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Get ready for some serious science fun when the Friz takes the kids on an explosive journey into the heart of a volcano!

Hi, I'm Dorothy Ann, one of the kids in Ms. Frizzle's class. When we started learning about volcanoes, I thought we'd just be studying them in books -- but Ms. Frizzle had other ideas. She took us all the way to Hawaii, where we waded through lava and saw a real volcano blow its top. We had a great time -- even though the trip was sometimes almost too hot to handle! One thing's for sure: This was one explosive adventure that none of us will ever forget!

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

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Eva Moore

90 books25 followers

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5 stars
2,630 (64%)
4 stars
758 (18%)
3 stars
558 (13%)
2 stars
99 (2%)
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51 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
Profile Image for Amber.
49 reviews3 followers
December 4, 2010
5th-6th

The students from Ms. Frizzle’s class always go on adventures. These adventures take the reader through volcanoes, the human body and or space. In the Voyage to the Volcano Ms. Frizzle took her students inside a volcano to explore how they work. The class explores the volcano with their school that shrinks to a smaller size. This makes the class the perfect size to enter the volcano to explore. The students learn how the center of the earth affects the lava and how the lava forms. The story is always very interesting but the illustrations always help bring it all to life. The vivid images help the reader understand this science topic.
What a great way to explore a topic feather. Ms. Frizzle helps students see the importance of volcano. Before giving student the task to complete a project on Volcano a teacher should have student read Ms. Frizzles story.
28 reviews
April 11, 2018
Miss Frizzle is always brings an adventure filled with suspense and laughter. In Voyage to Volcano, Frizzle takes her class to Hawaii to learn and visit an active volcano, Kilauea. Along the way, the different personalities of the students come into play, especially when they go inside the volcano. The class gets stuck in the hardened lava, someone's shoes begin to melt, and the class becomes worried that they will never make it back home. However, with the help of the magic school bus and Miss Frizzle, the bus drills itself out of the volcano and they finally make it home safely. The Magic School Bus series is great when needing to implement science and literacy into one book. Voyage to Volcano has many features that a nonfiction book has and gives readers fun facts about volcanoes and why they occur. Thoughout the book, especially in suspenseful scenes, there are pictures for readers that demonstrate what is happening. For instance, one picture in the book showed how worried Arnold and the rest of the class was when the bus was stuck in the lava and everything was dark. Young readers will want to know what is going to happen next. Although I think there are better and newer books out there, the Magic School Bus series is great for transitional readers who also enjoy science.
Profile Image for Chance Hansen.
Author 21 books21 followers
December 7, 2020
What is happening? It's Magic School Bus there shouldn't be this much risk in the story.

Cover
I love this cover. Makes total sense. It fits the theme, and setting.

Interior
Story
I grew up watching the series I don't think I ever remember them being in serious danger before. I've always seen Ms. Frizzle as a, in control unfazed teacher where all the students couldn't end up in serious danger. Maybe it's because unlike the show they are introducing professionals in their field. I can't believe they actually had THREE dangerous close calls. (When do you remember the entire class relating to Arnold anxiety?) I do have to give credit it's original story standing apart from the tv episode. While Liz didn't appear they do transform quite a few times and even have a couple playful moments.
It's a decent lists of information and I did find it interesting and does have information I haven't heard of before. It actually felt a little overwhelming at a couple moments.

Illustration
The full page illustrations are nice and graphs are great references to for visual understanding.

After Thoughts
It's writing in D.A.'s perspective again. I've got to say wouldn't it have been interesting if each book flipped to a different student?


Profile Image for Chris.
1,088 reviews27 followers
June 30, 2017
When I was a kid I always loved the Magic School Bus series, both books and cartoons. I'm happy that my kids like it equally.

