A Good Night for Ghosts: Magic Tree House #42 A Merlin Mission

Osborne, M. P. (2009).  A Good Night for Ghosts:  Magic Tree House #42 A Merlin Mission.  New York, NY:  A Stepping Stone Book.

This is a story about a magic tree house and the adventure that Jack and Annie have.  In this story, there mission is “to help a creative person bring his gift to the world.”  They are going to help Louis Armstrong, the king of jazz.  They go to New Orleans with the magic trumpet in hand to the year 1915.  The kids begin to worry about ghosts because it is “All Saints’ Day,” and after a long hard day of work, they ended up at the haunted blacksmith shop.  Where Dipper (Louis Armstrong) started playing and the ghost loved it.  They had accomplished their mission and were headed home.

Unexpected insight; the story gives a lot of information on traditions like, “Jazz” and “All Saints’ Day” and gives explanations as to what it is.  Also, the story ends with the kids seeing and finding out about segregation.  Understatement; the feelings of Armstrong are shared when he explains how there is music everywhere, the church bell, the washroom, the man calling out the products he is selling, the sounds of the mule’s footsteps.