Children’s author Mary Pope Osborne and publisher Random House
join forces with Eve’s Fund to support youth literacy

Eve's Fund & Magic Tree House Authors Team Up To Keep Navajo Kids Reading

Since Mary Pope Osborne’s Magic Tree House series began in 1992, her books have become enormously popular among elementary school students, with more than 70 million copies sold worldwide.

In the last few years, the author and her publisher, Random House, have partnered with Eve’s Fund to support several of our literacy efforts. Taking a dramatic step to increase literacy in Navajo schools, the Magic Tree House team has donated thousands of books, organizing them to function as a powerful teaching tool called a Magic Tree House Teaching Bookshelf.

From L to R, Mary Pope & Will Osborne standing with Navajo student and Natalie Boyce just after a Magic Tree House presentation to Navajo students.

Each Teaching Bookshelf includes boxed sets of the original 28 titles in the Magic Tree House series. The sets contain 20 copies of each book, so teachers can borrow the box for one title and have enough copies for their whole class. Several classes in a school can also read different titles in the series simultaneously.Recently, the Magic Tree House team awarded a grant to Eve’s Fund that will bring Teaching Bookshelves to eight additional Navajo schools over the next three years.

Inspiring Families to Keep Reading 

In Spring 2011, Mesa Elementary School in Shiprock, New Mexico, received a Teaching Bookshelf to celebrate the re-opening of the school library, which had been destroyed in a fire the previous year.

As part of the re-opening celebration, Osborne and her sister, fellow author Natalie Boyce, spoke with nearly 400 students in grades 4-6 via teleconference, encouraging them to keep reading. The authors talked about what inspired them to become writers and shared how they come up with ideas for the Magic Tree House books.

That same day, Osborne and Boyce also participated by teleconference in a Family Literacy Night, which was open to all families in the Shiprock area. During the event, which was sponsored by Eveʼs Fund, the authors talked to parents about the importance of reading to their children.

“Could you autograph my book, please?” Charismatic Mary Pope Osborne inspires her young readers to read, write, and dream.

In 2009, Osborne and her sister, fellow author Natalie Boyce, worked with Navajo teachers to boost students’ writing skills through a Writers Workshop program. About 250 children in grades 3 through 6 participated, writing personal stories and poems for the authors to review.At the workshop’s awards ceremony, Osborne and Boyce answered questions from student writers via speakerphone. Eve’s Fund program director, Echo Lefthand distributed Boston Red Sox player Jacoby Ellsbury (the major league’s first Native American of Navajo descent) tee shirts and other prizes to the top poetry writers. The smiles on the children’s faces revealed exactly how they felt about the event.

You may go to our Website News to view writing samples, including letters the students wrote to Eve Crowell, for whom Eve’s Fund is named.

Reading is Fun

These Navajo school children love Eve's Fund for donating Magic Tree House books to their school.

Mary Pope Osborne began her partnership with Eve’s Fund in 2008, when she gave presentations to more than 1,800 Navajo children in grades 3 through 6. Random House donated 2,000 books to encourage the children to read more and Osborne emphasized that reading can be fun.As a result of Osborne’s presentation, students’ enthusiasm increased, their reading habits improved, and those who had previously struggled began to get A’s in school.As Mary Pope Osborne, Natalie Boyce, and Will Osborne, Mary’s husband and creator of Magic Tree House – The Musical, continue their commitment to Eve’s Fund, we are grateful for their support of our literacy programs.

Don’t miss seeing the happy faces of the children who have benefitted from our unique partnership with The Magic Tree House.

Click here or on the photo below to see our Magic Tree House photo album.

Eve’s Fund & Magic Tree House Authors Team Up To Keep Navajo Kids Reading