Magic School Bus books ... (but only the originals)

These ten books are real treasures. We discovered them when my son was two, and he asked us to read them over and over and over again. Now that baby is ten years old (!) and he's reading them to my youngest, who is almost two.

These are the original Magic School Bus books, written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen. They have intriguing storylines ... in each book, Ms. Frizzle's class goes on a field trip in her amazing school bus, which can fly, shrink, blast off into space, turn into a blood cell ... you get the picture. Every page is covered with colorful pictures.

But throughout each exciting story, the kids in the class are discovering scientific principles and interesting facts about the natural world. There are lots of sidebars that are packed with scientific information, presented in an interesting way and related to the adventure. My five-year-old (who's not really a science nut like her older brother) is learning a lot from these books.

We've had a couple of disappointments when we saw what looked like new Magic School Bus books at the library. We picked them up eagerly, only to find that they were not very good books at all.

It turns out that there are two newer series of books featuring the bus. One series is "based on" television show episodes. (Apparently there was a TV show made about the bus, probably because of the popularity of the original books). These books have a storyline, but they don't have all the interesting science in them. (It's as if they cut the heart right out of the book!) The second newer series we have seen is called Magic School Bus Chapter Books. A note of the back says that they are "based on" the Magic School Bus books by Joanna Cole. Once again, very little of the neat science seems to be retained. Both series get the big thumbs-down here.

Look for the Magic School Bus books written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen.

Here's a list of the titles, each beginning with "The Magic School Bus":

The Magic School Bus ...
Explores the Senses
Lost in the Solar System
Inside the Human Body
Inside a Beehive
and the Electric Field Trip
On the Ocean Floor
Inside the Earth
At the Waterworks
In the Time of the Dinosaurs
Inside a Hurricane