The Magic School Bus in the Time of the Dinosaurs

by Joanna Cole

Book Overview

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Scholastic is re-releasing the ten original Magic School Bus titles in paperback. With updated scientific information, the bestselling science series ever is back... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0590446894
• Release Date: August 1995
• Publisher: Scholastic Press
• Length: 43 Pages
• Weight: 0.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.0" x 0.3" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Super detailed

My 3.5 year old loves dinosaurs. This book has a story and lots of details including animal and plant names. You can get as detailed into the book as you want. For us, we stay high level and talk about the pictures more and again, having animal and plant names on the pages plus extra side comments and cool facts let’s us explore the exciting pages and skim through others. Highly recommend.

Wonderful educational book for a variety of ages!

I wasn't familiar with the Magic School Bus series until I visited my family this past weekend--my 3-year old niece absolutely loved this book! Unconventional teacher Mrs. Frizzle takes her students on an archeological dig, but she then decides to give them a real look at dinosaurs by loading them onto her magic school bus and traveling back in time. The main body of the story is only about 5 lines per page, making the book appropriate for reading to younger children, but there is also a wealth of additional information included in surrounding insets, making the book ideal for an older beginning reader as well (and fun for adults, too!). The pictures are extremely detailed and colorful, and the illustrated children portray a variety of ethnic appearances. Given my niece's reaction, I'd highly recommend this book for aged 2-3 and up.

The Magic School Bus Goes back to the time of the Dinosaurs

Head back in time with Ms. Frizzle and her class on a Dinosaur adventure. The book begins with the students in the classroom mentioning it is Visitors Day. Ms. Frizzle's class made the room into Dinosaur Land, displaying the book reports by each student on a table with the toy dinosaurs on another table. On each page there are a few lines of text to follow the story of The Magic School Bus: In the Time of the Dinosaurs plus the inside pages of each report showing facts and interesting tidbits on each Dinosaur. There are two distinctions for the captions above each student. If there are a few bubbles leading to the student this is a thought they are having that adds to the story. The squared captions located at each person, throughout the book is part of their dialogue. In reading the story to a child you can differentiate between these quite easily. Before any visitors show up Ms. Frizzle announces to her class that they were invited to a dinosaur dig. Some of the kids wondered what would happen to visitor's day if they just left but grabbed the toy dinosaurs and video camera on the way to the bus. " When you have the wackiest teacher in school, you need all the luck you can get!" Displayed on the pages are lists about fossils that were done by the students as they ride along the bus to the site. The bus drove through to the present time where they ended up back at the site where the paleontologists were worried about them. Ms. Frizzle gave them some advice on where to find fossils and they headed back to their classroom. Once inside the classroom they made a chart of the trip and soon the visitor's arrived. Each of the students had their family members look around the classroom admiring Ms. Frizzle. All the science projects were displayed and the computer was running a tape of Dinosaurs. The kids all agreed that the teacher was an interesting person that liked to explore science. The very last page shows Ms. Frizzle standing on a ladder at a Dinosaur museum brushing the teeth on the T. Rex.

An Adventure Millions of Years in the Making!

As if Ms. Frizzle's field trips weren't time-consuming enough, now she's decided to take her class back to when dinosaurs roamed the Earth! Has the Friz gone mad? Who knows what kind of animals stalked the very land we stand on millions of years ago? This joyful journey to the Jurassic could end up a perilous predicament in the past!Written in 1994, "The Magic School Bus: In the Time of the Dinosaurs" is yet another wonderful collaboration between Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen. It's Visitor's Day in Ms. Frizzle's class. Parents, relatives and friends are coming to see the students' work in all things dinosaurs. But not before the Friz makes a special announcement."Our class has been invited to a dinosaur dig," she informs her students. "We'll be leaving right away."And, just like all the other field trips Ms. Frizzle has taken, this one ends up being bigger than originally planned. So big, in fact, it can only be described in prehistoric terms!The students learn all about fossils (anything left from ancient animals or plants), as well as the scientists who study them (paleontologists). They also get to see how these scientists go about their work, using chisels and shovels and burlap and plaster. Then the real adventure begins when the Friz suggests to the class that they all go looking for some Maiasaura nests. And the only way to do that, of course, is to blast into the past!Students will recognize some of the more well-known dinosaurs featured in this tale - Brontosaurus, Stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex. But they will also be introduced to lesser-known plants and animals from the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods - Cycads, Ferns, Elasmosaurus, and Lambeosaurus. Each different geological period represents a variety of creatures, habitats and temperatures.Were dinosaurs part of a herd (meaning, did they live in packs?), or were they solitary creatures? Were some dinosaurs caring parents, or did they leave their young to fend for themselves? What brought about the end of a species that existed for so many millions of years? But most importantly, will Ms. Frizzle's class ever return to the present day?As with every book in the "Magic School Bus" series, Cole and Degen wrap up their latest narrative with two things: 1) "From the Author's Desk and the Artist's Drawing Board" helps distinguish fact from fiction in the story; and 2) another clue as to the next riveting field trip the Friz has planned for her class. To weather that storm, the students had better be packing umbrellas and windbreakers! Things could get a little foggy!Six excellently executed books into this series, and Cole and Degen haven't missed a beat. The writing is superb, the story engaging, and the artwork as clever and informative as ever. Parents and children alike will delight in a story that offers all the thrills of an amusement park ride, yet all the comforts of a favorite reading chair. So hop aboard the magic school bus!As Ms. Frizzle herself

The Frizz and Co. in the Land that Time Forgot, via Heinlein

It is not surprising that this is one of the best-selling children`s science series`. My five-year-old loves the pictures and story, while the seven-year-old also appreciates the plethora of facts, as well. The engaging and humorous text is packed with information and complemented by lively and amusing illustrations. The boys love the cartoon bubbles and the short "reports" by the kids in the story. The indomitable teacher, Ms Frizzle and her morphing wardrobe challenges her students on these amazing fieldtrips.IN THE TIME OF THE DINOSAURS is about: dinosaurs and fossils. Obviously too broad a subject to cover thoroughly in this slim volume, but there`s plenty to whet the appetite. There is a real paleontologist at a real dig. And the bus turns into a time machine. The colorful charts and final class display keep us in perspective. The kids always have questions about something. Thank you Ms Frizzle, Ms Cole, and Mr Degen for answering and encouraging them.

great presentation of just the right amount of information

My son, who is 3 and a half, loves this book. Everytime we go to the library he asks to borrow it again. It's time to own it now.