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Magic Tree House "Merlin Missions" #27
Night of the Ninth Dragon
The #1 bestselling chapter book series of all time celebrates 25 years with new covers and a new, easy-to-use numbering system! Please come to Camelot. The magic tree house whisks Jack and Annie through space and time to find that the castle of Camelot has been attacked and King Arthur has been gravely wounded. To save the kingdom—and the king—Jack and Annie have only one day to solve a riddle that will help them find a missing dragon! Formerly numbered as Magic Tree House #55, the title of this book is now Magic Tree House Merlin Mission #27: Night of the Ninth Dragon. Did you know that there’s a Magic Tree House book for every kid? Magic Tree Adventures with Jack and Annie, perfect for readers who are just beginning chapter books Merlin More challenging adventures for the experienced reader Super A longer and more dangerous adventure Fact Nonfiction companions to your favorite Magic Tree House adventures
144 pages, ebook
First published July 26, 2016
312 people are currently reading
1327 people want to read
About the author
Mary Pope Osborne
526 books2,636 followersMary 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews
August 15, 2025
Another wonderful Magic Tree House-Merlin Mission book. I love how this fun and interesting story is just enough to pique interest in Alexander the Great. Lessons are given softly and with fun and suspense. These are chapter books, but after you've read the beginning three or four of the Treehouse and Merlin series, they really can be read in any order, the premise and the characters are familiar. Reading them in order would be terrific though; I get mine from the library.
Oh, and there is a magnificent dragon in this one!
Oh, and there is a magnificent dragon in this one!
October 8, 2018
All of this talk of Camelot and Avalon makes me want to start watching Gargoyles with my 6 year old daughter
March 26, 2021
If you've made it this far in the series you already know how brother-sister duo Jack and Annie time travel and go on missions. This wasn't one of their typical missions and we really enjoyed it. The siblings end up in Camelot and undergo one of the most important missions to date: saving the world of magic. Jack and Annie have always undergone missions that helped Camelot but they haven't spent very much time actually there. I loved the deeper world-building in this book. There were several "aha!" moments for me on how the magic system operates. Not that there was any confusion, it just delves deeper. I love reading these middle-grade adventures with my son and hope there is a new book coming soon...*cough, Mrs. Osborne, cough*
September 3, 2018
Review of the Magic Treehouse book #55 Night of the Ninth Dragon
By: Kristian Kirilov
“ Night of the Ninth dragon “ is a book unique on its own. This is one of Mary Osborne’s best books yet. It is fun to read , easy to pick up the story , and contains a thrilling plot twist. The book is a great book for children in 2nd , 3rd , and 4th grade. That doesn’t mean that adults can’t read this piece of literature. Although this book can be read by everyone I believe it is focused on a younger audience.
The reason why I think this book is focused on youngsters since there are not that many pages to read. The literature in it is not as complex as most books teens my age read. The plot line is a good one don’t get me wrong on that , but it seems a little dull since pretty much the objective the characters have stays the same throughout the book. The prologue doesn’t explain who exactly the characters are and how they met. The book just starts out with the main characters going to a dog park and then climbing up into a treehouse that magically brings them to Camelot. This book doesn’t explain its lore whatsoever , not even how they got to Camelot in the first place.
I would rate this book a ⅗ stars since it doesn’t explain how these things happen . Also because it is so short that it pretty much skims through the entire plot like that. However what she lacks in length she makes up for it in detail. Although the plot is pretty great I would appreciate it if the next time the author wrote a book continuing the series would be a bit longer. The length of this book is about 140 some pages. The pages aren’t the length you would think they would be for a chapter book . Each page has 2 - 4 paragraphs on it , the paragraphs are super small compared other books she has written.
Now to summarize the plot without spoiling the end for those of you who want to read this book for yourselves. It starts of with a brother and sister getting ready to go to the dog park with their new puppy . They think the puppy is trained enough so that it can walk without a leash. They find out that they are wrong the puppy strays off the path, the chase after him and find him in a magical treehouse that they haven’t seen in along time. They get teleported to Camelot and help their friends King Arthur and Queen Genovier.
Overall I thought this book was a good book to read. It is a easy reader for those of you who just want to quickly read a book just for the fun of it. I think the author is a brilliant writer who knows what children like to read about. The book itself was fun to read and learn about the world that the main characters live in. I would love to read the rest of the series in my spare time , if you have spare time to go to the library you could look up this series trust it is a good one. Thank you for reading this review I hope you got a basic idea about this book and the series.
