“I didn’t expect it to be so crowded,” I hear one amazed mother say to another as more than 300 excited kids march into the Menlo Park (Calif.) Library. Waving to friends and holding on to each other’s hands, they weave into the designated kids-only area, anxious to see two of their favorite characters come to life: Jack and Annie from the popular Magic Tree House series.

My own fangirls – my eight-year-old daughter, Coco, and nieces Maggie, seven, and Stella, five – are squeezed up front somewhere. From back in the parent chairs, I can just spot one of Stella’s Annie-inspired braids.

After more than a month of anticipation, we’ve rushed here for one of the final stops of Passport to Adventure: A Magic Tree House Live Reading Tour, which launched in March and stopped in 26 cities in the U.S. and Canada. Tonight’s show begins with a bang, with the soundtrack booming through the library, signaling the start of a new adventure, Magic Tree House-style: “The wind started to blow…”

Suddenly, Jack and Annie emerge from the library stacks. These are the same high-energy adult actors who played the precocious protagonists in Magic Tree House: The Musical, and they’ve got the characters’ looks down pat, from Jack’s red backpack to Annie’s hooded sweatshirt. They wave, asking the kids to introduce themselves, which they do in a frenzied mish-mash. “And this is my sister, Shira,” one boy politely adds when it is finally silent.

Here’s how you know the Magic Tree House team knows what it’s doing: The show is 18 minutes long, just right for short people with short attention spans. And it’s action-packed. Jack and Annie talk – and sing – all about the joys of reading. For a spirited number called “Read! Read! Read!” Jack even dons shades and shakes (what we politely refer to in our house as) his booty.

But the big moment of the show is when the kids take the Reading Ambassador Secret Oath: they solemnly promise to read at least five books in 30 days, carry their passports – a souvenir given to them after the show that lists tasks including “ I have read 10 Magic Tree House books” – and help someone learn to read.

After a brief moment of chaos when I am sure I will never locate all the members of my family, we find each other and queue up to have Jack and Annie sign – or actually stamp – our Magic Tree House books, purchased from Kepler’s, tonight’s bookseller and local institution. This actually takes a lot longer than the show. Way longer.

This may seem odd, that families are willing to wait beyond what is likely bedtime for many of these young fans, just to meet two adult actors. After all, Mary Pope Osborne, the actual author of the bestselling books, isn’t here tonight. But really it’s the brother-and-sister bibliophiles the kids idolize and have gotten to know through dozens of adventures.

And these actors know their stuff. When we finally get to their table and Coco asks them to pick their favorite mission, they don’t flinch: Annie instantly goes with Afternoon in the Amazon, while Jack picks Christmas in Camelot.

Actually, the signing turns out to be the real highlight for me, because while the audience was informed that there were too many people to take posed pictures with Jack and Annie, I use my status as a Publishers Weekly contributor to get a shot of my girls with the stars.

I think I will caption their picture Manic Night in Menlo Park.