A review by aman757
Christmas in Camelot by Mary Pope Osborne

adventurous mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Magic tree house was one of my favorite book series as a kid. This book in particular is one I can remember asking my mother to buy because it wasn't at the library at the time. Reading this book again, I remembered the repeated plot point from the series of the main characters Jack and Annie making a wish with a book in their tree house to take them on a fantasy adventure, and then them returning to the tree house by wishing with a Pennsylvania book. In this book, a special edition in the series,

the characters return to their tree house with the help of the wizard Merlin, from a medieval time in Camelot.

I don't really like stories about wizards and knights and this almost mythical time in history, particularly because of how these stories can be used to support anti-social, fantastical behavior in the present. Though I did appreciate the author Mary Pope Osborne including a short section at the end of the book about some of the historical evidence she used to form some of her characters. That said, while this book did evoke some positive memories of a book series I enjoyed as a child, I don't think it is one I'd pass along to the children of the new generation.