Magic Tree House: Voyage of the Vikings
1st century AD, Ireland. Eight-year-old Jack and his seven-year-old sister, Annie, are off on their adventures again, this time to Ireland . They are on a quest to track down the story of the Great Serpent, the Serpus Magna, for their friend, the magic librarian Morgan le Fay who lives in the Magic Tree House. They find themselves on a rocky coast with huge cliffs rearing up out of the sea. There they meet Brother Patrick, who lives in a monastery nearby and he shows them round.
Jack loves the library where the monks are busy writing and illuminating beautiful books. One of the monks, Brother Michael, is at work on the Serpus Magna, the very book they have come to find.
But when they go outside, the children spot four Viking long ships sailing towards them. It is a Viking raid! Horrified, they race back to the monastery to warn the monks. Brother Michael gives them the Serpus Magna to take to safety. And then a storm whips up out of nowhere. Will Jack and Annie reach safety before the Vikings catch them?
This is a simple story, excitingly told and cleverly intertwined with bite-size chunks of historical information about Celtic monasteries and Viking raids. Philippe Masson’s illustrations add greatly to the story’s appeal – I particularly liked the Viking longboat in the storm, with jagged lightning on the horizon and the ship’s dragon prow rising up over a huge wave. For five plus.
–Elizabeth Hawksley
I loved this story about Ireland and the Vikings. Jack and Annie are really brave and clever and their adventures are extremely interesting. I read the story with Mummy. I read a bit, and then she read a bit. There are lots of words that were exciting to read like ‘sea serpent’ and ‘jewels’. Brother Patrick was friendly and the monastery was not like anywhere I had been. The Vikings were a bit scary. Mummy thinks that they would be less frightening if you got to know them, but I am still glad that Jack and Annie got away. When we finished the book, I asked if we could go to Ireland to see where Brother Patrick came from. I wanted to know what happened to the monks after the Vikings landed. Did they escape? I hope there are still sea serpents in Ireland.
—William Stockton, age 5
