Prologue
One summer day in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, amysterious tree house appeared in the woods. Eightyear-old Jack and his seven-year-old sister, Annie,climbed into the tree house.
They found that it was filled with books.
Jack and Annie soon discovered that the tree housewas magic. It could take them to the places in thebooks. All they had to do was point to a picture andwish to go there.
Along the way, they discovered that the tree housebelongs to Morgan le Fay. Morgan is a magicallibrarian from the time of King Arthur. She travelsthrough time and space, gathering books.
In Magic Tree House #12, Polar Bears Past Bedtime,Jack and Annie solved the last of four ancient riddlesand became Master Librarians. To help them in theirfuture tasks, Morgan gave Jack and Annie secretlibrary cards with the letters M L on them.
Jack and Annie's first four missions as MasterLibrarians are to save stories from ancient libraries.
When their first adventure ended (Magic Tree House#13, Vacation Under the Volcano), Morgan askedthem to return to the tree house in two weeks to go toChina and save another story.
Now the two weeks are over...
Chapter 1 The Bamboo Book
Annie peeked into Jack's room.
"Ready to go to China?" she asked.
Jack took a deep breath. "Sure," he answered.
"Bring your secret library card," Annie said. "I havemine in my pocket.""Yep," said Jack.
He opened his top dresser drawer and took out athin wooden card. The letters M L on it shimmered inthe light. Jack dropped the card into his backpack.
Then he threw in his notebook and a pencil.
"Let's go," said Annie.
Jack pulled on his pack and followed her. What arewe in for today? he wondered.
"Bye, Mom!" said Annie as they passed their momin the kitchen.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"China!" said Annie.
"Great," said their mom. She winked at them. "Havefun."Fun? thought Jack. He was afraid that fun wasn'tquite the right word.
"Just wish us luck," he said as he and Annie headedout the front door.
"Good luck!" their mother called. "If only she knewwe aren't pretending,"Jack whispered to Annie.
"Yeah," said Annie, grinning.
Outside, the sun shone brightly. Birds sang.
Crickets chirped. Jack and Annie walked up theirstreet toward the Frog Creek woods.
"I wonder if the weather will be this nice in China,"Annie said.
"I don't know. Remember, Morgan said this wouldbe a very scary adventure," said Jack.
"They're always scary," said Annie. "But we alwaysmeet animals who help us, or people.""True," said Jack.
"I bet we meet someone great today," said Annie.
Jack smiled. He was starting to feel excited nowinstead of scared.
"Let's hurry!" he said.
They ran into the Frog Creek woods. They slippedbetween the tall trees until they came to a huge oak.
"Hello!" came a soft voice they knew well. Theylooked up. Morgan was peering down from the magictree house. "Ready for your next mission as MasterLibrarians?" she asked.
"Yes!" said Jack and Annie.
They grabbed the rope ladder and started up.
"Are we still going to China?" asked Annie whenthey had climbed into the tree house.
"Indeed," said Morgan. "You're going to ancientChina. Here is the title of the story you must find."She held up a long, thin strip of wood. It looked likea ruler, except it had strange writing on it instead ofnumbers.
"Long ago, the Chinese discovered how to makepaper. It was one of the world's most importantdiscoveries," said Morgan. "But you are going to atime earlier than that, to a time when books werewritten on bamboo strips like this one."'Wow," said Annie, pointing at the figures on thebamboo. "So this is Chinese writing?""Yes," said Morgan. "Just as we have letters,Chinese writing is made up of many characters. Eachone stands for a different thing or idea. Thesecharacters are the title of an ancient Chinese legend.
You must find the first writing of the legend beforethe Imperial Library is destroyed.""Hurry, let's go," said Annie.
"Wait, we need our research book," said Jack.
"Yes, you do," said Morgan.
From the folds of her robe, she pulled out a book.
On the cover was the title: The Time of the FirstEmperor.
Morgan handed the book to Jack.
"This research book will guide you," she said. "Butremember in your darkest hour only the old legendcan save you.""But we have to find it first," said Annie.
"Exactly," said Morgan.
She handed Jack the bamboo strip, and he slipped itinto his pack.
Jack pushed his glasses into place, then pointed atthe cover of their research book.
"I wish we could go there!" he said.
The wind started to blow.
The tree house started to spin. It spun faster andfaster.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still. |