The Magic School Bus

Gr 1—3—Ms Frizzle and her class are off on a field trip and it's going to be a doozy. This time they end up inside Arnold, learning about the human body—digestion, circulation, respiration, and more—before being sneezed out. In the meantime Arnold is finding his way back to school on foot. The students have the typical mixture of excitement and trepidation as they go through another adventure with their intrepid teacher. Joanna Cole's book (Scholastic, 1989) required a little tweaking to work in this format. It is not so much narrated as performed, with different voices for the characters. The "reports" scattered throughout the text are saved to be read by Ms. Frizzle at the end. Everything is here, just not necessarily in the same order. The presentation is enthusiastic and interesting, and the story is fun and imaginative. Teachers will welcome it for units on the human body, and it would make an excellent listening center.—Teresa Bateman. Brigadoon Elementary School, Federal Way, WA