This was a pretty good book, stuffed full of actual facts and information about volcanos that not only the kids found interesting, I actually learned a good deal as well. Combined with a story of the kids exploring around Hawaii and getting into some pretty dangerous situations it was a fun read. It's 8 chapters, but some of them were really short, so I think I read it over 6 or so nights to them. The illustrations are somewhat sparse, though most of them were pretty good. There were more tiny ones with the facts, though. I'll definitely be getting more of these from the library for bed time stories.
Profile Image for Megan.
46 reviews
July 30, 2018
DA is the main character. Her real name is Dorothy Ann, but she goes by DA. They go and meet this volcano scientist that Ms. Frizzle had heard about, and the volcano scientist becomes Dorothy Ann's friend. They save the scientist from the volcano! And they go into a volcano and have fun, and they are in a volcano tunnel, but then the eruption comes and run into the magic school bus. Then they are safe, and then they get their safety suits on from the magic school bus, and then they go in the volcano and have fun.

It was okay, I just didn't love it.
Profile Image for Katja Labonté.
Author 31 books344 followers
October 8, 2020
3 stars & 3/10 hearts. I was very leery of this book at first, but after reading it, I am of the opinion that “magic school bus” is a deluding title. There is no magic involved at all; the school bus simply changes from a bus to a raft to a submarine, etc. Ms. Frizzle has no magical powers, nor anyone else; it’s just like in Dora the Explorer when her backpack furnishes a raft or things! The story is easy to read and it’s humorous. I enjoyed the information on volcanos & if your students are studying that at the moment, this is a useful book to read :)
27 reviews
July 2, 2023
The story is about Dorothy Ann a child in MS Frizzle's class in a puzzling quiz bowl. Then it didn't take much time to figure out that they were going on a magic school bus field trip . Their destination was beautiful Hawaii . They met a volcanologist named Jim (volcanologist -person who studies volcanoes ) and they learnt things like Pahoehoe and Aa lava . They also visited Kilauea and saved Jim from it. their adventure was great but Carlos lost his shoes and that was the adventure of voyage to the volcano.
Profile Image for Vannessa Anderson.
Author 0 books225 followers
May 18, 2018
Classmates go on an exciting fieldtrip at Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii where they experience a lava tube and see lava icicles, islands being formed and other interesting facts that’ll make you say, I didn’t know that!
Profile Image for Sarah.
481 reviews20 followers
November 14, 2018
Megan had already read this to herself, but wanted me to read it out loud as well. Jared liked me reading it to him, too. (They probably liked it mostly because they like to watch Magic School Bus on Netflix.) The story itself wasn't that exciting, but we did learn some stuff about volcanoes.
Profile Image for Mary T.
1,969 reviews21 followers
August 31, 2021
I read this with my 7yo son who is interested in volcanoes. We both enjoyed this book. I had him read the little textboxes with the student reports. It's an early chapter book in that it is fairly short, but some of the concepts and vocabulary are for older students.
Profile Image for Brenna.
238 reviews
June 26, 2024
Read this book as a read aloud to my son. He liked the story, was less interested in some of the sidebar notes, but I read those anyway since he did like some of them and recalls some of that information (plus I wanted to know what those notes said).
101 reviews
April 21, 2019
Genre: Informational
Grade Level: 2nd-3rd
Children who are interested in science would really enjoy this book but surprisingly so would students who may not be. This book in the magic school bus series does a good job grabbing the readers attention and states facts in a plot. One specific part I loved about this book is the way the class reacts to the volcano erupting. Students can connect what they are learning in class to these books. I think these are great books to feature in a class library or promote to children because they are more difficult than picture books but still have the same attraction.
Profile Image for Daniel Hernandez.
115 reviews3 followers
August 12, 2019
No es malo, da muy buena información sobre volcanes y es perfecto para un niño
60 reviews
February 16, 2021
i think this book is a fun way to teach children about volcanos and also grab their attention.
Profile Image for Ali.
1,095 reviews7 followers
June 22, 2023
Not great part of series. Lots of information but storyline not well done.
2023 pop sugar reading challenge- shortest book TBR list
50 reviews
April 25, 2012
The Magic School Bus series has always been a favorite of mine. I grew up reading these books so have a soft spot for them now. The magic school bus books are always about the students going on an adventure. The Teacher, Ms. Frizz, takes them on adventures into the ocean, the human body, space, etc., in order to teach her lesson. In this particular book, they went to Hawaii to see a volcano. The students got to learn first hand what lava was and how exactly volcanos operated. These books are usually all the same; the kids are in the classroom, Ms. Friz needs to teach her lesson so they leave to go somewhere outlandish and unrealistic, then the kids learn a lot and arrive safely back at school. I think that these would be perfect books to read to 5th or 6th graders. Because they are so many different topics in every book, there is a wide variety to choose from. They would be perfect tools in a classroom to use when teaching a particular topic that needs help getting student’s attention. It is always a good idea to use books in order to help with the curriculum.
Profile Image for Laura.
Author 2 books30 followers
January 28, 2016
Voyage to the Volcano is book in the Magic School Bus series.

