Reviews (4)

Air Today, Gone Tomorrow
Written in 1995, Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen's latest story begins where it ends - in Ms. Frizzle's classroom.And that's it.Nothing else happened.The Friz and her students simply went on a nice, leisurely field trip.They didn't end up miles beneath the earth's surface digging for rocks; nor did they travel to outer space to hitch a ride with a runaway comet; heck, they didn't even bother to travel backwards in time millions of years to observe ancient animal life.
The magic school bus inside a hurricane
I liked this book because it is a good way of showing what a hurricane looks like, how they work, what i can/can not do. It talls you how they are formed and where you can go to be safe from a hurricane.

Aw, heck.What's not to like?
For those familiar with the "Magic Schoolbus" series, Mrs. Frizzle's adventures with her class all have a similar plotline.Mrs. Frizzle explains some scientific topic, whether it's the solar system, the dinosaurs, etc. and then lures her children onto her special schoolbus for an adventure.During the adventure the only child that is regularly singled out as the perpetual schlamatzel is Arnold, a boy who doesn't care much for adventures, thank you.In the end, the class is safe and has learned quite a lot, despite themselves.Even Arnold.Then there is a "letters" section in the back where readers wishing to complain about scientific inaccuracies (in this case, how dangerous it would be to be caught in a hurricane) are one-upped by already existing letters.The particular plotline in this hurricane obsessed book was not too dissimilar from the others, and was a lot of fun.I used to read these books to kids that I babysat back in my high school years, and certain types of children love them.The pages are always busy with text, speech bubbles, experiments that kids can do at home, and various factoids sprinkled hither and yon.I do wonder how long these series will last before it is regarded as hopelessly dated by the young.Please note that the review previous to my own was last written in 1997.Currently the show is doing well as a tv series, voiced by Lily Tomlin.Just the same, it would be very difficult to read this book to a group of kids.The books are relatively small and crammed with so much extra text that children will want to handle them one on one, rather than with a large group.Each book would pair well with a companion non-fiction book on the same topic. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Action & Adventure    2. Action & Adventure - General    3. Children's 4-8 - Picturebooks    4. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Fiction    5. Children: Grades 2-3    6. Children: Grades 4-6    7. Hurricanes    8. Juvenile Nonfiction    9. Juvenile literature    10. Meteorology    11. Miscellanea    12. Nature & the Natural World - Weather    13. School & Education    14. Science & Nature - Earth Sciences - Weather    15. Weather    16. Juvenile Nonfiction / Science & Technology / General   

Reviews (4)

Lots of age-appropriate information
I am a huge fan of the Let's Read and Find Out science series of books, and this one doesn't disappoint.Clearly written information, great photographs, and wonderful illustrations educate the K-2 science student in an enjoyable way.

Nicely Done
My husband and daughter are both geologist and they thought this book was well written.My bright 3 year old grandson enjoys having it read to him.Usually it would be enjoyed by an older child, but he enjoys it.

Simple and easily observable science concepts
This book is part of the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series, which has more than 80 titles. The Stage 1 books explain simple and easily observable science concepts for preschool- and kindergarten-age children. Stage 2books, which includes this title, explore more challenging concepts forchildren in the primary grades and include hands-on activities thatchildren can do themselves. "Let's Go Rock Collecting" is suitable foryoung children. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Fiction    2. Children: Grades 2-3    3. Collection and preservation    4. Juvenile Nonfiction    5. Juvenile literature    6. Rocks    7. Science & Nature - Earth Sciences    8. Science & Technology - Earth Science    9. Juvenile Nonfiction / Science & Technology / Earth Sciences    10. Rocks, minerals & fossils   

Reviews (1)

Educational
This book explains about how the human body deals with reflexes.It gets a little technical, but a four or five year old can definately understand the content.I enjoyed reading this book to my children because even Ilearned a little that I either had not learned or had forgotten. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Nonfiction    2. Children: Grades 1-2    3. Games & Activities - Questions & Answers    4. Juvenile Nonfiction    5. Juvenile literature    6. Reflexes    7. Science & Nature - Anatomy & Physiology    8. Body & health    9. Human biology    10. Juvenile Nonfiction / Science & Technology / Anatomy & Physiology   

Reviews (1)

Read it as a story or do the experiments
The good thing about this book is that it is interesting enough to read it (at bedtime, for example) without pausing to do the experiments or you can use it in conjunction with some great little experiments to learn more about magnets.
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Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Fiction    2. Children: Grades 1-2    3. Experiments    4. General    5. Juvenile literature    6. Magnets    7. Physics    8. Electricity & magnets    9. Juvenile Nonfiction / Science & Technology / Physics   

Reviews (3)

Great informative book!
My 3 year old grandson loves this book.I bought it for him because he loves to watch the garbage truck come by every week.This book really taught him what happens to the garbage after pick-up.

