Sunset of the Sabertooth

The seventh book in the Magic Tree House series follows eight-year-old Jack and his seven-year-old sister, Annie, on a time-travel adventure to the Ice Age. In previous books, the siblings discovered a tree house filled with books in the woods near their home in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania. The tree house is magic: When they point to a picture in a book and wish to go there, it transports them to that time and place. The tree house belongs to Morgan le Fay, a magical librarian who collects books for King Arthur's library. Jack and Annie learned that Morgan is trapped under a spell and that they must find four special things to free her. They have already found two, a moonstone from old Japan and a mango from the Amazon rain forest, and they have befriended a small mouse named Peanut who lives in the tree house.

On the way home from swimming class, Annie persuades Jack to visit the tree house rather than go home to change. They climb up to find Peanut waiting. Jack notices that both the moonstone and the mango begin with the letter M, just like Morgan, and guesses that all four special things start with M. A single book lies open to a page showing rocks and snow. Annie wishes aloud to go there before Jack can object, and the tree house spins and transports them, still wearing only their bathing suits.

They arrive in a grove of bare trees on a wide, snow-covered plain bordered by rocky cliffs. Snow falls from a gray sky, and they are immediately freezing. Annie tucks Peanut into Jack's backpack for warmth. Jack reads the book's cover and discovers they have landed in the Ice Age. They cannot return home because the Pennsylvania book, which always takes them back to Frog Creek, does not appear until their mission is complete. On a distant cliff, they spot four figures carrying spears: two adults and two children. Jack reads that these are Cro-Magnons, early modern humans who lived in caves during the late Ice Age in Europe and hunted by trapping animals in branch-covered pits. He warns Annie not to approach them, fearing the hunters would see strangers as enemies.

Desperate for shelter, they find a cave in the cliffs and step inside. It smells like a wet dog. Annie ventures deeper and discovers the floor is covered in bones. Jack reads that great cave bears of the Ice Age stood over eight feet tall, and their caves were littered with the bones of their ancestors. Annie hears loud snoring from the back of the cave. Jack realizes it is a cave bear, and they run outside.

Still shivering, they spot another cave under a cliff ledge, this one glowing with golden light. Inside they find a small fire, stone tools, and neatly stacked animal skins, all signs that Cro-Magnon people live here. Annie finds reindeer-skin coats among the skins and puts one on, giving another to Jack. To thank the cave's inhabitants, they leave their towels and Annie's swimming goggles on the pile. Following instructions from the book, they make stone lamps by lighting moss wicks in hollowed-out rocks filled with animal fat, then carry them into a tunnel at the back of the cave.

The tunnel opens into a huge cavern. Animals are painted on the walls in red, black, and yellow: cave bears, lions, elk, reindeer, bison, woolly rhinos, and mammoths. Jack reads that the paintings are 25,000 years old and that Cro-Magnons may have believed the images gave them power over the animals they hunted. Annie points out one special painting: a figure with human arms and legs, reindeer antlers, and an owl face, holding a flute. Jack reads that this is the "Master of the Animals," a sorcerer who wore antlers to run like a reindeer and an owl mask to see like an owl. Annie feels certain the sorcerer is the person they need to find, suggesting he may be connected to Morgan. Jack agrees.

Back in the main cave, they discover Peanut has crawled out of the backpack and vanished. Tiny mouse tracks lead across the open plain. Jack and Annie follow them, but the wind covers the prints. Annie spots a sabertooth tiger on one of the cliffs, a giant cat with two long, sharp fangs. The tiger disappears from view, and they begin running toward the grove where the tree house waits.

As they run, the ground cracks beneath them. They crash into a deep pit, one of the Cro-Magnon hunting traps covered with branches and hidden by snow. The pit is too deep to climb out of, and they hear the sabertooth yowl in the distance. Annie hears strange, haunting music on the wind. A figure wearing reindeer antlers and an owl mask appears at the edge of the pit, along with Peanut. The sorcerer throws down a rope and pulls them up one at a time. When Jack reaches the top, he discovers that the other end of the rope is tied around the neck of a woolly mammoth, a massive elephant-like creature with shaggy hair and curved tusks. Annie has already climbed onto the mammoth and named her Lulu.

The sorcerer reaches into a pouch and hands Jack a smooth, hollow bone with holes along its sides, a flute made from mammoth bone. Jack tries to return it, but the sorcerer refuses. Jack realizes the mammoth-bone flute may be the third special M thing. He asks the sorcerer if he knows Morgan. The sorcerer does not answer, but his eyes sparkle with kindness. He unties the mammoth's rope and whispers in her ear. The mammoth begins walking toward the tree house as if she knows the way. Jack looks back and sees the sorcerer watching them, but when the sun breaks through the clouds, the figure vanishes.

As the mammoth carries them across the plain, herds of elk and reindeer come into view, followed by a woolly rhino and a bison. The animals seem to escort them toward the grove in a grand parade. Then the mammoth cries out and the other animals scatter. The sabertooth is slinking across the snow behind them. The mammoth charges toward the grove, but the tiger circles around and blocks their path to the tallest tree, where the tree house sits. The sabertooth advances, its long white fangs glinting in the sunlight.

Annie urges Jack to play the sorcerer's flute. Though skeptical, he blows into it and produces a strange sound. The sabertooth freezes. Each time Jack plays, the tiger stops; each time he pauses, the tiger steps forward. Jack closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and blows as hard and as long as he can. The music sounds as if it comes from another world. The sabertooth slinks away toward the cliffs, and the mammoth carries them to the tallest tree.

From the mammoth's back, Jack grabs the rope ladder. Annie says goodbye to the mammoth, and they climb into the tree house. The Pennsylvania book has reappeared, confirming their mission is complete. They remove the borrowed coats and drop them to the ground, hoping the Cro-Magnon family will find them. Jack sees the four Cro-Magnons crossing the snowy plain at sunset. Annie shouts to them about the coats, and the tallest figure raises a spear. Jack quickly points to the picture of Frog Creek and wishes to go home. The tree house spins and returns them. Back in Frog Creek, Jack places the mammoth-bone flute on the carved M on the tree house floor, beside the moonstone and the mango. Annie notes they need just one more M thing to free Morgan from her spell, and they head home through their warm neighborhood, joking about what their parents "trapped" for dinner at the supermarket.