Moonlight on the Magic Flute

Magic Tree House "Merlin Missions" #13

by Mary Pope Osborne, Salvatore 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!

Jack and Annie head to 18th-century Austria, where they must find and help a musician by the name of Mozart. Decked out in the craziest outfits they’ve ever worn—including a wig for Jack and a giant hoopskirt for Annie!—the two siblings search an entire palace to no avail. Their hunt is further hampered by the appearance of a mischievous little boy who is determined to follow them everywhere. But when the boy lets the animals out of the palace zoo, Jack and Annie have to use the only magic at their disposal to save themselves and the naughty little fellow.

Formerly numbered as Magic Tree House #41, the title of this book is now Magic Tree House Merlin Mission #13: Moonlight on the Magic Flute.

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

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

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

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

[Charissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, love, love~ So amazing! This is one of the best! Anne and Jack went to the time where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was six years old and was to perform for the royal family of Austria. We met Nannerl, Mozart's older sister and Mozart's nickname is Wolfy! So CUTE~ I can imagine young Wolfy! XD They went back to that time to convince Wolfy to spread the happiness to the world, in his case, to continue composing music and aspire many musicians around the world. Flute is one of my favorite musical instruments, btw!

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book I've read from this series, and again I've rated it 4 stars mostly because I am pleasantly surprised (maybe I ought not to be anymore) by how deftly Ms. Osborne weaves this tale into something digestible by her intended audience. I'm glad that my 7-year-old is hooked on this series and got me into it, too. (Though obviously, I am not reading the novels in order - neither is my daughter!)

Though I realized before Jack and Annie did - from the title and the nickname "Wolfie" - that this is a Mozart encounter, I did learn something about the childhood of said musical genius from this book and the author's notes at the end. :)

[Dmitry Sedor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Mozart's music

[Book2Dragon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Annie and Jack travel to Austria and meet a rambunctious boy named Wolfie in the 19th century. Wolfie has lots of energy, and sometimes it gets him in trouble. Like letting out all the animals from the castle's zoo. The Magic Flute helps save the day, and it is only later that the siblings find out who Wolfie really is.

Another great adventure. Never too many Magic Tree House stories. Highly recommended.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, Mozart may actually make Tad Lincoln look well behaved (see the review of Magic Tree House #47: Abe Lincoln At Last!). Reading this over I kept thinking that Schonbrun Palace sounds a whole lot like Versailles. Maybe all the crowned heads of Europe had the same architects?

Once again, Jack and Annie show the importance of Doing Your Research Before You Go for time-travellers. Much of the adventure time is taken up by Jack being embarrased by his poor manners in front of the Empress of Austria. That said, Jack and Annie tend to handle these sorts of things better than Doctor Who, so I suppose I ought to give them (and their treehouse TARDIS) a break.

But I wanna know, did no one notice that the entire Imperial Zoo suddenly dissappeared?

[Mary Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

They go back to the time that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was 6 years old and was to perform for the royal family of Austria. But he doesn't, he wants to play and then goes to the zoo and opens all the cages so that the wild animals end up chasing him. Jack and Annie have to play their magic flute (good for only one use) and sing a song to send all the animals back to their homes. He remembers that he loves music and is able to perform a wonderful musical number for the royals.

[Sarah - All The Book Blog Names Are Taken · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another one of mama‘s favorites and I would rate it five stars. But Eleanor wants to rate it four stars because the “kid“ in the story was “really annoying sometimes”. Eleanor has also decided she doesn’t want to write a review of this one because she doesn’t want to spoil who it’s about. Jack didn’t like the kid and was annoyed by him, until he found out who he was.

[Librariann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even musical geniuses were foolish kids once.

[cosima · Rating 5 out of 5]

fav

[Johana Prado-Contreras · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book Annie and her brother jack have to go to on a mission. They go back many year back and go to a ball to look for a artist. They have magic flute that plays music witch help the, get through all the things surcumstances they have to go through.

[Ken Bayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack and Anne are sent on another Happiness Mission for Merlin. They travel to Austria in the mid 1700's. They go to a very fancy party for the queen. When they go to the Queen, Jack accidently makes a fool of himself, and one of the kids there calls him Jack the Clown. He follows Jack and Anne around until he gets mad at his dad. He runs to the backyard and lets out all the animals that live there. Jack and Anne then pull out their Magic Flute and make the animals go back to their cages. The kid ended up being Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart! He made a promise if he made music he would make one about their flute. He kept to their promise and it ended up to be one of his best songs! I find this book to be very good. I highly recomended it. There is things in this book I never knew!

[Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would give this book 10,000 stars if I could. I liked it because it was a fantasy story, which I like, and about music. I like that Annie and Jack didn't know who Wolfie was or what year they were in; it was a mystery. I didn't know who Wolfie was either! But I'm learning how to play the piano too, so this was interesting to me. I couldn't believe that this bratty, meanie kid was the famous Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart! I really liked the part where Annie was making up a song and she called Jack a clown. That made me laugh. Some of the words in this book were hard for me, but it was fun because it was a challenge. This my first time reading a The Magic Treehouse book by myself, and I hope Mary Osborne writes 565 more!

[Chrishtelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was good and bad because I liked the magic in it and also the fancy crowns, gowns, and wigs to. I DIDN'T LIKE WAS THE PART WHEN THE PERSON WAS ALMOST EATEN BY THE CHEETA AND THE BEAR. Over all I would give this book a three rating because some parts were really bad and some of the parts were really good and some parts were rally awesome.

[Nathaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was really good. Mozart put all the animals out of the zoo and so he it was really funny. Then Jack and Annie were trying to help the whole world in four missions. This was the first one of the four missions.

[Neal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the instrument flute. My favorite instrument is the Drums. Whats yours???

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the magic treehouse series, not only in Merlin Missions, Jack and Annie found a magic treehouse. They soon discovered that in the magic treehouse there were lots of books and when they point to a picture in the book and make a wish to go there the magic treehouse just magically transports them there! They soon learned that the treehouse belongs to Morgan Le Fay from Camelot. Jack and Annie have helped Morgan with a humongous amount of missions in all places and time periods with the help of the magic treehouse. However in Merlin Missions it is not however Morgan that sends them on these missions. It is Merlin, a fantastic magician. During Merlin Missions, Jack and Annie make two friends named Teddy and Kathleen. They soon completed four missions that showed they could properly handle magic. On those missions, they were given a book of ten magic rhymes to use on four missions. Each rhyme can only be used once. Since they succeeded in those four missions, they were given the Wand of Dianthus. A magic wand that could create magic. Soon Merlin was not well, and not cheerful at all. Jack and Annie found four secrets of happiness for him, and now he is happy again. However the biggest thing that cheered him up was a little penguin Jack and Annie had gotten from their last mission to find the last secret of happiness for Merlin. That mission had taken place in Antarctica.

In this book Jack was just getting ready for dinner when Annie told him the magic treehouse was back! He took the Wand of Dianthus, and hurried after Annie on their way to the magic treehouse. In the treehouse, when they saw Teddy and Kathleen they greeted each other warmly. Teddy and Kathleen turned the Wand of Dianthus into a magic flute for this adventure. When danger comes, they said to blow on the mouthpiece, and it will play automatically for you when you blow on the mouthpiece. They also said that while one of you play, the other one has to sing. Whatever that person sings, it will come true. However this magic flute can only be used once. Before the magic they turned the Wand of Dianthus into a magic flute, Teddy and Kathleen gave Jack and Annie a royal invitation that said they were invited to a party in the summer palace at five o’clock in the evening! Jack asked if there was a research book they could use, but Teddy and Kathleen said to rely on your talents and wits whatever that means. Teddy and Kathleen also said on this mission they will bring happiness to millions and millions of people! Then Teddy and Kathleen left leaving Jack and Annie with a magic flute and a royal invitation to the summer palace. Since they wanted to get started with the mission, they pointed at the invitation and made a wish. The magic treehouse landed right in where the mission was taking place. But there outfits! They were ridiculous! They were the craziest outfits they ever wore! Jack’s wig was itching his head like crazy! Jack and Annie soon got out of the treehouse. They went to the Summer Palace, showed a guard their tickets, and got in. They soon figured out that they were going to meet the Her Imperial Majesty! She is a very, very, very, important person! Jack and Annie don’t know what to do so they decide to copy what all the other people do. But then they forgot to watch the other people, and soon it was their turn! Oh, what are they going to do? They don’t know what to do when they meet Her Imperial Majesty, maybe most important person in the world! This is not all, soon they met a little boy who gets Jack very annoyed, and soon he ran away! They had to find him because his kind sister begged them, so they said yes. When they found him, they had scary animals all around them so they used the magic flute! The good thing is that they are rescued from the animals. The bad news is that they wasted all their magic on this mission on a annoying little boy! What are they going to do? How will finding and saving a little boy give bring millions and millions of people happiness like they are supposed to do?

