and on tonight's rock center with brian williams, nbc's meredith vieira explores how she captures the imagination of children the world over, like 9-year-old erinike she means a lot to you. >> uh-huh. i really like the books. >> you heard it right. books. it wasn't a pop star or even a movie star who inspired this homeless third grader. it was an author. her name is mary pope ozborne, and her magic tree house chapter books are so wildly popular among 6 to 10-year-olds that as far as they're concerned, she is a rock star. [ chanting mary ] >> you are a rock star. >> their enthusiasm comes gushing out in fan letters. that one aaron wrote is just one of millions mary has received. >> your books are the best in my life. don't stop them until you die. please. i love them so much. >> mary's books chronicle the adventures of jack and annie, a brother and sister who discover a magic tree house filled with books that let them time travel back to wherever the book is set. her books are right behind that other children's book series bay boy with a lightning bolt scar on the "new york times" best seller list. if you are still scratching your head wondering

. >> erin williams has been involved in alemany farm for about 2 yes. this is your land! >> this is my land. but it's everybody*s land. and i just love the fact that we can have honey and beehives that we extract from. >> [indistinct] oh, my gosh they're right behind us. >> they're right behind us. >> what is this we're looking at? >> so, these are boxes of the honey that we keep. and they actually have a layer of, kind of like-- >> like a tray? >> like a tray that collects the honey on top of the tray. >> growing and looking after so many crops takes an army of volunteers. and many of them have had little or no farming experience. but they often see once they get their hands in the soil, well, they're hooked. >> if you can't bring the people to the land, well, you gotta bring the land to the people. and that's what we're doing here. we've got this beautiful property. and we're taking advantage of it. >> jason marks, who graduated from a farming program at u.c. santa cruz, has been one of the farm managers for several years. he says this project symbolizes urban farming i