

Book Cover

Excerpt

Jack Groaned.

He looked at Sunset. The young mustang did have a sad look in his eyes.

"Okay, we'll make a plan," he said. "But first I have to get out of these boots."

Jack grabbed one of his boots and pulled.

"Hurry!" said Annie.

"I can't even think in these things!" said Jack.

He huffed and puffed and pulled. Then a deep voice stopped him cold: "Hands up--or I'll shoot!"

Jack let go of his boot. He raised his hands in the air. So did Annie.

A cowboy rode out of an alley. His face was bony and tanned. He was riding a gray horse and pointing a six-shooter.

"I reckon you're the smallest horse thieves I've ever come across," he said.
 

Synopsis
Following a rabbit to the Magic Tree House, Jack an Annie are sent back to the Old West by Morgan le Fay. They end up at the end of a deserted town called Rattlesnake Flats. While exploring the town, they hear a sad piano song. They follow it to the saloon and notice that the piano is being playing by an invisible ghost. Hearing a commotion outside, they hide in two empty barrels as wild horses are driving down the street. The rustlers soon move the herd out of town leaving behind one small mustang colt.

Annie instantly bonds with the animal and names him Sunset. Jack discovers that the bond between mustang mother and colt is very strong and Annie is determined to return the lost colt to his mother. But just then a cowboy rides up and accuses them of being horse thieves. Jack and Annie convince Slim that they are innocent and only want to find this cowboy's stolen horses.

So, Jack and Annie, or Shorty and Smiley, as Slim calls 'em, head off into the setting sun to hunt down the horse rustlers.

Ghost Town at Sundown is the tenth book in the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. This is the second of four books in "The Mystery of the Ancient Riddles" collection. The book is illustrated by Sal Murdocca. This story is intended for early chapter book readers in 2nd to 4th grade. The writing is perfect for young readers as there are not a lot of difficult words, but new ones are introduced and then reinforced with repetition.
 

Review

In this tenth installment of the Magic Tree House, it is the second book in the four part series solving four riddles for Morgan le Fay so the kids can become Master Librarians. This time the kids get to travel to one of my favorite places in history . . . the Old West.

There is quite a bit of humor in this book. Throughout the entire thing, Jack is trying to take off the cowboy boots he tried on. Try as he might, something always seems to interfere with him accomplishing this task.

Annie is up to her old tricks of acting before she really thinks things through, which, of course, always leads to the exciting adventures these two kids always seem to have.

I really enjoyed Ghost Town at Sundown and my daughter, who read it to me, thought it was great. We can't wait to see what happens in the next adventure of Shorty and Smiley, er, I mean . . . Jack and Annie.

I rated this book a 9 out of 10.

This site was created and is maintained by Conan Tigard
2004