The Magic School Bus is a series of children's books about science, written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen. Designed for ages 6-9, they feature the antics of Ms. Valerie Felicity Frizzle and her class, who board a sentient anthropomorphic mini school bus which takes them on field trips to impossible locations, including the Solar System, clouds, the past, and the human body. The books are written in the first person from the point of view of an unspecified student in "the Friz's" class. The class has a pet lizard named Liz, who accompanies the class on their field trips.
Since the Magic School Bus books present scientific facts in the form of stories in which fantastic things happen (for example, the bus turns into a spaceship, or children shrink to the size of blood cells), each book has a page at the end detailing in a humorous manner which parts of the book represented scientific fact and which were fanciful storytelling.
Contents
History
Craig Walker, vice-president and senior editorial director at Scholastic Co., stated that the concept began with the idea of combining science with fictional stories, and Joanna Cole (who had written both science and humor before) and Bruce Degen were then approached with creating such a series. Walker also states that his own memories of school field trips and of a teacher he had once, served as further inspiration.
The first book "At the Waterworks" was written in 1985 and published the following year.
Cole and Degen started a new series called Ms. Frizzle's Adventures in 2001, which teaches social studies. In those books, Ms. Frizzle travels through time via a special watch. There are now three books in that series. Microsoft Home started publishing Magic School Bus software in 1994. TW Kids published four audio cassettes/activity book "Fun-Kits" in 1994 and 1995, these audio cassettes use audio from the TV Series. Scholastic has also published the original series books as read-along book-on-tapes and book-on-CDs.
Scholastic Entertainment, the American Meteorological Society and the Children's Museum of Houston created a Scholastics the Magic School Bus Kicks Up a Storm, a 2,600 sq ft (240 m2) traveling exhibit funded in part by the National Science Foundation, which premiered at the Children's Museum of Houston in 2003 (a copy of it opened in New Jersey the month after that).
Characters
In the original series books, Ms. Frizzle's class had a larger number of multiethnic students and consisted of Alex, Amanda Jane, Arnold, Carlos, Carmen, Dorothy Ann, Florrie, Gregory, John, Keesha, Michael, Molly, Phil, Phoebe, Rachel, Ralph (changed to "Ralphie" on the show and later books in this series), Shirley, Tim and Wanda (19 students). Phoebe was first introduced in the 1987 book, The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth. Carlos and Keesha were added in the 1994 book, The Magic School Bus In the Time of Dinosaurs.
In the other books and merchandise --including the TV series and TV tie-in books-- Ms. Frizzle's class was whittled down to eight kids (Arnold, Carlos, Dorothy Ann, Keesha, Phoebe, Ralphie, Tim and Wanda; Jyoti is an original character who replaces Phoebe in The Magic School Bus Rides Again).
List of books and merchandise
Original series books
The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks (1986)
The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth (1987)
The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body (1989)
The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System (1990)
The Magic School Bus On the Ocean Floor (1992)
The Magic School Bus In the Time of the Dinosaurs (1994)
The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane (1995)
The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive (1996)
The Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip (1997)
The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses (1999)
The Magic School Bus and the Science Fair Expedition (2006) (released as part of a 20th anniversary celebration of the series as a whole)
The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge (2010)
The Magic School Bus Explores Human Evolution (2020)
Chapter books
The Truth about Bats (1999) by Eva Moore
The Search for the Missing Bones (1999) by Eva Moore
The Wild Whale Watch (2000) by Eva Moore
Space Explorers (2000) by Eva Moore
Twister Trouble (2000) by Ann Schreiber
The Giant Germ (2000) by Anne Capeci
The Great Shark Escape (2000) by Jennifer Johnston
Penguin Puzzle (2001) by Judith Bauer Stamper
Dinosaur Detectives (2001) by Judith Bauer Stamper
Expedition Down Under (2001) by Rebecca Carmi
Insect Invaders (2001) by Anne Capeci
Amazing Magnetism (2001) by Rebecca Carmi
Polar Bear Patrol (2002) by Judith Bauer Stamper
Electric Storm (2002) by Anne Capeci
Voyage to the Volcano (2003) by Judith Bauer Stamper
Butterfly Battle (2003) by Nancy White
Food Chain Frenzy (2003) by Anne Capeci
The Fishy Field Trip (2004) by Martin Schwabacher
Color Day Relay (2004) by Gail Herman
Scholastic Reader Level 2
The Magic School Bus Has A Heart
The Magic School Bus Gets Caught In a Web
The Magic School Bus Gets Recycled
The Magic School Bus And the Missing Tooth
The Magic School Bus Fights Germs
The Magic School Bus Gets Crabby
The Magic School Bus Explores the World of Bugs
The Magic School Bus Weathers the Storm
The Magic School Bus At the First Thanksgiving
The Magic School Bus Arctic Adventure
