All About Mary Pope Osborne

It seems as if Mary Pope Osborne's life was full of adventure.  She was born on May 20, 1949 on the Military base, Fort Sill in Oklahoma.  Until Osborne was fifteen, she moved to many different places including Austria, Florida, Virginia, and finally came to rest in North Carolina.  After she graduated from high school, she enrolled at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill.  Osborne had decided to major in drama, but somewhere along the way she learned to love mythology and also studying many different religions.  After some time, she decided to change her major to religion so that she could learn about the different cultures and their religions.  As stated before, Osborne loved an adventure.  So the fact that after graduation, she decided to travel for a year.  She explored through Asian countries including Afghanistan, Turkey, India, Nepal, Iraq, Lebanon, and ten others.  Before heading to these countries, Osborne was in Europe for six weeks living in a cave in Crete.  If that wasn't enough adventure and excitement, she experienced earthquakes and riots along with many other things.  Osborne was not afraid to admit that she was frightened most of the trip.  Her trip was beginning to end when she got sick in Katmandu from blood poisoning.  She began to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy while she was resting and recovering.  She finished the three books within two weeks and was then ready to go home.  Osborne has said that events that she went through in that year let her experience different things and built her imagination, which led to becoming an author.  Osborne's most famous works are the Magic Treehouse series so when she asked about the adventures that the characters, Jack and Annie, encounter in the those books, she responded "My characters are a combination of real people and my imagination and research. My two brothers and I used to pretend lots of things together--that we were cowboys, soldiers, etc. That's the basis for the whole series" ("Mary pope osborne," 2007). This series along with her other many books have won many awards.

Awards/Honors:

• Children's Choice Selection for Run, Run as Fast as You Can
• Children's Book of the Year List for Last One Home 
• Orbis Pictus Honor Award for One World, Many Religions 
• Children's Choice Award for Dolphins at Daybreak & Midnight on the Moon

("Mary pope osborne," 2007)

This list is in no way exhaustive.  Mary Pope Osborne has written many amazing books and has won many different awards.