Vacation Under the Volcano

(The Mystery of the Lost Libraries 1)

(Magic Tree House 13)
by
Mary Pope Osborne

illustrated by

Sal Murdocca

Scholastic, March 1998, 74 pp.
ISBN: 0-590-70639-X

Genre: Early Chapter
Subgenres: Time Travel / Pompeii
Reviewed: 3/15/2004

Reviewed by: Conan Tigard

Book Cover

Excerpt

"Here it is!" said Annie

She held up a scroll. The words at the top matched the one on their paper.

"Yay," said Jack. "I wish I could read Latin so we could find out what the story is."

"Don't think about it now!" said Annie. "Let's go!"

Annie handed the scroll to Jack, then started out of the room.

"Come on," she said. "Bring it!"

"I just want to check and see what the story's about," said Jack.

He put the scroll in the leather bag. Then he flipped through the book on Roman times, looking for a picture of the ancient scroll. In the middle of the book, he found a picture of a volcano erupting over a town.

Under the picture was written:

For 800 years, Mount Vesuvius was a

peaceful mountain, rising above the

town of Pompeii. Then, at noon on

August 24, A.D. 79, it erupted into a

deadly volcano.

"Oh, no," whispered Jack, "August 24, A.D. 79--that's today! Oh, man, what time is it?" He looked around wildly. "Annie!"

She was gone again.

Synopsis

After becoming Master Librarians (see Polar Bears Past Bedtime), Jack and Annie are packing to go on vacation with their folks.

Annie decides they should run out to the tree house first, and they find Morgan le Fay waiting for them. She sends them back to Ancient Rome to a nice town called Pompeii, which resides directly below Mt. Vesuvius. They are to seek out a specific book that Morgan wants to preserve.

When they arrive, they have magically appeared in Roman attire. Jack constantly refers to the book about Ancient Rome that he has brought along as they wander through the streets looking for a library. They are scared away by a soothsayer who keeps repeating that the world is going to end.

Just when they think things can't get any worst, Mt. Vesuvius begins to erupt, showering hot rocks and ash down upon the defenseless city . . . and Jack and Annie too.

Vacation Under the Volcano is the thirteenth book in the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. This is the first of four books in "The Mystery of the Lost Libraries" 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

Ahhh . . . this is what I have been waiting for. Finally a Magic Tree House book that can really teach kids a lot of interesting stuff. In this story, Jack and Annie travel back to a doomed city.

Mary Pope Osborne does a great job in describing both the city of Pompeii and its inhabitants. As the kids go along, Jack is constantly reading from the book about Ancient Rome. The reader will learn more about ancient history in this book than any previous Magic Tree House book. As a teacher, I found this extremely appealing. The author based this story on recent evidence that was found in both Pompeii and her sister city, Herculaneum.

Overall, I highly enjoyed Vacation Under the Volcano and think it is one of the best so far in this series. I highly recommend it.

I rated this book a 9 out of 10.