The Magic School Bus: Explores Human Evolution is the thirteenth and final book in the original book series. It was published in the United States on June 1, 2021 for the 35th anniversary of The Magic School Bus At the Waterworks. Since Joanna Cole passed away in 2020, this book was published posthumously the following year as the final Magic School Bus book of the 1986 series.
Descriptions[]
Jacket Interior[]
"When Arnold wishes he had more information for his family tree, Ms. Frizzle revs up the Magic School Bus and the class zooms back to prehistoric times. First stop: 3.5 billion years ago!
There aren't any people around to ask for directions. Luckily Ms. Frizzle has a plan, and the class is right there to watch simple cells become sponges and then fish and dinosaurs, then mammals and early primates and, eventually, modern humans. It's the longest class trip ever!
This is the story of a species, of our species, as only Ms. Frizzle can tell it. Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen tackle this essential topic with the insight and humor that have made The Magic School Bus the bestselling science series of all time."
Trivia[]
- This was the final book Joanna wrote before her passing in 2020. Three out of four episodes of the seventh season/third season of The Magic School Bus Rides Again were dedicated to her.
- Bruce still lived this book’s release before his 2024 death.
- The Bus drives in reverse for the first time in the book series.
- In the TV series, it drives in reverse in Pigs in the Wind.
- Ralphie mentions his brother on page 47. This, of course, refers to his stepbrother (from “Meet the Class”), as his brother is neither named nor shown on the Tennelli genetic family tree on page 8.
- This is the first time post-Rides Again with the book extras, in which Phoebe is a Walker student, Professor Frizzle teaches, and the TV class wears their ‘80s and ‘90s outfits.
- When the kids say goodbye in different languages on pages 44 and 45, languages that do not use the Latin script are Romanized for English speakers to read.
- This is the first MSB book with accented text. They are shown in Bo's Chinese speech bubbles (romanized into Pinyin), as well as on pages 44 and 45 with the international farewells.
- This is the first book in which students other than Arnold stay their normal sizes when the Bus shrinks with the Shrinkerscope. If one looks closely during the pages in which the kids evolve, it can be seen in different forms, except shrunken, even though the class mentions they haven’t seen the Bus for the entirety of their field trip on page 43.
- The students have transformed into the most species in this book.
- This is the second time the class transforms into other species in the book series. The previous is Inside a Beehive.
- This is the first classic book release during the Rides Again era.
- The Bus's overhead sign says TREE-MENDOUS.
- This is the first time that Jo and Bruce themselves are mentioned in Scholastic's official synopsis for a classic series book.
- John returns to the class after his absence in the previous book.
- His outfit has changed to further differentiate him from Carlos.
- Alex also returns in this book.
- This is the third classic book in which Carlos has on his 1994–2017 outfit. The previous two were And the Science Fair Expedition and And the Climate Challenge.
- This is the second classic series book to callback to the video game series and include "The Magic School Bus Explores ___" in its title. The first time was Explores the Senses.
- This is the second in the modern five not to include "and" in its title since Explores the Senses as well.
- The visitor this time is Wanda's cousin, Bo.
- The Scholastic logo does not appear on the cover of the first edition.
- This marks the first book to be teased in a previous book since The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses was teased in The Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip.
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