The Magic School Bus Lost in Snow
The Magic School Bus and the Shark Adventure
The Magic School Bus Builds the Statue of Liberty
The Magic School Bus in a Bat Cave
The Magic School Bus Comes to Its Senses
The Magic School Bus and the Wild Leaf Ride
The Magic School Bus and the Butterfly Bunch
The Magic School Bus Inside a Volcano
The Magic School Bus Rides the Wind
The Magic School Bus in the Rain Forest
TV tie-in books
The Magic School Bus Gets Ants in its Pants
The Magic School Bus Going Batty
The Magic School Bus in the Haunted Museum
The Magic School Bus Gets all Dried Up
The Magic School Bus In the Arctic
The Magic School Bus Meets the Rot Squad
The Magic School Bus Blows Its Top
The Magic School Bus Answers Questions
The Magic School Bus Inside Ralphie
The Magic School Bus Gets Programmed
The Magic School Bus Kicks Up a Storm
The Magic School Bus Plays Ball
The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds
The Magic School Bus Ups and Downs
The Magic School Bus Gets a Bright Idea
The Magic School Bus Butterfly and the Bog Beast
The Magic School Bus Makes a Rainbow
The Magic School Bus Gets Baked in a Cake
The Magic School Bus Out of this World
The Magic School Bus Taking Flight
The Magic School Bus Takes a Dive
TV tie-in fun kits
The Magic School Bus: Fun With Sound
The Magic School Bus: Habitat
The Magic School Bus: Kicks Up A Storm
The Magic School Bus: Goes to Seed
A Science Fact Finder Book
Skeletons Fact Finder
Bats Fact Finder
Field Trip Facts
Ms. Frizzle's Adventures
Imperial China
Medieval Castle
Ancient Egypt
Liz series
Liz Finds a Friend
Liz Takes Flight
Liz Looks for a Home
Liz Sorts It Out
Liz on the Move
Liz Makes a Rainbow
Magic School Bus Presents: A Nonfiction Companion to the Original Magic School Bus Series
Our Solar System
The Human Body
Sea Creatures
The Rain Forest
Wild Weather
Dinosaurs
Planet Earth
Insects
Volcanoes & Earthquakes
Polar Animals
DVDs
AND THE ENVIRONMENT - Rocks and Rolls & Holiday Special
AND THE FLYING ANIMALS - Going Batty & Butterfly and the Bog Beast
BIG AND SMALL - BATMAN The Busasaurus & Gets Ants in its Pants
EXPLORES CELLS AND MOLECULES - Meets Molly Cule & Goes Cellular
EXPLORES INSECTS - Beehive & Spins A Web
EXPLORES NEW HABITATS - In The City & Get Swamped
EXPLORES THE HUMAN BODY - Works Out & Makes A Stink
FOOD - Meets the Rot Squad & Gets Ready, Set, Dough
FOOD CYCLE - Gets Eaten & Goes to Seed
GETS A BOOST - Getting Energized & Revving Up
GETS ROCKING - Out of this World & Blows its Top
GETS TO SHINE — Gets a Bright Idea & Makes a Rainbow
GOES ON A FIELD TRIP - In The Arctic & Goes Upstream
HABITATS AND DESERTS - Hops Home & All Dried Up
THE HUMAN BODY - Inside Ralphie & For Lunch
IN MOTION - Taking Flight & Flexes Its Muscles
IN THE AIR - Kicks Up a Storm & Gets Lost in Space
IN THE WATER - Ups and Downs & Wet All Over
VHS
Flexes Its Muscles
Gets Lost In Space
Gets Charged
All Dried Up
Hops Home
Inside The Haunted House
Inside Ralphie
Gets Eaten
For Lunch
Blows Its Top
Plays Ball
Goes To Seed
Kicks Up A Storm
Going Batty
Creepy Crawly Fun
Greatest Adventures
Under Construction
Out Of This World
Gets Ants In Its Pants
Gets Planted
Butterflies!
Ready, Set, Dough
The Busasaurus
In The Rainforest
Makes A Rainbow
Taking Flight
Getting Energized
Magic School Bus Holiday Special
Spins A Web
Individual books
The original Magic School Bus books are:
The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks (ISBN 0-590-40360-5, 1986)
Theme: the water cycle and the waterworks
Ms Frizzle's class is going with her on the most boring field trip, to the waterworks. At least that is what they think until they discover how interesting things always happen on Ms Frizzle's trips. After going through a tunnel, all the children find themselves in scuba diving outfits. On the top of a bridge the bus rises up in the air and into a cloud. Once in the cloud, the class finds that water droplets are growing, and they are shrinking. The class rains and lands in the water purification system. Eventually it takes them back to Walkerville Elementary, where they come out of the faucet in the girls' bathroom. Later, they see the bus outside and wonder how it returned from the cloud.
The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth (ISBN 0-590-40760-0, 1987)
Theme: geology
Ms Frizzle's class is starting a unit on geology and for homework every student has to find a rock, and bring it to school. The next day every child except Phil has an excuse, so Ms Frizzle decides to take the class on a field trip to collect rocks. The class starts digging until they, with the help of the magic bus, dig all the way through the center of Earth. They collect many rocks and learn about the different types. Phoebe Terese first appears in this book as the "new kid". Before the show was even in production, the Magic School Bus appeared on PBS, because this book was featured on Reading Rainbow.
The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body (ISBN 0-590-41427-5, 1989)
Theme: the human body
Ms Frizzle's class is going to the museum to see an exhibit on the human body. However they stop for lunch at a park and Arnold Perlstein takes too long to eat. When Ms Frizzle tries to hit the horn to tell him to hurry, she "accidentally" pushes a strange little button on the dashboard and the class finds itself inside a human body, but they are unaware that it is Arnold's. They go through the digestive system and brain and out through the nose.