Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Ancient Egypt

Ms. Frizzle's Adventures (MSB)

by Joanna Cole, Bruce Degen (Illustrator)

Readers can travel back in time with Ms. Frizzle to the magical land of Ancient Egypt where learning is truly an adventure. Teacher's Guide available.

Genres: History, Picture Books, Egypt, Nonfiction, Childrens, Ancient History, Geography

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Joanna Cole, who also wrote under the pseudonym B. J. Barnet, was an author of children’s books who teaches science.

She is most famous as the author of The Magic School Bus series of children's books. Joanna Cole wrote over 250 books ranging from her first book Cockroach to her famous series Magic School Bus.

Cole was born in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up in nearby East Orange. She loved science as a child, and had a teacher she says was a little like Ms. Frizzle. She attended the University of Massachusetts and Indiana University before graduating from the City College of New York with a B.A. in psychology. After some graduate education courses, she spent a year as a librarian in a Brooklyn elementary school. Cole subsequently became a letters correspondent at Newsweek, and then a senior editor for Doubleday Books for Young Readers.

Reviews

[Nancy Kotkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining and informative picture book that blends a fictional story of a group touring Egypt with facts about ancient Egypt. Pages are busy but the layout accommodates a large amount of information in a clear manner. Interesting contrast between ancient and modern Egypt.

During a school vacation, Ms. Frizzle (of The Magic School Bus fame) heads to Egypt on a tour. While on the plane, she takes charge of the group and they time-travel back to ancient Egypt. As Ms. Frizzle and her group observes everyday life, the ancient Egyptians all wonder who those strangers are, adding a touch of humor.

Some of the events in the book actually happened at different times in ancient Egyptian history, which is explained in the back matter. The back matter also separates the facts from the fantasy aspects of the book.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another series of non-fiction, informational books for students to learn about science or events in history. Ms. Frizzle of course is from the very well-known Magic School Bus series. These books are for younger students, probably primary grade level, since the information and illustrations are simpler and easier to understand than the "You Wouldn't Want to be ...." series. In Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Ancient Egypt, the Magic School Bus kids go back in time to ancient Egypt and learn about life back then. This book does not have an index, glossary, or table of contents, so you would need to read the entire book to be able to pick out facts for a report.

[Elise Salzl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love the way this STORY is packed with great information! This is just the kind of book I want to keep in my classroom as a mentor text- one that is fun, interesting, and passes on knowledge. Plus this will be great when teaching about Ancient Egypt.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book continues the adventures of the magic school bus! The teacher in this book takes her class to Ancient Egypt. The class learns all of the history of Ancient Egypt up close in a hand on enviroment instead of in a classroom reading a textbook. It is a fun and exciting way to learn about Ancient Egypt and great to read to your class.

[IC · Rating 1 out of 5]

Do not show this book to children. This started giving me an existential crisis when I was only 8 years old, that I didn't ever actually get over. For years I couldn't sleep, because this book made me terrified that I would die in my sleep. I'm not saying that older children couldn't read this, but I'd wait until they were at least 10. This book seriously messed me up for years.

[Becky Galambos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable book about Ms. Frizzle's (she of Magic School Bus fame) summer vacation - which, of course, is anything but ordinary. Parachuting out of the plane, they land not in modern Cairo, but back in ancient Egypt!

This was gifted to me after my own trip to Egypt but finally got around to reading it when I got nostalgic a year after the trip.

[Kaelin Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very interesting. I like how the Magic School Bus acknowledges inaccuracies such as the length of time something occurs. It makes it even more education. I remember reading a couple books in school. I even saw some episodes of the show. I recommend it for 3-5th grades.

[Ember Air · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Magic School Bus, and I love Egyptian History, but I did not care for this book. The style was cute and the idea very worthy, but the facts were all over the place (and all over time,) and it didn't really read like a story.

[Asho · Rating 3 out of 5]

F picked this out at the library. She made her pick based purely on the cover art. I let her take it home but ended up reading it more with L (6) as it was more appropriate for her comprehension level. It's actually a pretty good introduction to ancient Egypt.

[Breanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book started my interest in the ancient world

[Kristi Urmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun informative book about Ancient Egypt.

[Sarah Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the BEST all around children's book for Ancient Egypt. It's rich with illustrations and informational text! Of all the children's books we are reading for our Ancient Egypt homeschool unit {about 30}, this is by far my second grader's favorite.

Unlike the Magic School Bus series, his book focuses only on Ms. Frizzle {no kids, no bus} and her adventures in Ancient Egypt. My daughter has used this book's instructions to make a kit mummy and for guidance in coloring an Egyptian deity flip book. I have no doubt we'll find many other uses for it as well.