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magic Tree House Moonlight on the Magic Flute, and it's written by Mary Pope Osborne. This time, Jack and Annie go on an awesome adventure to find the greatness of several artists. But guess what? These artists aren't just any artists; they're super-talented people who can do amazing things!

So, Jack and Annie have this magical treehouse that can take them to different places and times. How cool is that? In this adventure, they end up in the past and meet a little boy named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He's like a super-duper talented musician, and his middle name is Amadeus, which is fancy and cool!

But there's a problem. There's this mean guy who wants to steal Mozart's magical music notes! That's not nice at all. So, Jack and Annie have to help Mozart become the awesome musician he's meant to be. They need to put him on the right path so that he can share his incredible music with the whole world.

You know, Jack and Annie get some magical instruments for each mission they go on. It's like they have superpowers too! And this time, they have to use these magical instruments to help Mozart and save his music.

The important lesson in this book is all about believing in things. Jack and Annie have to believe in themselves and in the magical stuff they can do. And guess what? When you believe in something, it can come true! That's so awesome. It's like magic, but it's all about hope and believing.

I really liked this book because it had a lot of fun stuff in it. There were crazy magical zoos with cool animals, and there was a beautiful song that made everything even more awesome! And you know what else? It was funny too! I love books that make me laugh.

You know, it's kind of like the legend of Camelot in this book. People believe in it so much that maybe it's still out there somewhere, hidden in the Earth. And you know what? Maybe it's true! We should always think about positive things and believe in them.

So, if you want to go on a magical adventure and meet a little boy who becomes a famous musician, you should totally read "Moonlight on the Magic Flute." It's a fantastic book full of music, magic, and hope. Just like how I was born to read books and review them for you, you should always believe in your dreams and practice hard, just like Mozart did. And remember, when you believe, amazing things can happen! Happy reading!

If you're a fan of this book, you won't want to miss my full review on my YouTube channel.
https://youtu.be/ykTuKh8Zvvc

[Delaney Arthurs]

Moonlight on the Magic Flute is written by Mary Pope Osborne, and it apart of the Magic Tree House Collection. This book describes the mission that Annie and Jack have to embark on, which includes using a magic wand and finding an artist. Their mission also includes going to a royal palace evening. There, they meeting Nan and Wolfie. They all become friends. Wolfie ends up leaving the royal palace, and sets all of the animals in the zoo in the wild. Luckily, Jack and Annie use the magic flute to sing and play in order to return all of the animals. The artist ends up being Wolfie as Mozart!

I liked this book! The print is fairly large so it is very easy to read off the page. Also, there is a decent amount of pictures that take up some of the pages, so it is easier for a younger reader to feel like they are reading a "bigger" book. The storyline is very easy to follow! It kind of seemed like the writing was basic- but it is meant for a 2nd-3rd grade audience.

I would use this in my classroom. This book would help some of my struggling readers feel like they can read chapter books easier! That way they are reading a more challenging/advanced book even though it is a simple read. This can build their reader confidence among their peers!

[Corinna Hogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute! I’m sure I would’ve really enjoyed this as a kid. A little more literal magic in the story than I maybe would have wanted, but it was a fun time and I can’t really complain.

It was also funny to me to see some reviews where they didn’t realize this was about Mozart at first. I randomly snatched this book out of a free little library because I saw “magic flute” and investigated no further, haha. But they don’t reveal until the end that the kid in the story in Mozart, and Mozart isn’t mentioned on the back of the book either. So if you’re not super familiar with Mozart like I am, I guess that would be a surprise! I bet it would be a fun way for a kid to discover a bit what mozart’s personality was like.

I also read this book while recovery from surgery while I was exhausted, my brain was soup, and I was unable to focus on much. This was a great way to read a little bit of something, but since it’s designed for a young reading level, I didn’t have to try very hard while reading. A great little book to read while I was super tired.

