Ups and Downs: A Book About Floating and Sinking

Magic School Bus TV Tie-Ins

by Joanna Cole, Nancy Stevenson (Illustrator)

Is there a monster living in Walker Lake? That's what Ms. Fizzle's class is trying to find out. The kids try to dive down under the water, but the bus won't go! The class has to figure out how to turn their floater into a sinker so they can solve the mystery of the underwater monster. Take a dive with the Magic School Bus, and learn why things float and sink!

Genres: Science, Picture Books, Childrens, Nonfiction, School, Education, Physics

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Joanna Cole, who also wrote under the pseudonym B. J. Barnet, was an author of children’s books who teaches science.

She is most famous as the author of The Magic School Bus series of children's books. Joanna Cole wrote over 250 books ranging from her first book Cockroach to her famous series Magic School Bus.

Cole was born in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up in nearby East Orange. She loved science as a child, and had a teacher she says was a little like Ms. Frizzle. She attended the University of Massachusetts and Indiana University before graduating from the City College of New York with a B.A. in psychology. After some graduate education courses, she spent a year as a librarian in a Brooklyn elementary school. Cole subsequently became a letters correspondent at Newsweek, and then a senior editor for Doubleday Books for Young Readers.

Reviews

[tteise]

Read this in Pennsylvania

[Brendan Sprout · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book teaching some basics for submersion and floating is an incredible basis for teaching about density and entertaining for a variety of ages. While the plot line and the educational aspect of this book is mingled in a way that does not seem to mesh well with a very quick introduction, climax, and conclusion. These consist of introducing an antagonist, seeing that she is a fraud, then letting the fake monster float to the surface with educational lessons between each of these small points of plot. Overall still an incredible book that stands to the test of time as a way to inspire youth into studying science.

[Karin · Rating 3 out of 5]

We love the Magic School Bus so when kiddo brought this home from the library we were very excited to read it. I think I expected too much. It felt like something was missing, or like it was abridged. We still learned about sinking and floating and enjoyed the adventure, but I think we prefer the earlier books. More details, more sidenotes, more learning.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used this to go along with our unit on density and buoyancy. It was a hit. To be fair, I really think the book is only good if you've watched the show, but with so little out there that would function as a read-aloud for younger kids on the subject, I'm certainly not going to complain.

[Emily Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Magic School Bus books because they make a story out of learning about science. Would be perfect for older elementary students, could possibly use it as a mentor text.

ATOS Book Level: 3.3
Lexile: 580L

Six+1 Traits: Ideas and Word Choice

[K Morlando · Rating 5 out of 5]

We love the magic school bus series of books, they are very educational!

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Julia loves the Magic School Bus shows and books. As soon as she stumbles upon a new one at the library I know what we'll be reading - over and over - for a few days. This was only read once and the reason for that is because Julia found another Magic School Bus book about dinosaurs at the same time. Since dinosaurs are just about her favorite thing in the whole wide world (besides her mommy of course...) The Magic School Bus: In the Time of the Dinosaurs was the one we read over and over and over. And over.
In this story the kids and Ms. Frizzle go on a dive to figure out the mystery of a sea monster. The kids do find the answer in the end of course and along the way have some fun.
I think my favorite part of the stories is the humor - even an adult will laugh out loud at certain parts, usually in the dialog between students.
Another reviewer mentioned her child getting confused at some parts, between what is real and what isn't. My daughter is five years old so we didn't have that experience but I can definitely see it happening with a young child. I think that since this is portrayed as a classroom, as a teaching experience, a young child may take it all as truth which it's definitely not.
I think it was worth mentioning and something parents should be aware of. I'd guess that maybe children 4+ would be fine with it all for the most part.

[Villa Park Public Library]

The students are trying to find a monster in the lake that they heard about from their favorite TV show. When they arrive at the lake, they want to see what’s under the water, but they have a problem: the materials they brought to help them are floating. How can they make them sink to get to the monster? Their teacher, Ms. Frizzle, arrives to help them out. They figure out that adding weight to items makes them sink, and when that weight is taken away, they float again. The kids also find out that crumpling an object to make it small forces it to sink, and when the object is flattened out again it floats. They discover a lot about floating and sinking, but will they find the monster?

Check this book out at the Villa Park Public Library:
https://catalog.swanlibraries.net/client/en_US/vpd/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:2151941/ada?qu=ups+and+downs+book+about&lm=VPD

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book in the Magic School Bus series, but I think it was better as a television episode. It was easier to visualize the concepts and how it worked. But in any case, our girls love these books and we read every one that we can get our hands on. It's always the first book they want to read.

[Amy Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Magic School Bus book series are great double duty books that work in literacy and in science! The Magic School Bus Ups and Downs explores the scientific theory of sinking and floating in kid friendly writing. Common reading strategies like predicting, doing a picture walk, inferring etc. can all be incorporated in this book.

[Little Miss and the Legomeister · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the Magic School Bus books. I've read quite a few over the years. Legomeister loved them a couple of years ago. He still checks them out sometimes, but he doesn't ask me to read them to him anymore. Now it's Little Miss who requests them.

The Magic School Bus Characters learn the principles of buoyancy and uncover a fraud.

[EDUC535 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Danielle M

The Magic School Bus Ups and Downs: A Book About Floating and Sinking
Have you ever wanted to go on a field trip with Ms. Frizzle? Now is your chance! Take a "dive" into learning about sinking and floating with the Frizz.

This book is a great way to teach opposites to students with real life connections.

[Mary Dolce · Rating 3 out of 5]

A regular pick off our shelf by my 6 and 4 year old for me to read to them and educational too ! I get into doing the voices of the characters and its one of those books that I don't mind reading a number of times (I guess if I did, It would be hidden somewhere..)

[Adrienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

My son liked the story but got confused between what was real and what wasn't. He understood the explanations about floating and sinking but then thought that the bus could actually crumple. He had a hard time deciding what was true and what was not.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would love to read this book to students and then do a hands-on activity so they could see what does float and sink. They also could use a log sheet to make predicitons of what will float or sink based on their prior knowledge.

Topic: floating and sinking
Grades: 1-5

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ups And Downs: A Book About Floating And Sinking
Cole, Joanna
this is a book about science and exploration. looking at float or sinking

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a monster at the bottom of the pond...or is there? Ms. Frisby and the kids find out for sure. The science was a little confusing.

[Keely · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book doesn't have as much teaching potential as some of the other books in the series, but it's still a great read with a solid theme.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

1 copy

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fantasy book lets kids' imaginations run wild.

I will use this in my classroom to have my students explore places that have never been imagined before or new places they can think of.