Tonight on the Titanic

This installment of the Magic Tree House series, a children's chapter book series about two siblings who travel through time using a magical tree house, begins a new story arc in which eight-year-old Jack and his seven-year-old sister, Annie, must collect four special gifts to break a spell.

On a stormy night in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, Annie wakes Jack, convinced the rain is calling them to the magic tree house in the nearby woods. The tree house belongs to Morgan le Fay, a magical librarian from the time of King Arthur. Jack and Annie pull on rain ponchos over their pajamas and head into the woods.

Inside the tree house, they find not Morgan but a small, scruffy terrier puppy. Annie names him Teddy because he looks like a teddy bear. A note from Morgan explains that the dog is under a spell. To free him, Jack and Annie must receive four gifts: one from a ship lost at sea, one from the prairie blue, one from a forest far away, and one from a kangaroo. Morgan advises them to be wise, brave, and careful, adding that their Master Librarian cards, earned in previous adventures, will not help this time. Teddy nudges a book titled The Unsinkable Ship with his nose. Jack points to the cover and wishes to go there, and the tree house transports them.

Jack and Annie arrive on a cold, starlit night in old-fashioned clothing. The tree house has landed on the deck of a massive ship between two smokestacks. Jack reads that on the night of April 14, 1912, an English ocean liner carrying 2,200 passengers was making her first voyage across the Atlantic to New York City, and most people believed the ship was unsinkable. Annie wonders how they will find the gift, and Jack explains that it must be freely given.

A shout from the lookouts' nest warns of an iceberg. Jack and Annie feel a jolt and hear a grinding sound as the hull scrapes against the ice. Annie takes Teddy and the flashlight outside, then calls Jack over in alarm: the flashlight reveals a life preserver bearing the name R.M.S. TITANIC.

Jack and Annie both know what happened to the Titanic. Steam gushes from the smokestacks and the engines stop. Jack wants to leave, but Annie insists they stay to help, reminding him they can escape in the tree house at any time. They descend to a lower deck and peer through a window, where the captain orders the radio operator to send an SOS, the international distress signal, because the ship is sinking. Jack reads that the only nearby ship had turned off its radio and all others were too far away. The ship carried only 20 lifeboats, half the number needed, and many launched only partly full. Third-class passengers on the lower decks often did not know where to go. Annie proposes they help someone from the lower decks reach the lifeboats.

They enter the grand stairway, where a clock reads 12:20, leaving two hours before the ship sinks. They hurry through the first-class hallway, where the floor already slants downward. A uniformed man tells passengers to put on life belts, but they dismiss the warning. On the third-class deck, people joke and laugh, equally unconcerned. Annie shouts at them to go to the boat deck, but no one listens.

They descend further and find water sloshing at the end of a hallway, the cabins all empty. Teddy leaps from Jack's arms and barks furiously at a closed cabin door. A small boy of about four opens it and hugs the dog. His older sister emerges: Lucy O'Malley, about twelve or thirteen, who introduces herself and her brother, William. Their parents are in New York, and the children are traveling alone to join them. Annie tells Lucy the ship has hit an iceberg and points to the rising water. Lucy gathers their coats and life belts. Annie helps William into his life belt and tucks Teddy into Jack's knapsack. Lucy darts back to retrieve something, slipping it into her coat pocket. Freezing water reaches their feet, and they run for the stairs.

Annie leads the group upward. They pass through a lounge where passengers laugh off the danger. Lucy hesitates, but Jack urges her on. They climb the grand staircase to the boat deck, where the Titanic blazes with lights. A band plays music and distress rockets streak into the sky. William claps, thinking it is fireworks. A crew member calls for women and children to board the lifeboats.

The small lifeboat swings on cables above the black water, and Lucy shakes her head, reluctant to leave the seemingly solid ship. Jack and Annie plead with her to be brave for William's sake, and Lucy agrees. Annie explains that she and Jack will go home another way. Lucy reaches into her coat pocket and pulls out her father's silver pocket watch on a chain, carried on the voyage for good luck. She places it around Annie's neck, saying Jack and Annie were their good luck. Jack glances at the watch: It reads 1:50. Only thirty minutes remain.

A large man lifts Lucy and William into the lifeboat, then grabs Annie and tosses her in too. Jack dodges the man's reach. The lifeboat begins lowering with Annie trapped inside, but a woman demands to board, and the crew raises the boat back up. Jack pulls Annie onto the ship. From the railing, they watch Lucy and William's lifeboat float into the darkness. The watch reads 2:05.

The front of the ship dips into the sea. Deck chairs slide across the deck. The band plays a slow hymn as the captain shouts that it is every man for himself. Jack and Annie run up the tilting deck toward the smokestacks, but the tree house is gone. Teddy's barking sounds from a distance; the dog has somehow escaped the knapsack. The ship's lights go out. Jack stumbles in the darkness and spots the tree house tipped on its side, wedged between a smokestack and the railing. Annie and Teddy are already inside. Jack crawls in, and Annie pulls him to safety. A loud cracking sound fills the air as Annie wishes them home. The tree house spins, and everything goes still.

Back in Frog Creek, both children are shaken. Jack's eyes fill with tears thinking of the Titanic. Annie remarks that Teddy must have a touch of magic, since he led them to the displaced tree house and saved their lives. The silver watch around Annie's neck has stopped at 2:20, the exact moment the ship went down. Annie places it on Morgan's note as the first gift: a gift from a ship lost at sea. When they turn to take Teddy home, the little dog has vanished. Annie says she has a feeling they will see him again soon.

Jack and Annie walk home through the quiet, starlit night. Jack reflects that although time stopped for the Titanic, books and memories keep it alive. Annie agrees, adding that every time the story is told, people wish it had a different ending. They slip inside their house, where it is cozy, dry, and safe.