Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Ancient Egypt
Ms. Frizzle, science teacher extraordinaire (in the tremendously popularMagic School Busseries by Joanna Cole and illustrator Bruce Degen),  parachutes into social studies in the first of the new series from the same  creative pair. On the first day of school vacation, the inimitable, redheaded  Ms. Frizzle joins a tour group bound for Egypt. When the plane trip gets too  monotonous, Ms. Frizzle invites the group to jump ship with her. Somehow, tour  guide Herb ends up in contemporary Cairo, while everyone else lands in ancient  Egypt! Here's where Ms. Frizzle's teaching skills come in handy. By the end of  the vacation, members of the tour group--and readers--have learned more about  mummies, pyramids, Re the sun god, and ancient Egyptian's teeth than they ever  imagined.With their familiar blend of information sharing and humor, Cole and Degen  present what might in any other format be an overwhelming amount of information  in a lively, entertaining, easy-to-absorb style. Full-color cartoon-style text  and illustrations allow readers to explore Egypt even as Ms. Frizzle and her  inadvertent students do the same. Witty asides take the shape of travel diaries,  postcards home, and messages on Herb's megaphone ("I'mthe tour guide!",  "Help! I lost my tour group!"). Ms. Frizzle's sly pretended ignorance at times  also makes for high hilarity. "I can't imagine how that happened. Can you?" she  says, after the airplane door somehow swings open. If only all education was  this much fun! (Ages 5 to 8)--Emilie Coulter