Mary Pope Osborne
Mary Pope Osborne
Mary Pope Osborneis an American author of children's books. She is best known for the award-winning and bestselling Magic Tree House series, which has been translated into more than 30 languages and has sold more than 130 million copies worldwide...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth20 May 1949
CountryUnited States of America
inspiration writing home
remember a feeling of excitement, of sudden inspiration, when I was visiting Giovanni Boccaccio's home in the walled village of Certaldo, outside of Florence. (Boccaccio was the medieval author of The Decameron.) It was as though I had met my muse! After this trip, I read The Decameron and began writing the Alchemy Series in earnest.
writing school nursing
hough I was creative, I also liked math and science. At Knox College, I studied creative writing and earned a degree in chemistry, thinking I would attend medical school. Ultimately, I decided that a career in nursing would allow more time for pursuing other creative interests. While I worked as an RN, I wrote stories inspired by my patients, designed t-shirts, and made hand-painted sandals.
home writing miracle
Writing is a miracle. You can travel anywhere in the world, to any time and any place — and still be home in time to have dinner.
love
I love using my imagination. I love writing about animals.
books favorite kinds love reading religion ten time
I love reading all kinds of books. I usually have about ten books going at any one time - books about the past, the present, novels, non-fiction, poetry, mythology, religion, etc. Reading is my favorite thing to do.
movies
I wanted to be a cowboy in cowboy movies.
home
A vacation for me is when I'm home and I'm writing.
kids works
Sometimes when I go out on the road, I feel almost embarrassed or dismayed because I can't be the image of what kids want me to be. So I just try to be myself, and usually that works out OK.
books discovered imagination looked number single somewhere wrote
I discovered writing children's books was a way to keep living in my imagination like a child. So I wrote a number of books before I started 'Magic Tree House.' Then, once I got that, I never looked back because I could be somewhere different in every single book.
closer imagination
My imagination is closer to a child's imagination than to a grown-up's.
books house laura loved secret wrote
I loved Frances Hodgson Burnett, who wrote 'The Little Princess' and 'The Secret Garden.' And I loved the 'Little House on the Prairie' books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
castle dolphins ghosts run
With my writing, I can still play inside an enchanted castle or live inside an old fort. I can run from ghosts or ride dolphins any day of the week.
bikes brothers growing invent kids outside picnic pretended table turned
When I was growing up, kids would go outside and play all day and invent things. And my brothers and I pretended our picnic table was a ship one summer. Our bikes were horses, and our trees were forts. We turned everything in the world into make-believe.
across ancient beauty castle colonel fairy felt four heard house magic street taking
When I was four years old, my father, who was a colonel in the army, was stationed in Salzburg, Austria. 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.