Magic Tree House' author builds worlds from the Berkshires

GREAT BARRINGTON — Surrounded by historical art and architecture, Berkshire residents may regularly feel transported to the past. But it would be difficult to find anybody in these hills more versed in time travel than Mary Pope Osborne.
"People can give me one word, and it's like as soon as you open that little door, there's a world," the "Magic Tree House" series author said during a Thursday morning visit to her Castle Street house in Great Barrington.
Osborne recently found that entry point once again. Publisher Penguin Random House had recommended that she base the 60th installment of the children's series on narwhals.