Book Description
The Magic School Bus was a series of children's books intended to teach scientific concepts to children. The books feature the exploits of Ms. Frizzle and her class of students at Walkerville Elementary School who board a magical school bus which takes them on educational adventures to space, under the Earth, into the human body, or to other such locations. The books were written in the first person from the point of view of an unnamed student in the Friz's class.
Synopsis:
Small enough to squeeze through power lines, Ms. Frizzle's class learns how electric current travels through the town, lights up a light bulb, heats up a toaster, and runs an electric motor. Fans of the Magic School Bus won't be left behind by this simple and informative introduction to the generation and distribution of electricity.
From School Library Journal
Grade 1-4. Ms. Frizzle and her science class take a trip through the town's power lines and discover how electricity works. Readers who go along for the ride will learn about how electricity is made in power plants, how transformers function, and about the differences in voltage. They will also find out how electricity makes heat and light. There is a brief mention made of how a TV works. Appropriate warnings about electricity are given. Dialogue balloons and Degen's colorful cartoon illustrations add humor. The book makes a complex subject fun to read about and simple to understand. It's bound to be a hit with the series' many fans.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Blair Christolon, Prince William Library, Manassas, VA
From Kirkus Reviews
The indomitable Ms. Frizzle is back for a lesson in electricity in this entertaining entry in the Magic School Bus series. The class begins with books, videos, experiments, and research reports; Ms. Frizzle, wearing a dress of geometric shapes, explains atoms and electrons, and, during an electrical storm, gets the students and her niece, Dottie, into the school bus to find out what's behind a power blackout. At a power plant, they learn how electricity is generated and how it travels. As in the other books in the series, this one doesn't cover everything, but it will stimulate interest; plenty of information is packed into the pages, and repeat readings are mandatory. (Picture book. 7-10)