How Many Magic Tree House Books Are There?

When it comes to finding books for young and teenage readers, you will often be spoiled for choice.

However, it can be difficult to get younger readers to pick up a book in the first place, so it’s essential that you give them books that are thrilling, adventurous, and educational.

How Many Magic Tree House Books Are There

The Magic Tree House book series by Mary Pope Osborne is all three!

Each Magic Tree House book involves Jack and Annie, two siblings who go on exciting missions and adventures all with the aid of a magical tree house.

This allows them to travel to all sorts of different historical time periods, settings, and locations around the world.

There are two groups of books within the series. The first is the original set of Magic Tree House adventures, where Morgan le Fay sets the children’s tasks, and the books are “early chapter books” for ages around 5-9.

The second group, however, is Magic Tree House: Merlin Mysteries, where Merlin the Magician sets the adventures. These books are intended for slightly more advanced readers of around 7-10 years of age. 

But how many books are in each? How many Magic Tree House books are there? 

To put it simply, the original collection of Magic Tree House adventures contains 28 books. On the other hand, the Magic Tree House: Merlin Missions collection has 27 books.

After finishing the Merlin books, Osborne decided to return to the original Magic Tree House series, writing a further 8 books there on top of the pre-existing 28.

There’s plenty more to learn about the Magic Tree House series, though, and we’ve got all the answers for you in our fun guide below. Read on! 

How Many Magic Tree House Books Are There?

When it comes to the original series of Magic Tree House books, there were 29 books initially released. 

Each of the books involves the adventurous siblings, Jack and Annie Smith, going on wild adventures with the help of their magic tree house These adventures turn out to be set by Morgan le Fay, a famous enchantress character from the legend of King Arthur. 

The very first Magic Tree House book in this collection, and the series as a whole, was titled “Dinosaurs Before Dark”.

It had a different title in the UK, “Valley of the Dinosaurs”, as did every other book in the series until number 16. The first book was released back in 1992. 

The final of the initial Magic Tree House releases in this collection came eleven years later, in 2003. It was the 28th entry and had the title “High Tide in Hawaii”

Around the time of the 24th entry, “Earthquake in the Early Morning”, Mary Pope Osborne started another collection of stories. These were known as the Magic Tree House: Merlin Missions, which we’ll cover next. 

New Adventures

However, when the Merlin Missions series ended, Osborne decided to return to the original Magic Tree House collection and write some further adventures.

All in all, she wrote eight more stories, making the total number of books in the original Magic Tree House collection now 36. 

These began in 2017, 14 years after the collection had originally ended. The first of these new stories was titled “A Big Day For Baseball”, and involved Jack and Annie seeing famous baseball star Jackie Robinson in 1947. 

The most current of these new stories is “Sunlight on the Snow Leopard”, released at the start of 2022.

How Many Magic Tree House: Merlin Missions Books Are There?

While the original Magic Tree House books were written for slightly younger readers, from about 5-9 years old, the follow-up collection, Magic Tree House: Merlin Missions, was made for more advanced readers. 

Written for children aged 7-10, these books see Jack and Annie going on adventures set by Merlin the Magician, another mythical character from the legend of King Arthur.

There were 27 different books released in this collection, which is one book fewer than the original run of the first collection.

The first of the Merlin Mission books was released in October 2001, while the first collection of Magic Tree House books was still ongoing. This first Merlin Mission was titled “Christmas in Camelot”, with Jack and Annie being sent on a mission to save Camelot.

Merlin the Magician is able to send them on the quest because he learned of the children from Morgan le Fay. 

The final Merlin Mission book came out in July 2016, just before Osborne would return to continue the original collection. This final book was titled “Night of the Ninth Dragon”.

In a neat bookend, Jack and Annie have to return to Camelot. Not only must they save Merlin and King Arthur, but also Morgan from the original collection! 

It’s a fun bringing-together of both collections of Magic Tree House books that’s sure to please fans of the series.

What Is The Magic Tree House?

The Magic Tree House series sees the adventurous siblings Jack and Annie Smith going on adventures and missions with the help of their magic tree house, with each mission proving a moral or educational lesson to the young readers.

How Many Magic Tree House Books Are There

The tree house can send them to all sorts of historical periods and settings, like England in the Middle Ages, Ancient Egypt, or even the American Wild West.

It’s a great way for the books to teach children all about fascinating history, as well as a blend of real life and mythical characters.

Similarly, the tree house also takes them to brilliant places around the world, like the cold of the North Pole, the heat of the African Savannah, or the underwater depths of the Pacific Ocean.

This allows the books to teach young readers about the geography of our world, letting kids experience loads of locations they may never normally see or even know about.

Final Thoughts

There are 36 overall mainline Magic Tree House books, and 27 books in the spin-off Magic Tree House: Merlin Missions collection.

Sophie Andrea