Great introduction to waste management for young children
This book is one of my collection for a Recycling education center.It is helpful because it breaks down the process of landfilling and recycling as well as shares what we throw away as Americans via a pie chart.

Sumthin 4 the young 2 know
Descriptive book on the idea of Garbage and Recycle. A good way to get your kids to start realizing how much damage garbage can do. Would of give it 5 stars but a book is not the best way to get to your kid's mind, better visualizations, like a field trip is an excelent idea. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Nonfiction    2. Children: Grades 3-4    3. Juvenile literature    4. Recycling (Waste)    5. Refuse and refuse disposal    6. Science & Nature - Environmental Conservation & Protection    7. Juvenile Nonfiction / Science & Technology / General   

Reviews (2)

Blah
This is an uninspired book.There were a few very interesting pages that the author seemed to spend some actual time on.Beyond that, naming the constellations does not make for very engaging kids reading.There are better choices for young astronomers.

Stars book rates Stars from me
The Sky Is Full of Stars is an excellent and informatiive book for primary age kids. It gives lots of information about the night sky and constellations in an easy to understand format for children. Kids can takethis book outside and find constellations following the directions in thebook. I can't wait to use it in my second grade classroom! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's 4-8    2. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Fiction    3. Children: Kindergarten    4. Constellations    5. General    6. Juvenile literature    7. Stars    8. Juvenile Nonfiction / Science & Technology / Astronomy   

Reviews (3)

My five year old enjoyed this book
We enjoy the "Let's - Read - & - Find - Out" series of books. This one is a good addition, explaining seeds on my five year old son's level of understanding . Something that many adult writers of childrens' science books sometimes aren't very good at getting across.It is in my child's library at school. Life Springing Forth.
This book should have been more appropriately titled HOW TO WATCH A SEED GROW. Instead of discussing the various stages of development and explaining what happens, the book is basically an extended science project explaining how students can watch a seed grow into a plant. The book talks about the different stages, but only discusses what the planted beans should look like in those stages, not really explaining what is happening or why. Nevertheless, the book does outline a good science project for younger children, but isn't much as a book to read to kids.

A Kids First Science Book
This is one very good science book.If you would like to do a seed project then this is a good guide to lots of young peoples questions about plants.It has colorful illustrations about what is happening with yourproject.It is written in detail, but not like a boring high schoolscience textbook that goes on, and on, and on about one thing, giving everydetail that there is.So what I'm trying to sayis that this is a goodbook. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Nonfiction    2. Children: Kindergarten    3. Germination    4. Juvenile literature    5. Readers - Beginner    6. Science & Nature - Botany    7. Seeds    8. Juvenile Nonfiction / Nature / Flowers & Plants   

Reviews (6)

love it
I used it to make an interactive bulletin board for my classroom.It is simple but it gets the point across.I use it with my 8th and 9th grade students, and they don't mind that it's a picture book.

Who Eats What? Food Chains and Food Webs
I found this book to be very entertaining and I feel the children's interest held to the very end of the story.

Food Chains and Food Webs
Detailed examples of food chains and food webs, but hard to follow the arrows in the illustrations in food chains.
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Subjects:  1. Animals - General    2. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Nonfiction    3. Children: Grades 1-2    4. Ecology    5. Food chains (Ecology)    6. Juvenile Nonfiction    7. Juvenile literature    8. Nature - General    9. Science & Nature - Environmental Science & Eco Logy    10. Science & Nature - General    11. Juvenile Nonfiction / Animals / General   

Reviews (3)

When my kids were sick, this was one of two books we always read...
My children, now 19 and 17, loved this book.I guess they were about 6 and 4 when I got it.Whenever they were sick, we read this book and a Sesame Street book called "It's No Fun to be Sick."Reading these books became a comforting ritual, as well as an easy way to learn some basic science.

A missed opportunity to teach about hygiene
Although this book is thorough in describing the differences between viruses and bacteria, I think it misses an important opportunity to reinforce hygiene...wash your hands, cover your mouth etc.These are given a cursory review on the last page, with no accompanying illustration.I had hoped that this book would help my almost-4-year-old to understand how people get sick, how they get well, and how they can help prevent communicable disease to reinforce what I teach at home.I do not think that the authors did a very good job of meeting those expectations.

