Revolutionary War on Wednesday

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Dear Readers,
    Some time ago, I wrote a biography of George Washington. While doing my research for that book, I began to greatly admire him. Ever since, I’ve wanted to “visit” him again. Happily, Revolutionary War on Wednesday finally gave me the chance to do just that.
    Sal Murdocca, the wonderful artist for the Magic Tree House series, and I thought it would be fun to model our cover after one of America’s most famous paintings: Washington Crossing the Delaware , painted by Emanuel Leutze in Germany in 1851. This huge painting now hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
    We’d like to point out several errors in Leutze’s painting (and our cover!), however. First, a general would never have stood up on a rough ride like that. Second, the boat in the painting is much smaller than the ones Washington actually used. And third, the first American flag with thirteen stars, representing the thirteen colonies, was not actually designed until some time after Washington crossed the Delaware.
    Still, we love the painting and thought it would be fun to put Jack and Annie into it for our cover.
    Have a good time on your journey with Jack, Annie, and George Washington. Just remember—don’t stand up in the boat!
    All my best,

Text copyright © 2000 by Mary Pope Osborne. Illustrations copyright © 2000 by Sal Murdocca.
    All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
    www.randomhouse.com/kids/magictreehouse
    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Osborne, Mary Pope.
Revolutionary War on Wednesday / by Mary Pope Osborne ;
illustrated by Sal Murdocca.
p. cm. — (Magic tree house ; #22) “A Stepping Stone book.” SUMMARY: Using their magic tree house, Jack and Annie travel back to the time of the American Revolution and help George Washington during his famous crossing of the Delaware River.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89479-4
[1. Time travel—Fiction. 2. Magic—Fiction. 3. United States—History—Revolution, 1775–1783—Fiction. 4. Washington, George, 1732–1799—Fiction. 5. Tree houses—Fiction.]
I. Murdocca, Sal, ill. II. Title. PZ7.O81167Re 2000 [Fic]—dc21 00-037299
    Random House, Inc. New York, Toronto, London, Sydney,