The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks
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| Author | Joanna Cole |
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| Illustrator | Bruce Degen |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Magic School Bus |
| Genre | Educational fiction |
| Publisher | Scholastic Corporation (reprints) |
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Publication date
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July 24, 1986 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) also Audio book |
| Pages | 40 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 33843132 |
| Followed by | The Magic School Bus inside the Earth |
| "The Magic School Bus Wet All Over" | |
|---|---|
| The Magic School Bus episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 5 |
| Production code | Unknown |
| Original air date | October 14, 1995 |
The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks is the first book in the The Magic School Bus series. Written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degan, it is a picture book and introduces most of the main characters of the series, including Ms. Frizzle, Arnold, Dorothy Ann, Ralphie (called "Ralph" in the book), Tim, Wanda and Liz as well as several students who did not appear in the later television series. Carlos, Keesha and Phoebe do not appear in this book, though a student called "John" in the book bears an uncanny physical resemblance to Carlos.
The book depicts the class's first field trip with Ms. Frizzle. Despite the title, the bus is not depicted as directly causing the strange events of the field trip as it would be in later books and the television series. In this book, strange events just seem to happen with no explanation and continue to happen after the kids leave the bus in a cloud.
The book begins by introducing the character of Ms. Frizzle and describing her unusual teaching methods. Soon, she decides to take the class on a field trip to the waterworks, which the kids are sure will be boring, especially compared to the trips the kids in other classes go on. However, after driving through a tunnel, the bus becomes plastered with images of octopuses and everyone inside finds themselves wearing scuba diving outfits.
Once this occurs, the bus rises up into a cloud along with evaporating water. Ms. Frizzle makes all the kids get out of the bus by threatening to give them extra homework if they don't. However, the kids begin shrinking once they're outside and, once they're each the size of a raindrop, they rain down into a river, which carries them into the town's water purification system. After going through the waterworks, the pipes take the class back to the school. They come out in the girls' bathroom, where, once out of the faucet, they are instantly restored to their regular size and normal clothing (except for Ms. Frizzle still being in her octopus dress).
Ms. Frizzle, however, appears to have no memory of the strange trip and the class later sees the bus outside. They wonder how it returned from the cloud and even consider that they may have imagined their whole adventure. The book ends with Ms. Frizzle informing them that they will be studying volcanoes next. The main story is then followed by two pages listing things that couldn't happen in real life.
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