Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Cole and Degen have already escorted young readers on three enlightening, boisterous rides on the magic school bus--in explorations of the human body, waterworks and the inside of the Earth. This latest expedition, on which the energetic Miss Frizzle offers a tour of the planets, should not be missed. When a closed planetarium disappoints her students on a class trip, the likable teacher saves the day. She manages to launch her rickety school bus into space and steers it around the solar system, visiting the moon, the sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars before an asteroid knocks out one of the taillights. When Miss Frizzle leaves the bus to investigate, she gets lost in space, and the students visit the outer planets without her. They reconnect with her eventually, and the group ends up back in the classroom, making a chart and a mobile based on their discoveries. Once again, author and illustrator let readers laugh while they learn in an animated, fact-filled adventure. Ages 6-9. (Oct.)
School Library Journal
The planetarium is closed for repairs, so the Magic School Bus blasts off on a real tour of the solar system. After their previous field trips, the children in Ms. Frizzle's class are all blase about such things; as they land on the Moon, Venus, and Mars, and fly by the other planets and the Sun, they comment on what they see, generate a blizzard of one- or two-sentence reports on special topics and--even while Ms. Frizzle is temporarily left behind in the asteroid belt--crack terrible jokes (``Could Saturn take a bath? Yes, but it might leave a ring!''). Although some of the information is radically simplified--people are said to float in space because ``without a large mass nearby . . . they do not have weight''--Cole keeps the narrative specific without burdening it with loads of facts. Degen's fresh, energetic illustrations complement the breathless pace perfectly. A first-class introduction to the planets, fine for pleasure or purpose reading. --John Peters, New York Public Library
FEBRUARY 2011 - AudioFile
The delightful energy of a Magic Schoolbus adventure radiates through this audiobook! Given the multiple entry points into the production—the story itself, the fictional students’ comments and reports, and the illustrations—it takes a skillful narration to pull it all into a cohesive whole. Cassandra Morris and Polly Adams deliver. A class trip in the Magic School Bus takes students not to the planetarium, as expected, but into space. This is experiential learning at its best! Morris and Adams sparkle as the students—testy, anxious, bossy, and bickering—and the quirky Ms. Frizzle. Factual information about the solar system is provided subtly and effectively. Sound effects—that of an asteroid hitting the bus, for example—complement the adventure. A.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