By: Kristian Kirilov
“ Night of the Ninth dragon “ is a book unique on its own. This is one of Mary Osborne’s best books yet. It is fun to read , easy to pick up the story , and contains a thrilling plot twist. The book is a great book for children in 2nd , 3rd , and 4th grade. That doesn’t mean that adults can’t read this piece of literature. Although this book can be read by everyone I believe it is focused on a younger audience.
The reason why I think this book is focused on youngsters since there are not that many pages to read. The literature in it is not as complex as most books teens my age read. The plot line is a good one don’t get me wrong on that , but it seems a little dull since pretty much the objective the characters have stays the same throughout the book. The prologue doesn’t explain who exactly the characters are and how they met. The book just starts out with the main characters going to a dog park and then climbing up into a treehouse that magically brings them to Camelot. This book doesn’t explain its lore whatsoever , not even how they got to Camelot in the first place.
I would rate this book a ⅗ stars since it doesn’t explain how these things happen . Also because it is so short that it pretty much skims through the entire plot like that. However what she lacks in length she makes up for it in detail. Although the plot is pretty great I would appreciate it if the next time the author wrote a book continuing the series would be a bit longer. The length of this book is about 140 some pages. The pages aren’t the length you would think they would be for a chapter book . Each page has 2 - 4 paragraphs on it , the paragraphs are super small compared other books she has written.
Now to summarize the plot without spoiling the end for those of you who want to read this book for yourselves. It starts of with a brother and sister getting ready to go to the dog park with their new puppy . They think the puppy is trained enough so that it can walk without a leash. They find out that they are wrong the puppy strays off the path, the chase after him and find him in a magical treehouse that they haven’t seen in along time. They get teleported to Camelot and help their friends King Arthur and Queen Genovier.
Overall I thought this book was a good book to read. It is a easy reader for those of you who just want to quickly read a book just for the fun of it. I think the author is a brilliant writer who knows what children like to read about. The book itself was fun to read and learn about the world that the main characters live in. I would love to read the rest of the series in my spare time , if you have spare time to go to the library you could look up this series trust it is a good one. Thank you for reading this review I hope you got a basic idea about this book and the series.
December 21, 2016
I was introduced to the Magic Tree House series by my nephew and have enjoyed reading them over the years and recommended to many parents especially as I have found them to be an easy way to introduce kids to different places, personalities, cultures and periods in history... all weaved thru simple tales of adventure and magic...
this book is different and set in the realm of mythical characters but while there is no lesson in history to learn on this adventure, it does remind us that even the impossible is possible... we just need to keep going on and never give up... hope and courage when combined with imagination can surprise us all!!
this book is different and set in the realm of mythical characters but while there is no lesson in history to learn on this adventure, it does remind us that even the impossible is possible... we just need to keep going on and never give up... hope and courage when combined with imagination can surprise us all!!
December 19, 2016
A great book full of lessons for life, telling us never to lose patience, courage and to never give up. From all of Mary Pope Osborne's books, I learn many lessons for life, but so far I found this one to be the most full of lessons and feelings. Jack is unsure of many things, like Cafelle's lava stones and figuring out Cafelle's prophecy line by line. However, in the end, he finds, and we too find, that, although there is a need of figuring things out clearly, the more major factor is to always have a calm and confident mind, like Annie's.
Since the first book, I have seen that Annie is more of an imaginative kind, while Jack is more practical. Both of them have good qualities, and according to me the fact that we need to be calm, confident, practical and thoughtful is expressed in all the books. And now that it has been 17 years since the first book was published, and now that it's book #55, on re-reading the first book I have seen a great difference between the Jack and Annie of book #1 and the Jack and Annie of book #55. Both of them have developed the skills they quite didn't have earlier. As Morgan rightly says in book #52 - "On your journeys you have learned many remarkable things. You have seen many parts of the world and met remarkable people. Jack, you have become kinder and more courageous. Annie, you have become more thoughtful." But no person can be perfect. Jack does not have some skills and with never be perfect in them, and neither will Annie: but this is just the balance of life.
And, finally -
"LONG LIVE MAGIC TREE HOUSE!"
Since the first book, I have seen that Annie is more of an imaginative kind, while Jack is more practical. Both of them have good qualities, and according to me the fact that we need to be calm, confident, practical and thoughtful is expressed in all the books. And now that it has been 17 years since the first book was published, and now that it's book #55, on re-reading the first book I have seen a great difference between the Jack and Annie of book #1 and the Jack and Annie of book #55. Both of them have developed the skills they quite didn't have earlier. As Morgan rightly says in book #52 - "On your journeys you have learned many remarkable things. You have seen many parts of the world and met remarkable people. Jack, you have become kinder and more courageous. Annie, you have become more thoughtful." But no person can be perfect. Jack does not have some skills and with never be perfect in them, and neither will Annie: but this is just the balance of life.
