THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS AND THE CLIMATE CHALLENGE

Flamboyant as ever, the indefatigable Ms. Frizzle shepherds her young charges on a globe-spanning tour that starts in the melting Arctic, ends back in a greener classroom and in between lays out the process and hazards of the greenhouse effect before going into eco-friendly, energy-saving technological and lifestyle changes. As usual, Degen festoons his busy pictures with the Friz’s students taking it all in—here donning “microscope goggles” to check out CO2 molecules, riding sunbeams down to Earth, flying over leaky homes and factories, and making comments (“By the time we grow up...” / “... it may be called Glacier-LESS National Park,” exclaim two students, while gesturing to an icy 1932 image juxtaposed against a barren one from today). Flutters of one- or two-sentence handwritten sidebars in the form of the students’ written reports provide further information. It’s a tested formula that’s still as effective as ever for cluing in younger readers with a mix of instruction and droll side remarks. The bus isn’t even close to running out of gas yet—particularly as it’s now a hybrid. (Informational picture book. 6-9)