Book Description
The Magic School Bus was a series of children's books intended to teach scientific concepts to children. The books feature the exploits of Ms. Frizzle and her class of students at Walkerville Elementary School who board a magical school bus which takes them on educational adventures to space, under the Earth, into the human body, or to other such locations. The books were written in the first person from the point of view of an unnamed student in the Friz's class.
Synopsis:
The fieldtrip to the planetarium is foiled when the museum turns out to be closed, but Ms. Frizzle saves the day. The Magic School Bus turns into a spaceship and takes the class on a trip zooming through the atmosphere, to the Moon, and beyond! With up-to-date facts about the solar system, revised for this edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Cole and Degen have already escorted young readers on three enlightening, boisterous rides on the magic school bus--in explorations of the human body, waterworks and the inside of the Earth. This latest expedition, on which the energetic Miss Frizzle offers a tour of the planets, should not be missed. When a closed planetarium disappoints her students on a class trip, the likable teacher saves the day. She manages to launch her rickety school bus into space and steers it around the solar system, visiting the moon, the sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars before an asteroid knocks out one of the taillights. When Miss Frizzle leaves the bus to investigate, she gets lost in space, and the students visit the outer planets without her. They reconnect with her eventually, and the group ends up back in the classroom, making a chart and a mobile based on their discoveries. Once again, author and illustrator let readers laugh while they learn in an animated, fact-filled adventure. Ages 6-9.
From Library Journal
The planetarium is closed for repairs, so the Magic School Bus blasts off on a real tour of the solar system. After their previous field trips, the children in Ms. Frizzle's class are all blase about such things; as they land on the Moon, Venus, and Mars, and fly by the other planets and the Sun, they comment on what they see, generate a blizzard of one- or two-sentence reports on special topics and--even while Ms. Frizzle is temporarily left behind in the asteroid belt--crack terrible jokes ("Could Saturn take a bath? Yes, but it might leave a ring!"). Although some of the information is radically simplified--people are said to float in space because "without a large mass nearby . . . they do not have weight"--Cole keeps the narrative specific without burdening it with loads of facts. Degen's fresh, energetic illustrations complement the breathless pace perfectly. A first-class introduction to the planets, fine for pleasure or purpose reading.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　--John Peters, New York Public Library
Book Dimension :
length: (cm)21.4 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)25.4