Earthquake in the Early Morning

we left San Francisco!”
    Jack laughed and shook his head with amazement.
    Annie closed the book.
    â€œI guess we
are
two brave kids who try to give hope,” she said. “We just gave some to King Arthur, didn’t we?”
    â€œKing Arthur?” said Jack.
    â€œYeah,” said Annie. She started down the rope ladder. “That was the mystery of Morgan’s library. We had to give four special writings to King Arthur so he could get his hope and courage back and save Camelot.”
    â€œThat wasn’t King Arthur,” said Jack. He threw on his pack and followed Annie.
    â€œSure it was,” said Annie, stepping onto the ground. “Didn’t you hear him say, ‘I’m just an ordinary king’? Get it?
King
.”
    â€œBut King Arthur’s not an ordinary king,” said Jack.
    â€œWell,
he
thinks so,” said Annie. “I know it was him. I feel it.”
    She smiled. Then she started through the Frog Creek woods.
    Jack stared after her.
    King Arthur!
    As birdsong filled the early-morning woods, Jack thought about their visit to Morgan’s library. He remembered the sad king and how their writings seemed to give him strength.
    Maybe Annie
was
right. Maybe they really
had
helped King Arthur save Camelot.And maybe someday they would go back.
    â€œHurry, Jack!” Annie called. “Before Mom and Dad wake up!”
    â€œComing!” Jack shouted. And he took off after her, running for home,
finally
.

FACTS ABOUT EARTHQUAKES
    An earthquake is caused by a sudden shifting of the rocky plates that make up the earth’s surface. When the plates pull apart, push together, or slide past one another, the movement causes shock waves. The place where the plates of the earth meet is called a
fault
. One of these faults, the San Andreas Fault, runs almost all the way through California.
    Every year, millions of earthquakes occur around the world where plates come together, but most are too small to be felt.
    The study of earthquakes is called
seismology
. A person who studies earthquakes is called a
seismologist
.
Seismographs
areinstruments that detect the motion of earthquake waves.
    Since the big earthquake in 1906, Californians have become better prepared for earthquakes:
    â€¢ New buildings are built to strict building codes that make them more earthquake-proof.
    â€¢ Fire and police departments and emergency services are better able to handle earthquake problems.
    â€¢ Citizens are better educated about how to protect themselves from earthquake hazards. Many households have prepared earthquake survival kits and keep emergency supplies on hand.
    In a Magic Tree House book, true facts are often worked into the story. Some of the true facts about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake in this book are:
    â€¢ A banker named Charles Crocker saved his bank’s money by sending wagonloads of money down to the bay.
    â€¢ A private library called the Sutro Library contained up to 200,000 books. The books were destroyed after they were moved from the Montgomery Building to Mechanics’ Pavilion, which burned down.
    â€¢ The words on the sign that Peter and Andrew lent to Jack and Annie were written on a sign tacked to a crumbling building on Market Street.

Here’s a special preview of
Magic Tree House #25
Stage Fright on a Summer Night

    Available now!
    Excerpt copyright © 2002 by Mary Pope Osborne.
Published by Random House Children’s Books,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

 1
 
 Special Magic
    Jack and Annie sat on their porch. Lightning bugs blinked in the warm summer twilight.
    â€œWow, a shooting star!” said Annie, pointing at the sky.
    Jack looked up, just in time to see a streak of light flash through the sky. The light hovered above the Frog Creek woods. Then it disappeared into the treetops.
    Jack caught his breath. He turned to Annie.
    â€œThat was no shooting star,” he said.
    â€œRight,” she said.
    They jumped up. Jack grabbed his backpack from inside the front hall.
    â€œDad, Mom! Can we go out?” he called. “We’ll be back soon!”
    â€œTen minutes, no more!” their mom said.
    â€œOkay!” said Jack. He closed the door. “Let’s go! Hurry!”
    He and Annie ran across their yard. They ran down their street. They ran into the woods. They ran until they came to the tallest oak. They looked up.
    â€œYep,” said Annie.
    Jack just smiled.