Free Polar Bears Past Bedtime by Mary Pope Osborne

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Dear Readers,
    A while ago, I began researching the Arctic because so many of you wanted Jack and Annie to go there. When I came across a certain astonishing fact, I got very excited about writing the story. The fact was this: Even though polar bears can weigh as much as 1,000 pounds, they can walk on ice that is too thin to hold a person! How do they do this? They lie flat on the ice and perfectly balance their weight so that the ice won’t crack. Then they move forward by pulling with their claws, all the while maintaining their perfect balance.
    As you’ll see, this particular fact, combined with my imagination, helped me plot the story.
    So if you were to ask me where I get the inspiration for my Magic Tree House books, I’d have to say: readers, research, and my imagination. And I get further inspiration from my editor, Mallory Loehr, who has worked on all the books with me. She and I have fun meetings in which we go over and over the ideas for each book.
    I hope you enjoy reading Polar Bears Past Bedtime as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it. And I hope it will inspire you to try researching and writing your own book.
    All best,

Text copyright © 1998 by Mary Pope Osborne.
Illustrations copyright © 1998 by Sal Murdocca.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
    www.randomhouse.com/kids
    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
    Osborne, Mary Pope. Polar bears past bedtime / by Mary Pope Osborne ; illustrated by Sal Murdocca.
p. cm. — (Magic Tree House ; #12) “A Stepping Stone book.”
SUMMARY: Their magic tree house takes Jack and Annie to the Arctic, where a polar bear leads them onto very thin ice.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89469-5
[1. Polar bear—Fiction. 2. Arctic