Viking Ships at Sunrise

Magic Tree House #15

by Mary Pope Osborne, Sal Murdocca (Illustrator)

The #1 bestselling chapter book series of all time celebrates 25 years with new covers and a new, easy-to-use numbering system!

Beware of Vikings! warns Morgan. Then Jack and Annie are whisked back to ancient Ireland. They land on a cliff on a misty island. How will they find the story they are looking for? It will take a Viking invasion, the help of a jolly monk, and a lot of courage for Jack and Annie to succeed in Viking Ships at Sunrise.

Did you know that there's a Magic Tree House book for every kid?

Magic Tree House: Adventures with Jack and Annie, perfect for readers who are just beginning chapter books
Merlin Missions: More challenging adventures for the experienced reader
Super Edition: A longer and more dangerous adventure
Fact Trackers: Nonfiction companions to your favorite Magic Tree House adventures

Have more fun with Jack and Annie at MagicTreeHouse.com!

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Chapter Books, Adventure, Middle Grade

73 pages, Paperback

First published August 11, 1998

About the author

Mary Pope Osborne is an American author of children's books and audiobook narrator. 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, including 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, and her first book was published in 1982. She went on to write a variety of other 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 Osborne.

Reviews

[samaa]

that’s literature, baby!

[Jasmine from How Useful It Is]

Listened to this audiobook with my first grader.

This time, siblings Jack and Annie traveled back to ancient Ireland where they got to meet the monks and explore the monastery and see the Viking with their warship. They're yet again on a mission to save a book on tales of Ireland. The monk hasn't finish with his stories yet. They were about to leave without the book until they saw the Viking came. They warned the monks and Brother Michael offered up the book to Jack and Annie. The siblings then tried to go back to the Magic Tree House to go home but they risk getting caught by the Viking. In their darkest hour and time of need, the book brought forth the Sea Monster to rescue them.

We enjoyed the humor when the siblings first met the monk. Another great action and adventure story!

We listened to this audiobook via Cloud Library app.

[Ashley]

Kids loved it

[Emilija]

Danas sam slučajno pročitala ovu knjigu. Sređivala sam police, naletela na nju i pročitala je u jednom mahu. Kao dete sam obožavala ovaj serijal, nekom sam dala skoro sve knjige i više ih nemam. Malo mi je sad žao, baš sam uživala u ovih 80ak strana.

[Noahb]

I like Magic Tree House books. Jack and Annie went to Ireland to find a lost book. In Ireland they met Brother Patrick and followed him into a church. In the church Jack and Annie found the lost book but it wasn't finished. Back at the tree house they see the vikings so they go back to the church. The vikings tried to kill them but hey were able to get back home. I like the book because it was fun and you never know what will happen next.

[Alice4170 🌙]

5/5 ⭐️

[Amanda Grace]

They didn’t even interact with the Vikings they just saw them 🙃

[Elianna Van Farowe]

Light reading while the kiddos sleep. Reading magic tree house and thinking about library cards made me feel some typa way 🥹

[Adanna Slomp]

Read with the girls

[Rick Silva]

Jack and Annie are new Master Librarians for Morgan Le Fey, and they are tasked with the retrieval of four lost stories. This particular episode sends the kids back in time to medieval Ireland, where they must retrieve an illuminated manuscript from a group of monks before vikings arrive and pillage the place.

This had some fun plot twists, including a deus-ex-machina that was so over-the-top that it still falls into the "fun plot twist" category.

The Kiddo enjoyed some of the little touches in this when we read it out loud. We've gotten into the habit of correcting Jack's "Oh, brother!" catchphrase that he uses every time Annie proposes a particularly rash course of action to the more accurate, "Oh, sister!". Kiddo also laughed out loud when Jack, in a particularly harried moment, says the wish to get them home very loud and fast. Repeated phrases and little variations are a big part of what makes this series work for a six-year-old, and Osborne works them masterfully.

She also did a nice job of working an Irish blessing into the story, as well as some good discussion of the concept of civilization, which the kids end up defining as reading and writing books and playing chess in a warm and comfortable room.

I could get on board with that definition.

[Sarah Sammis]

I'll probably be wrapping up my series of reviews of books from the Magic Tree House soon. My son has become a strong enough reader that he now reads these books by himself. With all my other reading I'm not sure I can keep up with them as he tears through this series.

Viking Ship Before Sunrise is the third book in the lost works series. This time Jack and Annie have to go back to an island off the coast of Ireland to rescue an illuminated manuscript before the island is over run by Vikings.

There's a lot of history and art history tossed into this volume but at 75 pages there just isn't much time to go any sort of detail. Jack and Annie learn how to live like monks (briefly), learn about the process of making an illuminated manuscript (briefly), learn about the Viking invasion and nearly experience it first hand. With the emphasis put on the danger there's little time for anything else. The adventure here didn't feel as well integrated as it is in a later volume, Tonight on the Titanic.