What I love is that this book explains history in a way that children can understand but without diluting the information. It is DENSE with information! It includes topics such as daily life, farming, types of artisans and craftspeople, scribes and writing, pyramids and how they were built, gods and goddesses, clothing, feasts/banquets, and art. Whew, that was a comprehensive list ;)

Highly recommend.

[Shelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a wonderful resource for parents, teachers and students when studying Ancient Egypt. Ms. Frizzle goes back in time with an Egyptian tour group, while the "tour guide" is left in Modern Egypt. During the story lots of information was given about both times in this fascinating land. Their writing, bartering system, farming, pyramid building, travel and mummification facts are all presented in a clear and interesting way throughout. Great way to reinforce what is being taught in the school text books.

[Jazzmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book at the library just for fun and just because it was "Magic School Bus" related. I opened it to find it was very informative and detailed- even adults can learn so much from the pages of this book. I thought it was wonderful and teaches incredible and interesting details. It was like an ancient history lesson on Egypt, and was written in a fun way with some humor even added into the mix.

Great book. It was nice to have my memory jogged of facts and things I learned growing up in terms of this part of history.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book about Egypt, both modern and ancient. Ms. Frizzle goes on a group tour vacation to Egypt and with Ms. Frizzle's classic style, she travels with her group to various times in ancient Egypt to see aspects of their culture, language, customs, religion, art, science and architecture. Though the "field trip" is a work of fiction a la her Magic School Bus field trips, the book is packed with facts about ancient Egyptians. Our girls love these books!

[Chessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book with a lot of interesting lessons about Ancient Egypt. Like all Magic School Bus books, I find the comic book style and all the insets and sidenotes a little distracting from the overall story, BUT my 7-year-old really liked them, particularly all the insets about Egyptian gods and goddesses. Overall, a nice, pun-filled and interesting overview of some highlights of ancient Egyptian history. :)

[David Roman]

Ms. Frizzle goes back in time with an Egyptian tour group, while the "tour guide" is left in Modern Egypt. During the story lots of information was given about both times in this fascinating land. Their writing, bartering system, farming, pyramid building, travel and mummification facts are all presented in a clear and interesting way throughout.To me it was a good book and and not that long like others.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great resource for studying the Ancient Egyptian culture! Ms. Frizzle takes an adventure back in time to explore the art, clothes, writing, mummification, and banquets of Pharaohs. There is so much detail and extra information in this book that it might take students several days to fully soak up. Highly valuable resource for an Egypt centered history lesson!

[Kallie Krammes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be a great one for history lessons because it is packed full of information. There is a story within a story. The text is of the actual story of the characters but on every page it is filled with factual information that is understandable to children. A phenomenal amount of facts and fun information about Egypt.

[Liliana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ms. Frizzle'd Adventures: Ancient Egypt, by Joanna Cole, is a good book that can help kids learn about Egypt and the Egyptian culture. The book provides lot's of facts that kids might find interesting. It is a creative way for kids to learn new things while reading something they might find fun.

[Luis Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very interesting. It has many facts about Egypt. Ms. Frizzle tries to take over the Egypt tour. This book has great pictures and catches your attention. This book is good. This book makes fun of Egyptian concepts.

[Keyilah Lacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a good book. It's long 36 pages and it gives us details about Ancient Egypt, the Nile river, the pharaoh, and mummies. it is a good book with bright colorful pages with speech bubbles. its from the creators of the Magic School Bus

[Ms. B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learn all about Ancient Egypt as Ms . Frizzle takes a vacation to visit Egypt with a tour group. Full of humor and facts, anyone who is interested in Ancient Egypt will love this one. A perfect book for teaching about Ancient Egypt.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm sad that these appear to be OP

[Angela Barakat]

I read this with my son.

[Cornelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for preschoolers up to third grade. It's very colorful, interesting, and easy to understand. I highly reccomend it.

[Katie Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Throughout the book, Mr. Frizz told provided facts about her trip to Egypt. I like how the passengers have conversations. This would be a good book to read before exploring Egypt in the classroom.

[Teri · Rating 2 out of 5]

blah--terrible! We usually like Magic School bus--but not this one told from Ms. Fizzle's point of view.

[Bree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notes:
the books in this series are visual/informational overload, but worth the time; we don't read them for their narrative quality; taking a few days to 'study' this book is necessary

[Jean-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ms. Frizzle makes me frazzled, but kids love her. This book touches on all of the pertinent ancient Egypt topics for elementary level students.