Butterfly Battle

The Magic School Bus Science Chapter Books #16

by Joanna Cole, Nancy White, Hope Gangloff (Illustrations)

Get carried away with the Friz and her class as they take a whirlwind journey into the world of butterflies!

Hi, I'm Phoebe, one of the kids in Ms. Frizzle's class. When we started our unit on butterflies, I figured I would get to see a live butterfly - but I never thought I would get to be one. But when Ms. Frizzle took us on our butterfly field trip, she accidentally turned us all into butterflies! But being a butterfly wasn't all fun and games. We had to battle all kinds of wind, birds, even people! We knew we had to win this Butterfly Battle -- before things got carried away!

Genres: Science, Childrens, Chapter Books, School, Nonfiction, Animals, Picture Books

80 pages, Hardcover

First published August 15, 2003

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

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Butterfly Battle, written by Nancy White and illustrated by Hope Gangloff tells the story of Ms. Frizzle’s class. Children in Ms. Frizzle’s class were learning about butterflies. Ms. Frizzle told the children to create their own skit that would relate to what they were learning about butterflies. The children were having a hard time coming up with ideas. Ms. Frizzle decides they should take a fieldtrip because it just might help them think of a couple things. The children and Ms. Frizzle head out to the magic school bus to begin their fieldtrip. Ms. Frizzle was explaining to the children about different butterflies when she accidently pronounces the word butterfly wrong and something magically happens and turns most of the class into butterflies and Ralphie into a caterpillar. The children learn to relate to the butterflies through this magic process. After the fieldtrip the children had great ideas for their skits.

This is an excellent book for children who like using their imagination and adventure. It has a very happy ending. This book teaches children about butterflies. This book is perfect for children 7 to 9 years of age.

[Skyla Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have fallen in love with The Magic School Bus chapter books. They are just as exciting and the picture books are and they are so informative. These books are great for beginning/intermediate readers and they are full of content. Something I love so much about them is that they are a chapter book but they still give some images and extra information pages which are so helpful to struggling readers who need an image or extra information every now and then. This book in particular would be great for a butterfly lesson in science and a reading lesson connected. These books just have so many endless possibilities when it comes to lessons. These books really do make learning about science fun and I hope to bring that to children one day as well. I want all of The Magic School Bus books in my classroom!!

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got a set of this book for guided reading groups/literature circles. I have group of first and second graders that I will likely use it for this spring. The story itself was lackluster. I feel that others in the series have a little more oomph. However, I did find the nonfiction bits and all the facts along the way fascinating. I never knew some of the things about butterflies before reading this. Scholastic book wizard marks this book at a guided reading level N/DRA 30. I find it a reasonable rating and had very appropriate content for young readers (grades 1-3).

[Jaden John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Butterific!

[Megan Packnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 3rd grader loves these!

[Ella B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

yeah so I read this for class, would not read again but it was fine haha

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 butterflies and moths. It teaches about differences between the species as well as the butterfly life cycle.

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.

[Miss Ryoko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Per usual, the Magic School Bus chapter books are full of great information and a fun storyline. The writing is also basic and boring, but I really enjoy the educational impact these books can have. Even I learn things I didn't know!

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my 5 year old son's first chapter book (that I read to him) and we really enjoyed it. He loves the Magic School Bus so this was a great way to introduce him to chapter books.

[Rainier · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is about butterflies. I learned what flowers it eats.

[Katherine Kapellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was a good book I liked all the facts that they had about butterflies.