Twister on Tuesday is the twenty-third installment to the Magic Tree House series. The book is preceded by Revolutionary War on Wednesday and succeeded by Earthquake in the Early Morning.
Synopsis[]
When Jack and Annie travel back to the Kansas prairie in search of "something to learn", they gain an understanding of how hard life was for pioneers and they experience the terror of a tornado.
Chapters[]
- Tuesday!
- Signs of Life
- One-Room Schoolhouse
- Reading Lesson
- Bully
- Grasshopper Attack?
- Twister!
- Get Below!
- All Clear
- The Third Writing
Plot[]
Early Tuesday morning, Jack and Annie left for the magic tree house for their next mission. They had the list from the Civil War, and the letter from the Revolutionary War, now they need something to learn. A book was “Life on the Prairie” which makes them remember their adventure with Blawk Hawk.
The book took them to Kansas in the 1870’s changing their clothes in the process. In the distance, they saw several moving covered wagons. All of them left, but then the kids saw smoke. It came from a little house of sod bricks in a hill called a dugout, these were made due to a lack of trees and for protection from twisters with its storm cellars. The book said it became a schoolhouse, Annie suggested they go there to look for their item.
A girl named Miss Neely answered the door, she was the teacher. There were three other students, a boy about Annie’s age named Will, a younger girl named Kate and a tall older boy named Jeb. The two claimed they were passing by on their way to California. Neely had Jack sit with Jeb and Annie sit with Kate and Will, then she had Jack read a poem from the McGuffey Reader. However, Jeb was having trouble and was very rude. Neely decided to have everyone go outside for lunch. They had to eat quickly because a storm was coming. Jeb ate alone and threatened to fight Jack who offered food, making Annie upset. After Jeb left, Will explained that this was his first time in school, before that he just worked in fields, he walked five miles to get there! As for Kate and Will, their dad built a log cabin because a sod house was too dirty.
Miss Neely holding one of the slates in front of her class.
Back inside Miss Neely decided to start the writing lesson. She gives everyone slate and a pen so they copy a poem she wrote while they were eating. Suddenly, there was a noise, Kate and Will thought it was grasshoppers as they got attacked by millions the previous spring. Neely said the restored everything and that they should hold into good memories. Annie realized the poem on the slate was something to learn!
She and Jack decided to leave, but then they noticed strange looking clouds. They saw them turn into a funnel; it was a twister! Jack thought they would be fine due to the shelter, but Annie pointed out that it’s covered by a rug so they might not know. They ran back to the schoolhouse, but they couldn't hear them due to the noise. The wind knocked the door away and when they got inside, they managed to get everyone in the cellar. The twister passed and while the dugout was taken away, nobody got hurt. After they watched the twister vanish, everybody thanked Jack and Annie, Miss Neely said they can build another school. On their way back, Jeb ran to Jack and Annie wondering how they knew about this. Jack showed him the research book and now Jeb was more determined in learning, considering them friends.
When the two got back to Frog Creek, the talk about how easy life is now compared to back then. As Jack put the slate with the other pieces of writing, he realized that Annie followed the words on it by her determination in making friends with Jeb. A note from Morgan tells them to come back early tomorrow morning. The two would never forget this experience.
Notes on time and place settings[]
- This book takes place six days after Revolutionary War on Wednesday.