One day a tree house magically appeared in the forest behind Jack and Annie's house in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania. The tree house could take them to any time or any place or any person in history. Morgan le Fay, the librarian from the days of King Arthur and owner of the tree house, needed Jack and Annie to help her on different missions based on stories from the books they read.
Let The Games Begin...For Men Only?!
In this Magic Tree House adventure Jack and Annie travel back in time to the very first Olympic games. They meet Plato who invites them to attend the chariot races - but only Jack can go! The ancient Greeks may have worshipped Nike, the goddess of victory, but they didn't allow mortal women to compete or even attend the Olympic games at all. At first Annie seems to abide by this strict "men only" rule. Then Jack spots his sister sneaking into the arena disguised in a soldier's uniform. Will Annie's act of defiance get them both arrested (or worse)?
Typically author Mary Pope Osborne groups her Magic Tree House books into four-part series. Hour at the Olympics #16 is part of The Mystery of the Lost Libraries series in which Jack and Annie risk their lives to save stories lost from ancient libraries: The other stories in this series are:
The Greek story of Hercules (#13 Vacation Under the Volcano)
The Chinese story of the silk weaver (#14 Day of the Dragon King), and
The Irish story of the serpent monster Sarph (#15 Viking Ships at Sunrise)
Magic Tree House chapter books are great for kids because they introduce historical facts in a fun way and help develop lifelong readers. For another adventure from Mary Pope Osborne, try Tigers At Twilight (see link to book review below).