Free Viking Ships at Sunrise by Mary Pope Osborne

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—J. Cameron
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    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
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—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.
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    Your books truly invite children into the pleasure of reading. Thanks for such terrific work.
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    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.
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    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 Readers,
    Imagine a time in Europe over a thousand years ago, when every single book had to be written by hand on animal skins, and writers had to make their ink and paints from plants and minerals. In spite of these hardships, Christian monks in Europe—especially in Ireland—made decorated, or “illuminated” manuscripts, which are some of the most beautiful books the world has ever seen.
    Now imagine a warship that can travel far across rough seas, weather terrible storms, and land on rocky coasts. The Vikings of Scandinavia made such ships completely by hand . They were the most elegant sailing vessels of all time.
    In the last few years, I’ve seen illuminated manuscripts at the British Museum in London, and Viking warships at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway. Ever since, I have wanted to write about both of these wonders. Finally, this book has given me that opportunity.
    I hope you find them as “wonder-full” as I do.
    All my 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/magictreehouse
    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Osborne, Mary Pope.
Viking ships at sunrise / by Mary Pope Osborne; illustrated by Sal Murdocca.
p. cm. — (Magic tree house; #15) “A Stepping Stone book.” Summary: Their magic tree house takes Jack and Annie back to a monastery in medieval Ireland, where they try to retrieve a lost book while being menaced by Viking raiders.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89472-5
[1. Vikings—Fiction. 2. Monasteries—Fiction. 3. Ireland—Fiction. 4. Time travel—Fiction. 5. Magic—Fiction. 6. Tree houses—Fiction.]
I.