In 1986, young readers were taken by bus into the world of science. The Magic School Bus series, published by Scholastic, takes readers on a scientific adventure with wacky teacher Ms. Frizzle and combines factually accurate scientific lessons with humorous plot lines and beautiful illustrations. Author Joanna Cole and illustrator Bruce Degen introduced the series with The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks, and since then the publishing program has gone on to include 58 million books in print worldwide.
Scholastic Media, with support from the National Science Foundation, introduced The Magic School Bus animated television series in 1994. Starring Lily Tomlin as the voice of Ms. Frizzle, the series currently airs on Qubo in the U.S., marking its 17th consecutive season on television. The show is seen in 39 countries in 16 languages.
In October, The Magic School Bus brand began celebrations for its 25th anniversary with the release of The Magic School Bus: Oceans for the Nintendo DS and The Magic School Bus: Dinosaurs iPad app. The 25th anniversary campaign includes additional new product releases, new TV episodes on Qubo, a live touring show, and a new Where Will the Bus Take YOU? online game, which launched last month at www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus.
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Brad Simon Organization:
The Brad Simon Organization will launch a live stage show entitled The Magic School Bus Live: The Climate Challenge. Ms. Frizzle and her students travel from the equator to the arctic looking for telltale signs of climate change and learning how they can make a difference. The show will travel to 60 cities throughout the U.S.
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Discovery Education:
Thousands of students experience The Magic School Bus through Discovery Education streaming in classrooms every school year. This past quarter, six of the top 10 videos viewed were The Magic School Bus.
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Environmental Protection Agency:
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus USA program partnered with Scholastic to write, illustrate, and publish a new book in The Magic School Bus series. In The Magic School Bus Gets Cleaned Up, the children and Ms. Frizzle explore the pollution emitted from their own diesel school bus and learn about how to reduce the emissions as they travel through a diesel engine.
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Scholastic Interactive:
In The Magic School Bus: Oceans for the Nintendo DS, players explore and navigate ocean areas and sea life. The game is distributed by Cokem International.
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The Young Scientists Club:
The Young Scientists Club will launch The Magic School Bus Science Club and release five new Magic School Bus activity kits. The Magic School Bus Chemistry Lab is a bus-shaped kit with more than 50 chemistry experiments for ages 5 and up.
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Identity Games:
The GameChanger from Identity Games is an electronic game board for the iPad that features interactive animation and sound. It comes with a free app download and accessories for two board games, one of which is based on The Magic School Bus.