Essay On Mary Pope Osborne's Vocabulary In My Childhood

Mary Pope Osborne was born May 20, 1949 in Fort Sill, Oklahoma to William Pope and Barnette Dickens. As a child Osborne moved on multiple occasions due to the fact that her father was an U.S. Army Colonel. Therefore, she was able to experience many locations and receive different connections in each place. When she was four years old she got an experience that seemed fit for a princess, “Across the street from our house was an ancient castle on a cliff. So when I first heard fairy tales, I felt as if the magic of Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty was taking place right in my own neighborhood” (need Citation). As an author she uses her love for places and historical events as inspiration. Writing style is the way the author structures their writing
because of this each author has their own style. Osborne writes to intrigue your imagination and your want to discover what happens next. She writes with suspense present in her work: each chapter in her Magic Tree House Series she leaves it with a cliffhanger of some sort. This makes reluctant readers want to continue reading the book in order to find out what happens next. Osborne’s writes in many different genres’ including historical fiction. Her most prominent books are The Magic Tree House Series. These books are episodic chapter books because of this each book has a different theme present. They are based around the two protagonists Annie and Jack that are on a mission by Morgan Le Fay to become master librarians.
Each book is based in a different place in time and has a historical bases involved. Therefore, these books are great to use in history class to explain different time periods and allow for student to better connect with people in the past. Within the book many words foreign to children are explained. During the adventures, many things that are not pertinent in our time are explained with definitions that are bolded intertwined within the story line. This helps build children’s vocabulary in doing so it builds language proficiency. As a child, I was a reluctant reader but I was able to enjoy reading The Magic Tree House Series. One of my favorites is Twister on Tuesday because of its relation to tornadoes. The book is based in the pioneer day when settlers were traveling to California and Oregon. Annie and Jack are sent there to find “something to learn,” for Morgan Le Fay (Osborne and Murdocca, 2001). On their adventure they see the continental railroad, a covered wagon train, and a school dug out. With them they have an information book that explains a little about each thing. They learn that the dug out was a single family home that was used for a schoolhouse. The family that made the dug out added a
basement below it for safety from tornadoes that were common in the region. They decided to go into the schoolhouse, because where is a better place to find something to learn? Upon entering the school they meet Miss Neely who does not seem to be old enough to be a teacher. She invites them in to the class that consist of three children; Kate, Will, and Jeb. They began with a reading lesson and Jack tells Miss Neely that he loves to read so he starts reading. After him is Jeb, but he does not know how to read. Jack tries to help him, but Jeb gets angry. Miss Neely is quick to divert the conflict and sends the children to lunch outside. While outside Will points out that there is a storm brewing in the distance and that they will have to eat quickly. Will and Kate offer Annie and Jack each a sweet potato to eat. Jack notices that Jeb is not eating anything he offers the sweet potato to him. In an angry tone Jeb responded that if he wanted to eat he would have brought something with him. Jeb took Jack’s kindness as him making fun of him. Jeb threatened to beat Jack up and went back in the school. When all the children went back in it was time for their writing lesson. Miss Neely had written “ `Tis a lesson you should heed, Try, try again; If at first you don’t succeed, Try, try again” (Osborne and Murdocca, 2001). The quote was to be written on each of their individual pieces of slate. Jack realized this was the thing they were supposed to find. Annie and Jack make up a reason to leave and head for the tree house. They almost reach the tree house when they spot a tornado in the distance. Anne and Jack decided to run back to the schoolhouse to show everyone the storm cellar that is below. Just in the nick of time everyone makes it into the storm cellar. After the twister passes they all climb out of the cellar. Everyone thanks them and they head off. As they were leaving Jeb runs up to them and thanks them again and they end on good terms. Jack and Annie get to the tree house and leave back to their time. Twister and Tuesday can be used for multiple things in a classroom. First and foremost, it can be used in a reading class just for building reading skills. The students could read the book out loud and the teacher could see where the students are having problems in reading. This will allow for the teacher to target the issues and help improve them. Also, the book could be read aloud by the teacher and because of how suspenseful it is the students will hold attention longer. Then they could write a summary of the book or just their thoughts on the book. Doing this will improve there processing and retention of the book in question and along the way improve their writing. The book could also be used in a history class. When learning about the pioneers this book could be added on to the lesson to give supplementary material. The book will help the students be able to step into the life’s of the pioneers and understand their way of life a bit better. Another use for the book is in science. When learning about weather students in a region that are foreign to tornadoes this book could help explain to them what effects a tornado leaves behind.