High Tide in Hawaii by Mary Pope Osborne

I'd seen kids carrying them around at school. There were these other books, small, colorful, and abundant, just like the Magic Tree House books. I knew if I read that one, it would be all finished. There were only forty or so then, so it didn't take me long to get through them all. I began checking them out five at a time. I was surprised to discover that the shelves to the right of the picture book area didn't house adult books. The library only had kids books, I said, and grown-up books. Next year, I told my mom about this wonderful series and she decided we needed to take a trip to the library. But there was Lions at Lunchtime, several levels above what I was supposed to read. I was supposed to select from my reading level. A couple of months later, I had to pick out a take-home reading book from my teacher's learning to read shelf. That was the first chapter book I ever read on my own. It took me a long time to figure out the Jack was laughing, not 'lugging.' Now, what exactly does a lug sound like? And the author's name, I discovered, was not 'Mary Pop.'īut I did get through it. It took me an entire week of reading by lamplight. Ten chapters with a picture on each beginning page. I liked the bright colors and surfing kids, so I had my mom buy it for me along with another Magic Tree House: Dolphins at Daybreak, which my parents helped me read. I saw it at my school's book fair in first grade and thought it was a picture book.

High Tide in Hawaii by Mary Pope Osborne