An untimidating, practical account of germs for young reader
My three-year old son really enjoys this book.The book's fairly simple, yet informative account of how viruses and bacteria can make us sick helps to make the abstract concept of germs more concrete for him.As an addedbonus, the book gives a plug for handwashing, covering mouths when sneezingor coughing, and not sharing cups that most preschoolers can benefit from. I must also confess that, despite having read the Times Science section foryears, I learned quite a bit about viruses and bacteria from this simple,well-illustrated book.A good buy, especially for parents who field a lotof factual queries every day.The Let's Read and Find Out series is agreat way to let someone else do the explaining for a change. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Bacteria    2. Bacterial diseases    3. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Nonfiction    4. Children: Preschool    5. Health & Daily Living - General    6. Juvenile literature    7. Science & Nature - General    8. Virus diseases    9. Viruses    10. Juvenile Nonfiction / Science & Technology / General   

Reviews (4)

Lets-Read-and-Find-Out Science book series is great for kids
The Lets-Read-and-Find-Out Science book series is great.It is the right amount of information and the right level for young readers. My first grader read 200 books last school year and it was nice to know she was learning about her world at the same time.She read this and other books from the series to my four year old who also retained much of the information.

Hear Your Heart
This book has captivated my 4 1/2 year old son.(My 8 year old daughter likes it, too)My son actually stood up in preschool yesterday (he is normally quiet) and taught the class details of how the heart works and the parts of the heart.His teacher's were amazed that he was sharing something, so they let him teach.We have to read this book over and over again.

Can you hear your heart?
An introduction into how the heart works along with feeling your pulse and listening to a hearts beat with amusing illustrations reader can imitate and view diagrams of the heart.
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Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Nonfiction    2. Children: Kindergarten    3. Health & Daily Living - General    4. Heart    5. Juvenile Nonfiction    6. Juvenile literature    7. Readers - Beginner    8. Science & Nature - Anatomy & Physiology    9. Body & health    10. Early learning / early learning concepts    11. Human biology    12. Juvenile Nonfiction / General   

Reviews (2)

Love this series, and Branley's are among the best!
This book is a perfect introduction to volcanoes for K-2 level kids, and older kids or early readers may enjoy reading them alone.It is easy to understand and the illustrations are clear and nice-looking.Unlike some science books for kids, this series tends to be very readable, versus a drier text that may make some kids lose interest quickly.

Volcanoes
The book was very good.My son just started second grade and he loves science.The book kept him very interested throughout.He has read it more than 5 times and continues to ask questions about the different new concepts that were introduced in the book.
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Subjects:  1. Children's 4-8    2. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Fiction    3. Children: Grades 1-2    4. General    5. Juvenile literature    6. Volcanoes    7. Juvenile Nonfiction / Science & Technology / Earth Sciences   

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Nonfiction    2. Children: Grades 1-2    3. Energy resources    4. Energy transfer    5. Force and energy    6. Juvenile Nonfiction    7. Juvenile Science (General)    8. Juvenile literature    9. Power resources    10. Readers - Beginner    11. Science & Nature - Physics    12. Juvenile Nonfiction / Science & Technology / Physics   

Reviews (2)

Watt a Positively Charged Exploration!
It is more than obvious that Joanna Cole (author) and Bruce Degen (illustrator) had the time of their lives bringing this book to fruition.Penned in 1997, "The Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip" is packaged to the bursting point with anything and everything that has to do with electricity.There's so much going on here that a simple one-sided scorecard just won't suffice upon delving into Ms. Frizzle's latest adventure.It is Cole and Degen's most action-packed and tightly-woven collaboration yet.One senses from just taking in the first few pages that author and illustrator poured every fiber of their being into the Friz's ninth science-related field trip for children.
A Great Book!
This book is a great book to learn about electricity.My daughter wants me to read it to her over and over, and I have learned from it, too! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's 4-8 - Picturebooks    2. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Fiction    3. Children: Grades 1-2    4. Children: Grades 2-3    5. Electric power    6. Electric power distribution    7. Electricity    8. Juvenile Nonfiction    9. Juvenile Science (General)    10. Juvenile literature    11. School & Education    12. Science & Technology    13. Technology - Electricity & Electronics    14. Fiction    15. Juvenile Fiction / Readers / Chapter Books    16. Juvenile Fiction   

Subjects:  1. Animals - Marine Life    2. Body covering (Anatomy)    3. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Nonfiction    4. Children: Preschool    5. Juvenile literature    6. Nature - General    7. Science & Nature - General    8. Shells    9. Juvenile Nonfiction / Nature / General   

Reviews (5)