[DivaDiane SM]

My son says, "My favorite part was when the serpent pushed them back to shore! I also liked the beginning when Morgan gave them their mission." Our favorite quote is "Shine, o light of the sun on this day filled with wonder!"

[Savannah]

It was cute, but VERY predictable

[Megan Ferguson]

The kids had fun making paper plate viking ships while we read this one.

[Crystal]

I pre-read this book for use in my first and second grade classroom. Scholastic book wizard marks this book at a Fountas and Pinnell level M (DRA 24). I think the rating for the story is pretty accurate. However, there are a number of vocabulary words and phrases that I think kids would need to process with higher reading strategies or an adult to gain better understanding. An example of that would be the phrase "the fog blanketed the whole island" or the descriptions life at the monastery (cobble, sleeping quarters, etc.).

As far as the story was concerned, I was disappointed by the lack of information about Vikings. As the titular group, Vikings were a minor feature in the story. My objective for reading this was to gather books about ancient civilizations. While the story offers a simplistic look at what life for a monk would be like during the dark ages, it didn't necessarily show a lot about civilization at the time. I also didn't think the action part of the story was as intriguing as the other MTH book that I read on my quest (Vacation Under the Volcano).

I think it would be a fine book to add to my classroom library and allow kids to read for fun, but I no longer plan to have it for a guided reading group or classroom read aloud at this point in time.

[Sarah - All The Book Blog Names Are Taken]

Eleanor and Momma agree that this is a four-star book. We like reading about Vikings, but it also makes me really sad when reading about all the destruction the Vikings caused in Ireland. The Irish truly saved our civilization in those “dark ages“. The scene where the elderly Brother Michael gives the kids his book that he’s been working on his whole made me really sad, because as an adult I knew what brother Michael‘s fate would be when the Vikings arrived.

Eleanor says: I wanted it to rate it three stars but my mom wouldn’t let me and she wanted to rate it four stars.

Momma says: I said we could rate it three stars.

Eleanor says: I was pretty sad what the Vikings did. Later they became helpful. Not in the book, but later in real history when they settled in places. There were a couple facts about Vikings at the end of the book. I think my favorite characters are Jack and Annie and Brother Michael. He was kind and he offered to give the book to them even though it wasn’t done. He knew his book was important, even if it was not done.

[A Pinch of Plot]

The Magic Tree House series became an instant hit for my 8-year-old son. I learned very quickly why the series quickly became a classic. Osbourne's stories draw the reader in and make them feel a part of the adventure and escape the world for a little while. The mystery really appeals to me and I find myself wanting to stay up past bedtime reading with him to find out what happens next. Reading this series every night with my son has become a huge tradition to him. He gets very upset if we miss reading a night. The Magic Tree House series is clean, suitable for any age, and fun for adults as well.

(Because the series is so large and stories short I will not be doing reviews on each book unless there is something specific to address.)

[Kathryn Best]

The story was fine and my 4yo and I had some great conversations throughout. However, there want a ton on Vikings. The story primarily focuses on the monks that the kids hang out with. For the parents out there it’s worth noting that this book and the one with pirates were the only two that seemed to scare my 4yo. There’s a similar theme of big men coming to get Jack and Annie that really frightened him.

[Mister_T1313]

This book is really cool. Even though I'm Greek blooded, I am Irish blooded too. I like the way she (Mary Pope Osborne) made it so Jack and Annie warned the monks that VIKINGS
were coming. Also, I think Brother Patrick is St. Patrick from the St. Patrick's day we all know today.
4 STARS⭐⭐⭐⭐

[.]

"The sea serpent was cool. A hundred thousand stars!"
The way this kid gets SO excited to read with me 😭😭 it's so special to be able to pass on my love of reading to another kid and see their excitement for something that was so special to me growing up. I don't know that they realize, but it's as much a treat for me as it is for them. 💗

[Bookishrealm]

Another solid entry in the Magic Treehouse Series. Though it isn't my favorite, it kept me excited for the next story arc that Jack and Annie will enter after they find all of the lost stories.

[Alex]

I didn't this book because I don't like Viking ships. I enjoyed this book because I liked the part when a sea serpent saved them when they were lost at sea.

[AStar Reads]

3.5 stars

[Katie Jo]

All my homies hate Annie

[Nicholas Krochta]

least dangerous mission they have been on tbh so far

[em]

sorry about losing your life's work brother michael...

[Micah]

Good because they went on a Viking ship.

[Taryn]

As I'm not the target demographic I won't star this one. I've never read these before but did read this as a read aloud for my kid. It was an age appropriate book which was great.

[Brianna]

Written by an author who let religion bias show I the depiction of Vikings as opposed to giving true historical facts.

[Bailee]

Comfort book #7 finished! ⚔️🛡️