The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks

The first of Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen's wildly popular Magic School Bus series, which follows Miss Frizzle's class as they take fantastic field trips in the course of investigating various scientific topics, The Magic School Bus At the Waterworks sees teacher and students ascending into the clouds, shrinking down to the size of rain-drops, and experiencing the water-cycle up close and personal. From falling as rain and racing along in a stream, to traveling through a water treatments plant and then into their city's water supply, Miss Frizzle's students learn first hand how water moves through various stages and cycles.

Although I have long been familiar with this picture-book series, which launched in 1985, I had never actually show more picked one of them up. I'm glad that I finally have, as I now understand what all the fuss is about! Informative and educational, while also entertaining and imaginative, the narrative here combines scientific fact with fantastic adventure, while the cartoon-like illustrations add to the fun. The children's dubious initial response to their teacher, and their various conversational asides, are quite amusing, while the topic at hand - how cities and towns get their water - is one that younger readers may not have considered. Highly recommended to all young scientists, as well as to those who think that science is dull - this book might change their minds! show less

I gave this book a five out of five star rating. Ms. Frizzle takes her class on a trip to the water works where they learn about water conservation, the water cycle, the water purification system and pollution, as well as the water mains. The book implements story telling elements to a scientific text which makes it easier to follow as well as more fun to read. This book could be a useful guided reading book for teaching sequencing and critical thinking towards water and pollution.

Ms. Frizzle takes her class on the magic school bus to visit the waterworks, where they learn about - and briefly become part of - the water cycle, the reservoir, the water purification system, and water mains. In addition to the main narrative, there are plenty of additional facts, presented as the children's comments or schoolwork. Informative and fun!

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Re-read March 2021

I have always liked The Magic School Bus books and the show. My favorite part is how the children are sucked into Mrs. Frizzles adventures. She doesn't do lessons in a normal way, she makes it fun, educational, and whacky. The plot of this book is especially whacky as it is the kids first trip with the Friz. I loved how in depth this book got with how the waterworks plant worked. It shows excellent illustrations of the water cycle and how a waterworks station works. I loved the illustrations. The best part for me though was how the water cycle was summarized through the classes work at the end of the book. The main theme of this book is education, specifically how the water cycle works.

The story of a class of students who learn the water cycle, starting with evaporation and ending with the water coming out of the faucet with their strange teacher Mrs. Frizzlle and the magic school bus. The students do more than learn the water cycle they actually go through it and once they return to their school the teacher never lets on as whether it was real or not. Illustrations are appropriate for students that this book is aimed at and there are also water facts shown on pictures of yellow paper in some of the pictures.

In my opinion this is a great book for children to read if they are interested in finding out about how the waterworks system works. I liked this book because although you are learning about the waterworks system while reading, the book is written in a story form so that it is more interesting to read. I also liked the book because along with the actual text, there are speech bubbles that show the conversation between the children and teacher whilst they are on the school trip. This makes it more interesting for children to read because it is written in the way children speak and therefore in my opinion, makes it easier for children to relate too.

I enjoyed “The Magic School Bus At The Waterworks” a lot. This is due to the illustrations and the information that is laid out in the plot. Throughout this book the many illustrations enhance the story. Every picture that is in the story is related to the text. For instance when the students are traveling through the water system and trying to clean out the system they are depicted in the pluming system trying to be filtered. Also in the end of the book when the students show there water chart. It is an excellent depiction of the journey that they had gone through. With this illustration it also helps to see the water system in one fluid motion. Also the illustrations of the facts on notepaper are clever. For it allows the reader show more to be actively engaged in the same learning experience as the students in the book. On the other hand the plot of this text starts off with the children not wanting to go on a trip with Ms. Frizzle. Then they have to research the water system for the trip. Then finally they go and experience the trip then have to do a work up on the trip. With this lay out of the plot it shows hard work and how it is incorporated in the school system and how important it is. The main message of this story is to learn about the water system and how it works through a neighborhood. show less