Countrygirl
I likethisbookbecauseMissFrizzeltakesthekids
A great science book for children
An unusual science teacher takes her students from the classroom into the ocean - physically. The school bus she drives plunges right into the water and transforms, as needed,from bus into submarine, submersible, and surfboard so that her class can reach and explore every part of the ocean. The expedition starts at the continental shelf and moves through continental slope, ocean floor, deep-sea vents and a fringing coral reef. On their way, they children find themselves magically equipped with diving suits and they can now study plants, ocean water, animals and their habitats.
20,000 Leaks Under the Sea
At this point, Ms. Frizzle and her class have explored things like the waterworks, the many layers of the earth, the human body, and even outer space.So it's only natural that Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen would decide to lead their readers on an under-sea adventure."The Magic School Bus: On the Ocean Floor" is another top-notch collaboration by two people who show no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Subjects:  1. Animals - Marine Life    2. Children's 4-8 - Picturebooks    3. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Fiction    4. Children: Grades 2-3    5. Juvenile Nonfiction    6. Juvenile literature    7. Marine fauna    8. Ocean    9. Ocean bottom    10. School & Education    11. Science & Nature - Earth Sciences - Water (Oceans, Lakes, Etc.)    12. Juvenile Fiction / Science & Technology   

Reviews (1)

Workbook
This is a workbook. It is divided into months with problems relating to that month. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Education    2. Education / Teaching    3. Elementary    4. General    5. Teaching Methods & Materials - Mathematics   

Reviews (1)

GREAT BOOK!!
I really liked this book! It helped me in math. I think that everybody who reads it will just love it! It had great tips for math, and it has fun ways to make math fun!! I would definitely
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Subjects:  1. Arithmetic    2. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    3. Children: Grades 4-6    4. Juvenile Mathematics    5. Juvenile Nonfiction    6. Juvenile literature    7. Mathematics - General    8. School & Education   

Reviews (5)

Hayley's outrageous review

good book, bad printing
Although the book itself is very interesting, it was mis-printed in a very odd way.The beginning of the book was printed at the end, upside down.So, when you open the front cover, you hit the middle of the story.

A Splashing Debut
"The Magic School Bus: At the Waterworks" is the first in a series of science picture books geared towards young ones.Written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen, it marks the debut of one of the most successful concepts in the history of children's literature.Read more

Subjects:  1. Action & Adventure    2. Action & Adventure - General    3. Children's 4-8 - Picturebooks    4. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Fiction    5. Children: Grades 2-3    6. Hydrology    7. Juvenile Environmental Studies    8. Juvenile Nonfiction    9. Juvenile literature    10. School & Education    11. Science & Nature - Earth Sciences - Water (Oceans, Lakes, Etc.)    12. Science & Nature - Environmental Conservation & Protection    13. Science & Technology    14. Water    15. Water supply    16. Waterworks    17. Fiction    18. Juvenile Fiction / Science & Technology   

Reviews (1)

Review of Floating in Space
The book was about astronauts orbiting in out space.It gives details of what they do when they have to eat, go to the bathroom, etc.It also explains about gravity and how the astronauts deal with gravity issues while they are in space.The book talks about how the space shuttle takes off and lands and how jobs would be done while on board.Read more

Subjects:  1. Astronauts    2. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Nonfiction    3. Children: Kindergarten    4. Juvenile literature    5. Life support systems (Space en    6. Life support systems (Space environment)    7. Space shuttles    8. Technology - Aeronautics, Astronautics & Space Science    9. Weightlessness    10. Juvenile Nonfiction / Science & Technology / Aeronautics, Astronautics & Space Science    11. Space travel & exploration   

Reviews (1)

Where Does It Come From?
Down Comes The Rain is an excellent book that introduces to young children the formation of rain and where it actually comes from.It also discusses the transformation of water into ice and also the evaporation of water. Children can understand the book through its simple terms and colorfulillustrations.Rain is just one of the many things that young childrenoften wonder about.It is a very good book that can be added to anyelementary classroom when discussing a unit on weather or simply to have athome to read togther on rainy days!Many hands-on activities, such asputting a teaspoon of water into a saucer and coming back to see that ithas evaporated into the air, can be done by using this book.I have addedthis book to my list that I plan to use in the classroom! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Nonfiction    2. Children: Grades 2-3    3. Clouds    4. Juvenile Nonfiction    5. Juvenile literature    6. Rain and rainfall    7. Science & Nature - Earth Sciences - Water (Oceans, Lakes, Et    8. Science & Nature - Earth Sciences - Weather    9. Science & Nature - General    10. Juvenile Nonfiction / Science & Technology / General