[Zorba · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like all of the Magic Tree House versions. So I like this book too, and my favorite part was when
Annie was making fun of Jack and called him a silly "clown". I was a little bit mad at Anne for Jack. However, he didn't get salty. First, he says that he is a clown and then acts as he is! Towards the end of the book, when Annie tells the coachman about her experiences at the party (p.99)- I saw a room with a thousand candles, made friends, and saw a silly clown. Jack says that the clown was the BEST part, for he knew how to make great use of his wits and his talents. I learned a lot from Jack. This is a lesson I have to constantly remind myself. Don't get pissed off, I can be a CLOWN and I can be the BEST part. I hope you guys can share some morals that you learned from the Merlin Missions.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another book in another great series. I love that throughout all of their adventures, Jack and Annie have loving parents to go home to. Their trip to Vienna, Austria in this book was both exciting and full of dramatic irony. Although children might not get from the beginning that Wolfie is actually Mozart, it was a nice touch for those of us in the know to wonder when Jack and Annie would figure it out. Mozart using their magic flute's tune in his performance was a nice touch as well. I highly recommend this book.

[Anna Cavallo · Rating 4 out of 5]

They go back to the time that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was 6 years old and was to perform for the royal family of Austria. But he doesn't, he wants to play and then goes to the zoo and opens all the cages so that the wild animals end up chasing him. Jack and Annie have to play their magic flute (good for only one use) and sing a song to send all the animals back to their homes. He remembers that he loves music and is able to perform a wonderful musical number for the royals.

[Daphne Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this typically charming Jack and Annie adventure, the two siblings wind up in 18th-century Vienna on a mission to find a "brilliant artist" and put him the right path. Of course, all along they are in the presence of said artist ("Wolfie") and never realize it. I particularly appreciate that this Merlin Mission shows art as both exciting and a worthwhile pursuit. Another solid installment from a reliable series for young children.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the missions that they are going to be doing next. Helping people who helped shape the creative world that it is today.
I think it was funny how Jack was so irritated to Wolfgang because of him wanting to play and hang out with them. At least Annie was nice about it. Everything kind of came together at once for him, and hopefully it makes him think about he treats others, even kids sometimes.
On to the next one.

[Jreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

☆4.5

I knew it was Mozart as soon as wolfie was like "you made me love music again!!" What a ride! Very fun read. Jack thirsting over Mozarts sister is kind of insane lol.

☆4.5 ▪︎ 103 pages



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"Short December Reads" is a shelf dedicated to short books read after my reading goal for the year has been reached in order to be able to read these books without them counting toward my goal.

[Gabrielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary Pope Osborne does a wonder job in this whole series! I love the time traveling aspect of it! Jack and Annie travel back to the time of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This book is a great read for younger children! So much adventure!! I love the little bit of history at the back of the book! What a great way to tie a fun book to history!

[Joey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buddy read with my youngest. These are so great. A bit o' history wrapped in a pleasant story. If my kid is asked about Mozart, he will know that he was a precocious child prodigy from the 18th century Austria, who performed for royalty throughout Europe. What a wonderful foundation (and head start) from which to learn and love. So happy these are out there for my kids.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another delightful adventure for Jack and Anne, this time in 18th-century Austria. My kid brought this home from the school library so of course I had to dive into it. I love how Mary Pope Osborne blends in the fictional adventure with real life historic places, people, and events. We giggled over Jack’s annoyance over Wolfey and their shock over discovering they were talking to a young Mozart. I love this time period so I got a kick out of the kids trying to blend in and figure out how to greet royalty and act during a grand ball while wearing a powered wig. I did feel the urge to listen to Mozart’s The Magic Flute after reading this, it’s one of my favorite operas.

[Brynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Owen: I mostly liked the part when Jack was bowing for the queen. He was so funny doing his bow. He went a lot lower and his hat fell off and then his wig slipped off. When he was trying to get his wig, dust got in his nose! It was so silly! I recommend this book to other kids because it was a good book!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one Magic Tree House book that we really enjoyed. We wish there was a Fact Tracker companion book for it. Because of my sons exposure to classical music, he picked up early on who the little boy was that Jack and Annie was helping (no spoilers...). We also enjoyed supplementing with listening to parts of the The Magic Flute which was referenced in the book.