And, finally -
"LONG LIVE MAGIC TREE HOUSE!"
October 5, 2022
My almost 5 yr old daughter would probably give this 5 stars. She is LOVES the Magic Tree house books. She really loves the audio books. Up until this point she has really loved books about animals and not people. The magic tree house series has helped her enjoy stories about people. She pretend plays Jack and Annie all the time now.
I know some CM educators would say Magic Tree house is twaddle but I would disagree. She has learned so much and it has led to us to finding out more information on subjects that she has heard in the stories.
This was a delightful read aloud.
I know some CM educators would say Magic Tree house is twaddle but I would disagree. She has learned so much and it has led to us to finding out more information on subjects that she has heard in the stories.
This was a delightful read aloud.
May 1, 2018
I wish I had time to reread all the Magic Tree House books, they were my FAVORITE thing ever when I was younger. I picked this one up because it's what my library had.
July 14, 2021
This is the final Merlin Mission, and it finds Jack and Annie back in Camelot. We learn a bit more about welsh myths, and get to spend some time with Guinevere. The fact tracker is Dragons and Mythical Creatures: A Nonfiction Companion to Magic Tree House Merlin Mission #27: Night of the Ninth Dragon (Magic Tree House
May 7, 2021
So much fun!
October 1, 2025
This was okay. My second graders were not as invested as other read alouds!
April 3, 2018
Children’s Historical Fantasy
Osborne, Mary Pope. Night of the Ninth Dragon (2016). This is the 55th book in the magic tree house series. The main characters Jack and Annie begin their adventure to the dog park when suddenly, their dog Oki, runs off to the magic tree house. Jack and Annie find Oki sitting at the bottom of the tree but find a note inside that says urgent. The note simply says, “Please come to camelot”. Suddenly, they are whisked away on a new and exciting adventure filed with dragons, hidden caves, riddles, and secret gardens. As always, they are forced to use their imaginations and show courage to fulfill this journey. Will they make it back? Read it to find out! Overall, I felt this was a good book for the target audience. It provided a sense of adventure, mystery, and fantasy, without using over-powering language that would confuse a young reader. I would recommend this story to my students if they were interested in this genre, but would not necessarily seek out another one from the series to read for myself. Target Audience: 1st to 4th grade.
Osborne, Mary Pope. Night of the Ninth Dragon (2016). This is the 55th book in the magic tree house series. The main characters Jack and Annie begin their adventure to the dog park when suddenly, their dog Oki, runs off to the magic tree house. Jack and Annie find Oki sitting at the bottom of the tree but find a note inside that says urgent. The note simply says, “Please come to camelot”. Suddenly, they are whisked away on a new and exciting adventure filed with dragons, hidden caves, riddles, and secret gardens. As always, they are forced to use their imaginations and show courage to fulfill this journey. Will they make it back? Read it to find out! Overall, I felt this was a good book for the target audience. It provided a sense of adventure, mystery, and fantasy, without using over-powering language that would confuse a young reader. I would recommend this story to my students if they were interested in this genre, but would not necessarily seek out another one from the series to read for myself. Target Audience: 1st to 4th grade.
August 28, 2019
Jack and Annie are summoned by worried Queen Guinevere to Camelot where King Arthur has been injured defending the kingdom. They must get him to the Isle of Avalon to be healed soon or he will die, but invaders have stolen the golden dragon that unlocks its portal. Disguised as a simple peasant family, Jack, Annie, Queen Guinevere, and King Arthur leave the castle in a hay cart to seek advice from Cafelle, who gives them a riddle with a prophecy. In an exciting race against time to locate the golden dragon, they must quickly solve the riddle, line by line, as King Arthur grows weaker by the minute. Readers will learn more about dragons, unicorns, mermaids, and other magical creatures in Dragons and Mythical Creatures Fact Tracker (2016), the companion book to this latest book in Pope’s popular long-running series of magical adventures.
July 9, 2019
The story begins with Queen Guinevere leaving a note, telling Jack and Annie to come to Camelot. The kingdom is in bad shape, and King Arthur is dying! In order to save the kingdom and the king, they have to find the ninth dragon. Along the way, they meet robbers and mermaids and unicorns and lots of other things! Will they be able to find the dragon and save Camelot and King Arthur?
May 10, 2020
I haven’t read any of these Magical Tree House books before, but my oldest really loves them. I think they are good starting chapter books for elementary students. The story moves along quickly and has a simple plot that is easy to follow. The dialog made me cringe during our bedtime read aloud and I personally don’t think the writing was impressive, but the kids liked it okay.
