If you don’t know the Magic School Bus series (and if you don’t, my guess is you weren’t a child of the late ’80’s and up), it’s about a school class, their eccentric teacher Miss Frizzle, and the class trips she takes them on on the titled Magic School Bus. In this one, the class trip is to the shore; well actually, the ocean. The bus becomes at various times a submarine, a glass-bottomed boat, and a surfboard, depending on what is needed for the moment to aid Miss Frizzle in teaching her class.
I would absolutely love to know what the permission slips look like for this school; though seeing as Miss Frizzle has been voiced by both Lily Tomlin and Kate McKinnon (perfect casting both times), I suppose that her philosophy is probably “Permission slips? We don’t need no stinking permission slips!”
When I was nine I actually went to a signing Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen were having, and they signed my copy of The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive, and it is one of my most prized possessions. They actually stayed after the signing and talked to me about the books and exchanged stories with my father about growing up in New York (cockroaches in apartments, something I am so glad I missed out on). I actually have a complete run of the series tucked away in my bedroom closet (I really should pull them all out sometime).
What I have always loved about the Magic School Bus Books is that they are extremely educational for children without being either dry or boring. This book gives you a lot of information on the various types of ocean life, as well as the various coastal birds and the dangerous of oceanic pollution.
The art is unique (which is in no way a bad thing), and I always loved that Miss Frizzle’s dress and earrings would match whatever trip the class was going on that book, plus she usually would have on a pair of Converse high tops (this is probably where I got my lifelong love affair with them; that, and the fact that my mom and my one maternal aunt practically live in them as well). I also appreciated that Miss Frizzle was a redhead; as a fellow redhead, I loved when I actually found books where the main characters had red hair.
The dialogue happening around the main text is great; it’s great when a book has things happening on two different levels.
(Everyone loves Lenny the Lifeguard; he’s like the children’s answer to the “Far Out” cowboy from Foul Play.)
Pick these books up for your kids or yourself; education or nostalgia are both equally good reasons.