bn.com
Celebrate the wonder of the Middle Ages with this enchanting addition to the Magic Tree House series! When Jack and Annie receive a Royal Invitation to spend Christmas in Camelot, they expect feasting and fun with King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. But instead, they find themselves on a quest to recapture the kingdom's joy and save Camelot from being forgotten forever.
Publishers Weekly
What could be more exciting than a Christmas Eve quest back in the time of King Arthur? Young listeners are swept into historical fantasy as author Mary Pope Osborne reads her own bestselling works on the audiobook Christmas in Camelot, which includes the Magic Tree House titles Christmas in Camelot and Magic Tree House Research Guide #2: Knights and Castles. ( Oct.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
School Library Journal
Gr 2-5-In this series installment, Jack and Annie are transported to the legendary kingdom, which has been put under a dismal spell by King Arthur's enemy Mordred. To bring joy and hope back to Camelot, the youngsters volunteer to journey to the Otherworld in order to bring back the Water of Memory and Imagination that will break the spell. This isn't really a Christmas story, but rather a rousing adventure tale filled with dancing fairies, white stags, and hideous beasts. Jack and Annie undertake the rigors of the quest with enthusiasm and aplomb, and if it all seems a bit too easy, fledgling fantasy readers and fans of the series shouldn't mind at all.-E. M. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Anyone who hasn't yet heard of the Magic Tree House has evidently spent the last several years on another planet (at Midnight on the Moon, perhaps?). Judging from this latest series entry (the first in trade hardcover), the popularity of these transitional chapter books is richly deserved. Jack and Annie, the brother-and-sister pair from Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, here take their 25th magical journey in Morgan le Fay's magic tree house. This time, however, instead of traveling to actual places and times in history, they find themselves at Christmas in Camelot--a Camelot sadly transformed from a place of celebration and laughter to one from which joy has been robbed and magic banished. Their quest is to travel to the Otherworld to bring back the Water of Memory and Imagination in order to restore Camelot to its former glory. While the launching of the quest is rather labored--Mordred's involvement in Camelot's plight is explained quickly and not altogether satisfactorily--once Jack and Annie get going, the story moves along at a good clip, full of magical talismans, rhyming clues, Otherworldly foes, and a happy ending. If the kids accomplish their tasks rather easily-well, this is a book for younger readers, and it makes a terrific introduction to the more complex fantasies to come. Osborne (Kate and the Beanstalk) never dumbs down the language for her young readers, instead introducing a rich vocabulary while seamlessly providing contextual clues for decoding: "Miraculously, the silver cup still brimmed with water from the cauldron. Not a drop had spilled out." Black-and-white spot illustrations are scattered throughout, although frequently a page turn is required before thereader sees the scene being described-a minor design quibble. An almost entirely pleasing offering; if Osborne and her publisher can produce another 25 of this quality, chapter-book readers will truly have been well served.