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April 16, 2018We skipped about fifty of the magic treehouse books, this one is pretty good because who doesn't love Camelot and Avalon but it could have used some more dragon content.
March 19, 2022
I would give this 10 out of 10 stars if I could.
October 31, 2017
Summary:
Join Jack and Annie on a new adventure as they return to Camelot! When Jack and Annie's new puppy, Otis, runs into the woods, they discover the Magic Tree House and wonder why they are needed. They find a anonymous note calling them to come to Camelot, as soon as possible. The kids wisk away and discover it the Queen Guinevere that needed them. The kingdom was attacked and King Arthur was mortally wounded. To help, Jack and Annie must solve an old woman's riddle, fight off bandits, and find the stolen dragon that with save Camelot and King Arthur.
Questions:
1. What was the cause of Otis running into the woods? What was the effect of this? (What happened because Otis ran away?)
2. Describe how Annie feels to be going back to Camelot. Does Jack feel the same? Why or why not?
3. Why does Jack seem hesitant throughout the book about going on this journey? What helps change his mind?
4. How do Jack and Annie get to Avalon without being in the garden? What do you think made this happen?
5. If you were Jack and Annie, what would you do different on this journey? Why?
APA Citation:
Osborne, M. P. (2016). Magic Treehouse Merlin Missions: Night of the Ninth Dragon . NY: Random House Children's Books.
Join Jack and Annie on a new adventure as they return to Camelot! When Jack and Annie's new puppy, Otis, runs into the woods, they discover the Magic Tree House and wonder why they are needed. They find a anonymous note calling them to come to Camelot, as soon as possible. The kids wisk away and discover it the Queen Guinevere that needed them. The kingdom was attacked and King Arthur was mortally wounded. To help, Jack and Annie must solve an old woman's riddle, fight off bandits, and find the stolen dragon that with save Camelot and King Arthur.
Questions:
1. What was the cause of Otis running into the woods? What was the effect of this? (What happened because Otis ran away?)
2. Describe how Annie feels to be going back to Camelot. Does Jack feel the same? Why or why not?
3. Why does Jack seem hesitant throughout the book about going on this journey? What helps change his mind?
4. How do Jack and Annie get to Avalon without being in the garden? What do you think made this happen?
5. If you were Jack and Annie, what would you do different on this journey? Why?
APA Citation:
Osborne, M. P. (2016). Magic Treehouse Merlin Missions: Night of the Ninth Dragon . NY: Random House Children's Books.
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March 13, 2018Night of the Ninth Dragon is the 55th book in the Magic Tree House. Jack and Annie get invited to Camelot after Camelot is attacked. Queen Guinevere has asked for their help. So the Magic Tree House takes them to Camelot where they have to find a dragon that will help save Camelot. This book is a low-level Juvenile Fiction book. This book does not have too many words per page and it has at least two pages of pictures per chapter, so young readers will have a little bit of a break while reading. I chose this book because this series is very popular and because there are a lot of books in this series. Which means that children may have read other books in this series and liked them or if they have not read other books in the series they can have a lot more books they can read it they like this one.
I think an app that would encourage literacy in this age group would be Hoopla. With this app you can read book, listen to books and more on your phone or tablet. You can take books with you anywhere easily. A listserv that I would recommend is Scholastic. Scholastic has a wide range of literacy activities for all ages and I think that it would really encourage literacy. http://www.scholastic.com/home/
I think an app that would encourage literacy in this age group would be Hoopla. With this app you can read book, listen to books and more on your phone or tablet. You can take books with you anywhere easily. A listserv that I would recommend is Scholastic. Scholastic has a wide range of literacy activities for all ages and I think that it would really encourage literacy. http://www.scholastic.com/home/
February 10, 2022
I listened to this book on CD in my car.
In general, I think that this is a wonderful series for children. In part, this is due to the fact that the adventures in time and place which they go on are mind-expanding for children. If they are historical events or even myths such as the legend of King Arthur, they can inspire more age-appropriate research into these topics.
The one thing that sometimes bothers me in this series is when Jack and Annie bicker. I just have no patience for that, even if it is realistic. This particular work minimized the amount of bickering which was a relief to me.
I love Arthurian legend. So this take on Camelot and Avalon was a very unique interpretation. The scariness of a Viking invasion was counterbalanced by the caring adults who came into the children's lives.
I also liked the addition of the puppy. He could have been utilized more. Or an animal version of this series might be a nice twist.
Recommended for younger chapter book readers.
In general, I think that this is a wonderful series for children. In part, this is due to the fact that the adventures in time and place which they go on are mind-expanding for children. If they are historical events or even myths such as the legend of King Arthur, they can inspire more age-appropriate research into these topics.
The one thing that sometimes bothers me in this series is when Jack and Annie bicker. I just have no patience for that, even if it is realistic. This particular work minimized the amount of bickering which was a relief to me.
I love Arthurian legend. So this take on Camelot and Avalon was a very unique interpretation. The scariness of a Viking invasion was counterbalanced by the caring adults who came into the children's lives.
I also liked the addition of the puppy. He could have been utilized more. Or an animal version of this series might be a nice twist.
Recommended for younger chapter book readers.
January 25, 2020
This book is about Jack and Annie going on a mission to find the ninth dragon to place in Morgan’s garden,so Jack and Annie go on a mission to find the ninth dragon with King Arthur and Queen Guinevere in the mid times and to their surprise on the way they find Cafelle and Kee.Cafelle gives Jack and Annie a riddle,so on their way to find the ninth dragon they solve the riddle piece by piece.Then, Jack and Annie solve the riddle and find the ninth dragon,so they use the power of the dragon to travel to Avalon where Morgan was and could heal the wounded king.Finally,they take the dragon back to Morgan’s garden and have a happy ending.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 8, 2021
Jack and Annie receive a note far different than the ones in the past. The note says "Please come to Camelot", nothing more. When they reach Camelot they see that it has been damaged. Queen Guinevere greets them and tells them that the King has been wounded and needs to be healed, but Morgan, Merlin, Teddy and Kathleen are in Avalon and can't be reached without the ninth dragon....which has been stolen. So, Jack, Annie, Guinevere and King Arthur set off on an adventure to find the last dragon. They scare off robbers, solve a riddle, enchant a dragon and find Avalon...all before dawn.
March 15, 2021
The Magic Treehouse books have a pattern they follow faithfully. This one is no exception. However, they are fun for the boy and engage him in story and reason, and that is the result I hope for.
The boy has found an interest in Camelot and the King Arthur stories, so this was a fun one for him. The dragon added a little extra. Based on his enjoyment of the book and the formulaic nature of the Magic Treehouse books, I give this four stars.
The boy has found an interest in Camelot and the King Arthur stories, so this was a fun one for him. The dragon added a little extra. Based on his enjoyment of the book and the formulaic nature of the Magic Treehouse books, I give this four stars.
April 9, 2022
One of my favorite series. I love this book very much because of the nine dragon concept. Jack and Annie have spent little time in Camelot because most of they’re other adventures take place in other mythical and magical lands. In this book Jack and Annie journey to Avalon in order to save Camelot and King Arthur. I love the way Annie tricked the invaders. Overall this book is very detailed and interesting.
July 22, 2024
I finished the last book in the Merlin Missions series and overall this series was so different from the original Magic Tree House. I thought the missions would be similar to the ones they get with Morgan but there was a lot more magic involved, including a book of “rhymes” (which is literally a book of spells), ghosts, serpents, and dragons.
I’m not continuing on with the other books and I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone. Stick to the original Magic Tree House books!
I’m not continuing on with the other books and I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone. Stick to the original Magic Tree House books!
January 25, 2025
(4☆ Would recommend)
I started this series after reading the original Magic Treehouse series. I like how this series includes not just Morgan, but Merlin, Teddy, & Kathleen, too. I like how Jack & Annie get to participate in these books a little more than the original series by using magical items. I also like how these books are longer. It is more story to enjoy. This is probably one of the best books in the series! I liked how they tied everything together. Would recommend.
I started this series after reading the original Magic Treehouse series. I like how this series includes not just Morgan, but Merlin, Teddy, & Kathleen, too. I like how Jack & Annie get to participate in these books a little more than the original series by using magical items. I also like how these books are longer. It is more story to enjoy. This is probably one of the best books in the series! I liked how they tied everything together. Would recommend.
January 9, 2019
The authors point of view is to entertain the readers.Mary Pope Osborne wants to make books fun and exciting, so I would recommend this book if you like Magic tree house books and if you like dragons. Jake and Annie are the main characters in the story but they travel to a kingdom where the people stole their price position which is the golden dragon.
April 26, 2018
Jack and Annie are summoned to Camelot by Queen Guinevere. They need to help her find the stolen golden dragon so the portal to Avalon can be opened to help save King Arthur. Will they be able to complete there mission in time? Read on to find out!
December 4, 2020
This book was a little more challenging for my first grader to follow, but she still loved following Jack and Annie's adventure. A yellow highlighter will never have the same meaning after seeing how Annie used it in this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews