Magic Tree House is an American series of children's books written by the American author Mary Pope Osborne. The original American series was illustrated by Salvatore Murdocca until 2016, after which AG Ford took over. Other illustrators have been used for foreign-language editions.
Mary Pope Osborne is an American author of children's books. She is best known as the author of the Magic Tree House series, which as of 2017 sold more than 134 million copies worldwide. Both the series and Osborne have won awards, sometimes for Osborne's charitable efforts at promoting children's literacy. One of four children, Osborne moved around in her childhood before attending the University of North Carolina. Following college, Osborne traveled before moving to New York City. She somewhat spontaneously began to write, with her first book being published in 1982. She would go on to write a variety of other kinds of children's and young adult books before starting the Magic Tree House series in 1992. Osborne's sister Natalie Pope Boyce has written several compendium books to the Magic Tree House series, sometimes with Osborne's husband Will.
Readability is the ease with which a reader can understand a written text. In natural language, the readability of text depends on its content and its presentation. Researchers have used various factors to measure readability, such as:
Anne Evelyn Bunting , also known as Eve Bunting, is a Northern Ireland-born American writer of more than 250 books. Her work covers a broad array of subjects and includes fiction and non-fiction books. Her novels are primarily aimed at children and young adults, but she has also written the text for picture books. While many of her books are set in Northern Ireland, where she grew up, her topics and settings range from Thanksgiving to riots in Los Angeles. Bunting's first book, The Two Giants, was published in 1971. Due to the popularity of her books with children, she has been listed as one of the Educational Paperback Association's top 100 authors.
Ruskin Bond is an Indian author of British descent. His father, Aubrey Alexander Bond was an officer of the Royal Air Force (RAF) post in India. He studied in Bishop Cotton School in Shimla. His first novel, The Room on the Roof, received the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1957. He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 for Our Trees Still Grow in the Dehra, his novel in English. Bond has written hundreds of short stories, essays, novels and books for children. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 and Padma Bhushan in 2014. He lives with his adopted family in Landour, Mussoorie.
Ben Mikaelsen is a Bolivian American writer of children's literature.
Cliff McNish is an English author of primarily fantasy and supernatural novels for middle-grade readers and young adults. Described by U.K's The Times as ‘one of our most talented thriller writers’ his first set of novels, The Doomspell Trilogy, is published in 26 languages worldwide.
Aidan Chambers is a British author of children's and young-adult novels. He won both the British Carnegie Medal and the American Printz Award for Postcards from No Man's Land (1999). For his "lasting contribution to children's literature" he won the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2002.
Candice F. Ransom is a popular children's and young-adult author. She has written over 150 books as of June 2020, including 18 books for The Boxcar Children series, The Time Spies series and the Sunfire series. She wrote the Dungeons & Dragons novel, Key to the Griffon's Lair. Her work includes picture books, easy readers, middle grade fiction, biographies, and nonfiction. More than 45 of her titles have been translated into 12 languages.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is a Bestselling American children's book written by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, illustrated by Lois Ehlert, and published by Simon & Schuster in 1989. The book features anthropomorphized letters and charted on The New York Times Best Seller list For Children's Books in 2000.
Richard Wayne Peck was an American novelist known for his prolific contributions to modern young adult literature. He was awarded the Newbery Medal in 2001 for his novel A Year Down Yonder. For his cumulative contribution to young-adult literature, he received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 1990.
Lois Jane Ehlert was an American author and illustrator of children's books, most having to do with nature. Ehlert won the Caldecott Honor for Color Zoo in 1990. Some of her other popular works included Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Cuckoo/Cucú: A Mexican Folktale/Un cuento folklórico Mexicano and Leaf Man. She lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the time of her death in 2021.
William S. Gray (1885–1960) was an American educator and literacy advocate.
William Ivan Martin Jr. was an American educator, publishing executive, and author of more than 300 children's books including The Sounds of Mystery,Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?, and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? The Bill Martin Jr. Award, which is the Kansas state award for best children's picture book, was established in his honor in 1996.
David Roy Plummer is an English musician and author of children's books and music. In 1968, he graduated from Reigate School of Art and Design. He signed record deals in London with EMI, CBS, and President Records. As a session musician he recorded and toured the United Kingdom and Europe with several bands (with
Helen Lester is an American children's writer, best known for her character Tacky the Penguin in many of her children's stories.
Dr. Michael Sampson is a Fulbright Scholar and an American children's writer best known for easy-to-read books that feature rhythmic and repetitive language. Sampson's first children's book, The Football That Won, was written solo in 1992 and illustrated by Ted Rand. Later, Sampson wrote 21 books with his best friend and mentor Bill Martin, Jr., including Chicka, Chicka, 1, 2, 3 and The Bill Martin Jr Big Book of Poetry. Sampson taught at Texas A&M University–Commerce for 25 years before moving to the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. In August 2010 he was selected as Dean of the School of Education at Southern Connecticut State University. In July 2012 he became Dean of the College of Education at Northern Arizona University. In the summer of 2014, he moved to New York City to become Dean of the School of Education at St. John's University. In 2021-2022, he will teach at a university in Europe as a Fulbright Scholar.
Weston Woods Studios is a production company that makes audio and short films based on well-known books for children. It was founded in 1953 by Morton Schindel in Weston, Connecticut, and named after the wooded area near his home. The company's first project was Andy and the Lion in 1954, and its first animated film was The Snowy Day in 1964. In 1968, Weston Woods began a long collaboration with animator Gene Deitch and opened international offices in Henley-on-Thames, England, UK, in 1972; Canada in 1975; and Australia in 1977. In addition to making the films, the company also conducted interviews with the writers, illustrators, and makers of the films. The films appeared on children's television programs such as Captain Kangaroo, Pinwheel, The Great Space Coaster, Lunchbox, Eureeka's Castle, and Mister Moose's Fun Time. In the mid-1980s, the films were released on VHS under the Children's Circle titles, and Wood Knapp Video distributed these releases from 1988 to 1995.
Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3 is a Children's book written by Bill Martin, Jr. and Michael Sampson. The book features anthropomorphized numbers.
Victor Watson is an English author who has written on the nature and history of children's literature and on how children learn to read. He later turned to writing novels for children.
