The Magic School Bus: All Dried Up: A Book about Deserts

"Ms. Frizzle is the strangest, most surpising teacher ever. But this morning everything was amazingly calm. We were working on our diorama of the desert. Things seemed normal--which was odd. Nothing is *ever* normal in Ms. Frizzle's class!" -- from the book In case you're not familiar with Scholastic series of Magic School Bus books, they are books which are based on the animated TV series--which are, incindentally, based on the ORIGINAL books written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen. (Whew!) So how do animals like tortoise, coyote, kangaroo rat, roadrunner, and Gila monster survive in a place where there is no water, food or shelter? According to Ms. Frizzle, scarcity is par for the course in deserts. In The Magic School Bus: All Dried Up, Ms. Frizzle and the kids explore the weather, terrain and animals of the desert. They learn that where there are mountains, there are deserts (the "rain shadow effect"). As the bus transforms into various desert animals, they learn about defense mechanisms and ways of coping. For example, rabbits have "ear conditioning" which help them keep cool. After a rainstorm, the deserts blooms with color and various plants--even shrimp in a big puddle! There is also an easy-to-do experiment at the back of the book (remember the carnation in colored water trick?) to show kids how plants (including desert plants) use water. I use the Magic School Bus books, videos and DVDs to supplement science class (I homeschool), and they never disappoint with their down-to-Earth approach to science concepts.

I SAW THIS MAGIC SCHOOL BUS STORY,ALL DRIED UP ON TV . I REALY REALY LOVE THIS BOOK. MY FAVORITE CHARACTER IS ARNOLD. I AM GONNA ASK MY DADDY TO BUY IT FOR ME.////// JAKE A. I AM 5 YEARS OLD