In this science based chapter book, the kids and Ms. Frizzle head out in the Magic School Bus to Hawaii to learn all about volcanoes.

It is formatted like the other books in the series. This one has illustrations and sidebars that look like notebook paper reports written by the kids in the class.

In this adventure the bus turns into a raft, a helicopter and a submarine to take the young readers along on a fun trip. Learning about volcanoes on the land and under the sea becomes an interesting and sometimes scary adventure that will have your kids turning the pages to find out what happens next.

We were fortunate enough to see Kilauea at night while on Hawaii - it is amazing! If you are planning a trip with a grade school age child, this book would be a wonderful way to introduce them to the wonder of volcanoes.

This series is a great way to teach children about the world around them. It encourages looking for answers by asking questions and going to other sources to find out how and why.
Profile Image for Dolly.
Author 1 book670 followers
October 29, 2012
Our girls adore Magic School Bus and we've read every book we can get our hands on. This is a great chapter book; it is not too long, and still has lots of pictures. It offers a compreshensive look at volcanoes and the dangers of an active volcano.

Our girls loved the fact that the class goes to Hawaii. They really miss the islands and it gave us a chance to reminisce. We never brought them to Volcanoes National Park, so we'll have to do that someday.

Overall, it's an entertaining and exciting story - the author really brings the science to life. We have read many of the books in this series and we will certainly look for more of them at our local library.
Profile Image for Christina.
49 reviews3 followers
January 22, 2013
We visited Kilauea on Hawaii a few months ago, just like Ms. Frizzle and her crew. I'm glad I didn't get the book before we went (if it had been in the library I would have borrowed it) as it definitely emphasized the drama of volcanoes. My volcano-loving 5-year-old was apprehensive enough before our visit to Volcanoes National Park without worrying about his shoes getting stuck in lava, a sudden eruption enveloping our vehicle, etc.

This was the first Magic School Bus book we'd read and I'm not sold on the format. There were a few illustrations that made it clear the illustrator either hadn't seen Kilauea in person or didn't care about accuracy. A non-fiction science of volcanoes book might have been as good or better for learning volcanology facts. For volcano fiction I prefer stories about Pele and Hawaiian mythology.
Profile Image for Amber M.
40 reviews1 follower
October 31, 2013
Genre: Nonfiction

Awards: None

Grade Level: 3-4

This book takes the students to Hawaii in a Magic School Bus, where they will wade through lava, tour the Sulfur Pits, visit the Ring of Fire, and experience an underwater volcanic eruption. I would read this book to my students while they were learning about volcano's or during a geography lesson. For a follow up activity, I would have the students correctly construct the three types of volcanoes out of “play dough”. The students would work in small groups to complete this activity.
Profile Image for Sarah.
178 reviews1 follower
June 21, 2011
A classroom of children take a field trip with their teacher, Ms. Frizzle, in her Magic School Bus. The bus can morph into a jet, a boat, a sub, a helicopter, and more because, well, it's magic. During the adventure the children learn about and report on volcanoes.

It was a fun story that my children enjoyed.
Profile Image for Teri.
2,489 reviews25 followers
January 13, 2012
My girls got a few of these for Christmas and LOVED reading them on their own. I'm really surprised at the things they tell me out of the blue when they are done. "Mom, did you know sometimes a volcano keeps erupting over and over on the ocean floor, and when it gets tall enough it is an ISLAND!" I think a set of all of these chapter books would be nice for our library.
Profile Image for Deanna Sutter.
895 reviews34 followers
November 8, 2008
The kids really liked this book. We had lots of good discussion from it. They want to read more about volcanos. They also had to tell their dad at dinner all the things they've learned about volcanos.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews

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