Free Ghost Town at Sundown by Mary Pope Osborne

Teachers and librarians love
Magic Tree House ® books, too!
    Thank you for opening faraway places and times to my class through your books. They have given me the chance to bring in additional books, materials, and videos to share with the class.
—J. Cameron
    It excites me to see how involved [my fourth-grade reading class] is in your books … I would do anything to get my students more involved, and this has done it.
—C. Rutz
    I discovered your books last year … WOW! Our students have gone crazy over them. I can’t order enough copies! … Thanks for contributing so much to children’s literature!
—C. Kendziora
    I first came across your Magic Tree House series when my son brought one home … I have since introduced this great series to my class. They have absolutely fallen in love with these books! … My students are now asking me for more independent reading time to read them. Your stories have inspired even my most struggling readers.
—M. Payne
    I love how I can go beyond the [Magic Tree House] books and use them as springboards for other learning.
—R. Gale
    We have enjoyed your books all year long. We check your Web site to find new information. We pull our map down to find the areas where the adventures take place. My class always chimes in at key parts of the story. It feels good to hear my students ask for a book and cheer when a new book comes out.
—J. Korinek
    Our students have “Magic Tree House fever.” I can’t keep your books on the library shelf.
—J. Rafferty
    Your books truly invite children into the pleasure of reading. Thanks for such terrific work.
—S. Smith
    The children in the fourth grade even hide the [Magic Tree House] books in the library so that they will be able to find them when they are ready to check them out.
—K. Mortensen
    My Magic Tree House books are never on the bookshelf because they are always being read by my students. Thank you for creating such a wonderful series.
—K. Mahoney

Dear Reader,
    Over the past year, many of you have asked me to send Jack and Annie to the Wild West. I thought this was a good idea, but I wasn’t sure what should happen in the story.
    Then one day, I received a letter from a girl named Alexandra, who lives in Washington. She suggested that Jack and Annie help a colt find his mother, who has been stolen by horse thieves.
    What an excellent idea, I thought. Many thanks to Alexandra for helping me with this book.
    Also, thanks to everyone who has written. More Tree House books are in the planning … so all your thoughts and suggestions are very welcome. Keep them coming!



Text copyright © 1997 by Mary Pope Osborne.
Illustrations copyright © 1997 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.
    http://www.randomhouse.com/
    http://www.randomhouse.com/magictreehouse
    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Osborne, Mary Pope. Ghost town at sundown / by Mary Pope Osborne; illustrated by Sal Murdocca.
p. cm. — (The magic tree house series; #10)
SUMMARY: Their magic tree house takes Jack and Annie back to the Wild West, where they experience excitement and danger and try to solve a riddle.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89427-5
[1. Frontier and pioneer life—West (U.S.)—Fiction. 2. West (U.S.)—Fiction. 3. Time travel—Fiction. 4. Magic—Fiction. 5.Tree houses—Fiction.]
I. Murdocca, Sal, ill. II. Title. III. Series: Osborne, Mary Pope.
Magic tree house series; #10.
PZ7.081167Gh 1997 [Fic]—dc21 97-7298
    Random House, Inc. New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Auckland
    v3.0

For Nick Plakias—wonderful friend and singing cowboy poet



Jack and Annie were sitting on the porch of their house. Annie was gazing down