This book is an informational and fantasy. Through the book it explains electricity and how an electrical current travels to a home, however through the story the kids are traveling on a school bus which changes shape and size, clearly fantasy. The setting is background, does not matter where or when it is taking place. The media used is pen and ink, watercolor, and colored pencil.

Genre: Science Fiction because it teaches a lot about electricity in a fashion that is definitely not realistic. Media: Pens and watercolors. ( )

Genre: Science Fiction

The genre of this book is science fiction, because it explores the natural law of electricity and how it works. The class follows a power plant and explores the inside and outside of circuits, a power plant, and in and out of outlets. It is fantasy (science fiction) because the kids are shrunk to fit inside the outlets, and they actually physically go inside the power plant. This would never happen in real life. The whole plot of the book takes the scientific facts of electricity and energy and adds the fictional characters and fictional components of fantasy and at the same time, it asks the readers to explore their own ideas about it.
The media that is used in this book is stated to be gouache, watercolor, pen and ink, and colored pencil. On every page we can see how the media fits together to work. It is almost impossible to tell what kind of media is used on every page or where the individual components are separated. We can see ink being used on every page but other than that it is hard to tell.
The book constantly is making use of word play. On different pages, the characters in the illustrations are using puns about lights and electricity. For instance, on one page a teacher comments about how a lamp is talking to her, and the librarian who is also there comments that the lamp is just making “light” conversation. This is an example of a pun. Frequently, members of the class make puns, or exaggerate the facts they are learning through jokes or sarcasm.

This book is a good example of Science Fiction because it tells scientific laws and the students travel through electrical wires making it unrealistic.
Media Used: Mixed Media
Age Appropriateness: Primary

This book is about Ms. Frizzle’s class going on a field trop to explore electricity. Ms. Frizzle’s class looks into electrons, atoms, and how electric currents are created. The class explores the town’s power plant then moves throughout the town’s power plant then through the town venturing through electrical lines, light bulbs, and even vacuum cleaners. The students arrive back in Mr. Frizzle’s classroom safe and sound.

This book is extremely over whelming. You truly have to read the book once by actually reading then go back and read all the side notes and diagrams. I also had a hard time getting into the book. I have seen so many Magic School Bus videos that the book moves way to slow fore me. I fell that for children trying to understand all of this at once would be too much.

This book would be extremely helpful while teaching children about electricity. There is a lot of information within this book. You could even break this book down into the different objects it talks about such as a power plant, light bulb, and electric motor. Each of these could be a small lesson. There are also vivid illustrations to go along with the text which would be very helpful. ( )