The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds: A Book About How Living Things Grow

Magic School Bus TV Tie-Ins

by Bruce Degen, John Speirs (Illustrator), Joanna Cole (Series Creator)

Ms. Frizzle's class is growing a beautiful garden. But, Phoebe's plot is empty. Her flowers are back at her old school! So, the class climbs aboard the Magic School Bus. And, of course, the kids don't only go back to Phoebe's school, but they go inside one of Phoebe's flowers! Follow the kids' adventure and learn how living things grow.

Genres: Science, Childrens, Picture Books, Plants, Nonfiction, School, Kids

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Bruce Degen was an American illustrator and writer with over forty children's books to his credit. He may be known best for illustrating The Magic School Bus, a picture book series written by Joanna Cole. He collaborated with writers Nancy White Carlstrom, on the Jesse Bear books, and Jane Yolen, on the Commander Toad series. He wrote self-illustrated Jamberry, Daddy Is a Doodlebug, and Shirley's Wonderful Baby.

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

My generic review of the Magic School Bus books -

We really love the series. This book doesn't have all the cartoony dialouge asides that the earlier books have. There are maybe a comment or two per page instead of full conversations. Some people hate that; I think I prefer it. The page is less busy.

These books clearly explain a certain topic. There are often additional activities at the end of the book for further learning.

We read these for 'fun' during picture book time and we read them when learning about a certain subject.

Most of the books have movies which correspond. We've enjoyed those as well.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would probably give this book a 4, but my kids really loved this one and thought it worthy of a 5, so we are rounding up. It teaches about parts of the flower, such as the anther, stigma, and details how the bees pollinate flowers. All of it is in a fun, fictional story, which my kids really enjoyed. For entertainment purposes, it was great. It was not information dense, but a few gems of factual information can be garnished from it. Personally, my favorite part was Ms. Frizzle's dress with a strawberry, eggplants, and tomatoes on it. Oddly, it actually changes throughout the book, like the placement of the produce and even which ones are depicted on there, but I'm still wondering where I can get one myself haha!

[Carli Erickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

While a sort of fantasy and imagination book, this Magic School Bus book is also educational. It talks about parts of plants and flowers, and what it takes for plants to grow. This book would be a good lesson in a 2nd grade classroom because it is longer than a lot of younger level books, and has a lot of words that are challenging vocabulary yet simple to read.

[Kaliah · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a really good book. I liked the illustrations and how colorful the flowers were. I really liked learning about the pollen tubes. I'm curious to know if the plant at magazine really exists so I'm going to look it up.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was adapted from one of the TV episodes of The Magic School Bus and is vintage 90's! I can't remember if I watched this episode as a kid, but I preferred this book over the newer iterations of Magic School Bus books I've come across.

[Anna Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read with Logan 24 jan 2024

Another magic school bus book, this time about plant seeds and a new student that miss her old school's garden and a specific plant. So off they go to explore the other garden and the plant that Phobe miss.

[Katie P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generally, we enjoy the magic school bus. It’s the right mix of silly and factual for an inquisitive kid. This book doesn’t have sidebar the way many in the series do, which makes it an easier read aloud story.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like that in the series it having you learn and inter tanning

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Explains the parts of a flower,

[K Morlando · Rating 5 out of 5]

We love the Magic School Bus series. These books are so informative and visually appealing for readers of all ages.

[Nolan Brendel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it because they became small and then they became big.

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came across a number of Magic School Bus books last year and read them, I don't remember if this was one of them, but I digress, this was what you would expect from TMSB, and whilst it had some learning value in it, there is something inherently weird about the teacher and the bus and the shenanigans that go on in. the name of learning.
It's all OK, not bad, just a little out there though.

[Pickle · Rating 5 out of 5]

get back in the beatle bus arnold

[Nia Hodnett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This modern fantasy would be best used in a lesson as a read aloud. Some of the vocabulary can be challenging for beginner readers, but it is a fun read. I personally loved the artwork and how colorful the flowers and plants were.

[Madelyn Hendershot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fiction
2-3rd grade
This was a fun yet educational book to read. I think it would be a good opening for a science lesson that introduces anything plants or flower related. It taught us as readers how plants grow and the parts of a flower. Compared to the other Magic School Bus series, this one was on the lower end of my favorites. Ms Frizzle is always enjoyable to read.

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun story, and impressive that I learned a new term as an adult while reading this to my nieces.

