Rationale

Deciding on who I wanted to do my author study on was difficult at first.  I had many different authors in mind that I would like to get to know more about, but I also wanted to study an author that had written books that I loved to read when I was young.  I thought back to books that I really enjoyed and automatically thought of the Magic Treehouse series.  These were among the first chapter books that I read as a child.  I do believe Junie B. Jones was my first experience with books with chapters, but the Magic Treehouse books by Mary Pope Osborne always kept me interested and wanting to read more.  Choosing Mary Pope Osborne as the author I wanted to study gave me the opportunity to dive back into this series and really get an understanding of why I enjoyed these books so much.  The books were based on Jack and Annie who found books in this treehouse, and these books took them on so many different adventures.  I can remember reading one so fast just because I wanted to know what happened at the end.  I also read them so quickly because I wanted to go on more adventures with Jack and Annie.  With these characters being so brave and adventurous,  it made me want to be the same way.  As a child, I felt like I was going on these adventures and helping Jack and Annie along the way.   This series wasn't necessarily a picture book so it didn't have many pictures but it did have some illustrations.  I enjoyed for the first time not having all the pictures and just letting my mind create its own pictures and images.  The illustrator of the Magic Treehouse series, Salvatore Murdocca, definitely guided my thinking along and made me think outside the box and gave me a huge imagination.  I am excited about learning more and more about Mary Pope Osborne, the author that guided me in a direction that would lead to my love for reading and books.