The Rainforest

Magic School Bus

by Tom Jackson, Tom Jackson, Bruce Degen (Illustrator)

Ms. Frizzle leads her class on a fact-filled, lavishly illustrated journey into the rainforest to learn about its incredible plants and animals in a volume that incorporates updated material and vibrant photography.

Genres: Science, Childrens, Picture Books, Education, Nonfiction, Geography, Animals

32 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

"I'm a non-fiction author and project editor (plus I do a bit of journalism). I'm available for project development, writing, project management and I also work as a packager. Click on the links above to see examples of my work.

But first some background: Over the last 20 years, I've written books, magazine and newspaper articles, for online and for television. I get to write about a wide range of subjects, everything from axolotls to zoroastrianism. However, my specialties are natural history, technology and all things scientific. I've worked on projects with Brian May, Patrick Moore, Marcus de Sautoy and Carol Vorderman and for major international publishers, such as Dorling Kindersley, National Geographic, Scholastic, Hachette, Facts on File and BBC Magazines.

I spend my days finding fun ways of communicating all kinds of facts, new and old, to every age group and reading ability. I live in Bristol, England, with my wife and three children. I studied zoology at Bristol University and have had spells working at the zoos in Jersey and Surrey. I used to be something of a conservationist, which included planting trees in Somerset, surveying Vietnamese jungle and rescuing buffaloes from drought-ridden Zimbabwe. Writing jobs have also taken me to the Galápagos Islands, the Amazon rainforest, the coral reefs of Indonesia and the Sahara Desert. Nowadays, I can be found mainly in the attic."
~http://tomjackson.weebly.com/

Reviews

[Ashley]

FS:

LS:

[Daria Monahan · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was best book to based on this episode, "In the Rainforest."

[Amara Tanith · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Magic School Bus in the Rain Forest is an adaptation of the Magic School Bus television episode "In the Rain Forest"... sort of. While much of the plot and even some of the dialogue is lifted straight out of that episode, the focus of the story and some key plot elements are changed.

The changes (such as who bought the cocoa tree for Ms. Frizzle and why, Inspector 47's plan to keep out the peccaries, and the general state of the rain forest itself) serve to shift the story's focus; in the episode version, the lesson's focus was the web of life and how the plants and animals in an ecosystem are all interconnected, while the picture book's lessons is on the rain forest itself.

Though fans of the television show--such as myself--may be vaguely annoyed to see an episode's plot appropriated to teach a different lesson, The Magic School Bus in the Rain Forest is a good way to teach a young child about rain forests. I would, however, definitely recommend complementing this with a viewing of the episode.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our girls love the Magic School Bus series and this book does not disappoint. Ms. Frizzle and the kids visit a South American rainforest to figure out why her cocoa tree isn't producing beans. They discover an environment that is not in balance and they must figure out how to fix it.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Figuring out which habitat has what can be confusing. This is a great resource to visually share what a rainforest holds for us to understand.

Topic: Rainforest, habitats
Grade: 1- 5

[Ria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book teaches you about the rain forest and I liked how they figured out what was wrong with Ms Frizzle's cocoa tree.

[A Hoppy Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars