Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Imperial China Book

Is it magic? Ms. Frizzle, Wanda, and Arnold simply duck under the dragon at the local Chinese New Year's parade, and they are mysteriously whisked back in time to ancient China! They arrive in a village where the farmers are in trouble. The Friz and friends vow to go to the capital to get the emperor's help. As they journey, they learn how silk is made, travel on the Grand Canal, and see the Great Wall under construction, but will they fulfill their mission to help the farmers?Cole and Degen relay a bounty of facts with charm and humor as they bring the majesty of imperial China to life.

Kathleen Karr - Children's Literature

It was inevitable: Ms. Frizzle had to be promoted from her school bus eventually. The transit from science to social studies is made in Cole and Degen's inimitable style, and along the way they have expanded to a larger, graphic novel-inspired format. But never fear, Ms. Frizzle's bottomless bag—not to mention her favorite pupil and comic foil, Arnold—are along for the trip. As for embarking on this Imperial China adventure, what could be easier than ducking under a Chinese New Year's dragon and emerging in a genuine Chinese rice-farming village 1,000 years earlier? The tax collectors harassing these good folks give Ms. Frizzle and company an excuse to visit the emperor—via a Yangtze River barge, a silk factory, and warfare on the Great Wall. Along the way, of course, there are many opportunities for bottom-of-the-page bars explaining everything you always wanted to know about Chinese history, inventions, and customs. The journey is fun, but seems over almost before it is begun. Aficionados will just have to move on to Ms. Frizzle's other adventures in Ancient Egypt and in a Medieval Castle. 2005, Scholastic Press, Ages 5 to 10.