Under The Microscope

THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS -- LOST IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM by Joanna Cole; Ashton Scholastic; 40pp; $8.96 (paperback, school price)

The class of the "weirdest teacher in the school", Ms Frizzle, embark upon a journey of discovery on the Magic School Bus, encountering interesting facts along the way, and acceptance of a know-it-all child.

This book contains up-to-date information about our solar system. Concepts and vocabulary were well presented and sparked curiosity, with a Standard One class asking many questions during the reading.

It would lend itself as a research source for Standard One children for space project work and as a good stimulus for imaginative story writing. Many mathematical skills could be touched upon -- presenting information in tables, sequencing, ordering by size, geometrical shapes, weight, gravity, temperature, mapping and so on.

I liked the way information was presented on the page and the handy size for holding while facing a class and reading text. There was a good balance of text to pictures as well as children's written reports and bubble speech, and humour was used throughout in both text and illustrations. The children in class identified with the children on the bus. When told it would be put in the school library, many of them "pre-ordered" it.

Mike Keys teaches at Salisbury School.

"Big book" and hardcover editions are also available, as are teacher's notes. Other titles in the series are "Inside the Human Body", "Inside the Earth", "At the Waterworks" and "On the Ocean Floor".

Mike Keys teaches at Salisbury School.