The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses (Magic School Bus Series)

by Joanna Cole, Bruce Degen, Bruce Degan

Overview

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Scholastic is re-releasing the ten original Magic School Bus titles in paperback. With updated scientific information, the bestselling science series ever is back!

On a most sense-sational trip that takes them through an eye, an ear, a tongue, and even a dog's nose, Ms. Frizzle's class learns about the senses. Using their trademark sense of humor, Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen provide facts about the senses in both the human and animal worlds.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780590446983
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	09/01/2001
Series:	Magic School Bus Series
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	24,779
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 7.96(h) x 0.12(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen, the author and illustrator of the Magic School Bus books, have collaborated for twenty years, bringing humor and true kidlike curiosity to science and learning. Booklist heralded Ms. Frizzle as "the wackiest, wisest teacher in picture books." Two MSB titles have been named School Library Journal Best Books of the Year, and they have won countless state book awards, from New York to Nebraska.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 2-5--When Ms. Frizzle drives away from school before receiving an important message, Mr. Wilde, the new assistant principal, hops behind the wheel of the Magic School Bus to catch her. The class jumps aboard, too, knowing full well that only the Friz can handle the bus. When Mr. Wilde flips a mysterious switch, the vehicle shrinks and lands in a police officer's eye, then a child's ear, a dog's nose, and, finally, Ms. Frizzle's mouth as she eats pizza with her mother ("We'd been chewed out by teachers before, but this was ridiculous"). The format is comfortably familiar with text boxes and dialogue balloons complementing the story. Degen's illustrations are just as exciting and exacting as usual. Another fun, fact-filled adventure in the series.--Christine A. Moesch, Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, NY

School Library Journal

After nine fantastic voyages, it was inevitable that someone else at school would get behind the wheel of the Magic School Bus. In what is perhaps the best volume yet in the popular series, the new assistant principal, Mr. Wilde, jumps into the driver's seat as the class tries to catch up with Ms. Frizzle after school to relay an important message. Even though the children warn him against it, Mr. Wilde flips the mysterious green switch on the dashboard; to his surprise (but no one else's), the bus begins to shrink. No bigger than a speck of dust, the bus flies into the eye of a nearby human being, who just happens to be Ms. Frizzle herself. The children use their knowledge of human anatomy to guide Mr. Wilde and the bus out of their teacher's eye, where they land promptly inside a boy's ear. From there they move to a dog's nose and then (thanks to a sneeze) back to Ms. Frizzle's tongue via a slice of pizza she's eating at an outdoor caf‚. Throughout their journey, the children explore the five senses by applying information culled from their school reports and by making lots of bad puns, as is typical with the books in this series. What makes this volume stand out is the added drama of a stranger learning the class secret, coupled with an intriguing story line: what does Ms. Frizzle do when she leaves school? Like most teachers, she engages in ordinary activities: shopping, meeting her mother for dinner, going for a spin in her bright yellow convertible. Unlike most teachers, she unknowingly takes her entire class along with her and joins them in their puns ("It takes a lot of nerve to go there!"). The book concludes with an award ceremony for Ms. Frizzle ("Most Field Trips") and a rock band, led by Smellvis, singing "The Song of What's Wrong." And from the look on Mr. Wilde's face, it won't be his last trip on the Magic School Bus.

Horn Book Magazine

The way-off-road vehicle (The Magic School Bus and the Electric Field, 1997, etc.) tours the ears, eyes, nose, and skin when the assistant principal, Mr. Wilde, accidentally shrinks the school bus and the children on board, commandeering it to deliver a message to Ms. Frizzle. The vehicle plunges into the eye of a police officer, where the students explore the pupil, the cornea, the retina, and the optic nerve leading to the brain. Then it's on to other senses, via the ear of a small child, the nose of a dog, and the tongue of the Friz herself. Sidebars and captions add to the blizzard of information here; with a combination of plot, details, and jokes, the trip is anything but dull. The facts will certainly entice readers to learn more about the ways living creatures perceive the world. (Picture book. 6-9) .

Kirkus Reviews