[Marissa Masterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds: A Book About How Living Things Grow: A Book About How Living Things Grow by Patricia Relf is a very informational book. It teaches the reader all about how plants grow. It starts off with Ms. frizzle's class creating a garden and the whole class goes on a trip in a ladybug bus. They go through each step of a flowers life. Parts like the anther and the stigma are explained well. This book explains the parts that a child may bot be as familiar with, very well.The book is very accurate and conveys factual information. Everything that the book says is true and does happen. The format is very organized and starts from the beginning of the flowers life until the end. The format and design is very appeasing to children. It is very colorful and all children probably wish they were a character in the book. Having the school bus change and get to fly is very interesting to children. It is easily understood and accessible to children. The authors writing style is very clear and her enthusiasm shines through! The text is very easy to read for children. She also includes thought bubbles which include a funner font. I really enjoyed the Magic School Bus book series growing up.It was great having the opportunity to go back to my childhood with this book. It is very informative and teaches students in a fun and interesting way. They have taught me that learning can be fun which something that I want to teach my students one day!

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[Ariana Morales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mrs. Frizzle is a teacher, with a certainly unconventional method for teaching her students. In this novel, Mrs. Frizzle and her students have decided to grow a garden, however Phoebe faces a problem once she realizes her flowers are located at her old school. Mrs. Frizzle and her students must then embark on a mission to retrieve those flowers, as well as study their characteristics up close. It's a fun filled story, full of adventure, perfect for children, grades K-6.
Given the content of this book, I would classify it as a science fiction. Considering science fiction characterized as fiction depicting imagined future scientific or technological advances. This book embodies that perfectly. The fact that Mrs. Frizzle can shrink her and her class to the size of ants, in order to be able to study an object more effectively, not only demonstrates out of the box thinking, but as well as futuristic elements. The book is also accurate to some extent. Although it is impossible to shrink people, Degen's book did provided insightful knowledge on the subject of plant growth. Overall, Given it's unique layout, I found this book to be a very beneficial tool for younger readers to use, in order to learn new concepts outside of the classroom.

[Liz Benitez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interest Level: K-2
Grade Level Equivalent: 2.3
Lexile Measure: 420L

Ms. Frizzle's class was planting a garden and the photographer of Plant It! magazine was going to take their picture. Phoebe missed her flowers she planted at her other school so Ms. Frizzle transformed the Magic School Bus to a bee! The children travel to the flower and learn about the pollen and how seeds are formed. This is a great informational book for children to learn more about sees and how things grow. After reading the book, the teacher can write down the process of how seeds grow so that students can see it visually. If possible print out pictures so children can see.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun book in Magic School Bus TV tie-in series, based on an episode from the popular TV series. It focuses on the parts of plants and how they get pollinated. It's short and easy to read aloud. Our girls really liked it.

June 2020 update: I reread a copy of this book as I began to separate out books for different age groups, in preparation to give books to people and organizations. It's charm holds up after all these years.

[Lucia Benzor · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's abut kids who have a teacher who has magic school bus. They have a garden and they learn about how plants can make seeds & it's life cycle. This book will be suitable for first grade because if it goes lower than first kindergarten would be stuck on words. Scientists might be in interested in this book too because they might learn some facts. I would recommend this book get 4 stars because it tell's facts & some not real things.

[Jo ☾ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the Magic School Bus, both the television show and the books. This particular addition is a tie-in book adaptation by Patricia Relf and illustrated by John Speirs. Definitely not as good as the books written by the original creator of The Magic School Bus, Joanna Cole!

[Nivi Krishnakumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an awesome book to do a character study in. Since there are many Magic School bus books, you can use these books as an introduction to many different scientific concepts. This book would be a great book to introduce the concept of plants and what the difference is between living and nonliving things. This book can be used in any grade level.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kate actually picked out this book to go along with our lapbook learning about trees. She LOVES Magic School Bus Books and actually chose to read this out loud to her brother and sister during Tea Time today.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading dozens of plant books, this is the first one that explains exactly how pollen and egg cells create new seeds. I know this book is just one created from the TV series rather than a "real" Magic School Bus book, but it was perfect for our purposes.

[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.

This one's all about how plants make seeds.

[Tam Tam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is good for encouraging learning science for young children. It seemed like the book was too rushed though. I think it could have given more details for the few pages it did have. But it did explain how plants actually reproduce.

[Andrew Perry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a classic that can be used in any elementary grade. This would be a great opener for a science lesson on plants and they're internal structures or for an activity where each student grows a plant and records data about it.

[Abi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mrs. Frizzle's class go inside a plant in this cute story. I would use this book for a lesson on plants/plants growth for first or second grade. This would be a great book for the engage part of a plant growing lesson!