In the Time of the Dinosaurs (The Magic School Bus, #6) by Joanna Cole

In the Time of the Dinosaurs (The Magic School Bus, #6) Reviews

• 
  Casey Lindstrom

  This was a very educational book with some imagination all about dinosaurs. The children hopped aboard their time machine school bus after trying to help some paleontologists and went back to the different periods of the dinosaur era. They saw many types of dinosaurs and experienced different periods.
  
  The book was very accurate and had a ton of information on each page. From the average words to the notes and picture the students drew on the sides of each page. The information was not as organized as I had hoped. It was kind of all over with speech bubbles and works on the sides of each page. Although it was all over the pictures and information would certainly be appealing to children. Joanna Cole presents her writing style in a clear way and the imagination needed for reading her book would present enthusiasm for any reader.
  
  My overall reaction to the book was that it was very informational and through reading the book students would learn about dinosaurs and what period they lived in. What struck me most was the ton of information placed in one book. I relate the imagination of this book to my life through allowing myself to be creative and get into the story. I would use this book in my classroom during a prehistoric unit and have my students do a creative writing or picture of what they would hope to see if they could go back to this time period.
• 
  Sophie Crane

  First of all, on educational television: sometimes you can learn something from America. School television is synonymous with retro educational television with bright yellow neon writings and people in front of a blackboard. In America, in the 1990s, a TV series about the “Magic School Bus” was developed. A teacher has a very special school bus, with which the children (about 3rd grade) go on school trips, which usually develop rather “unusual”. With a mixture of fantasy and science fiction, the children literally immerse themselves in the respective matter of the episode and learn many new things. In the end, there is still a kind of critical self-reflection with the medium itself, when pupils call the producer of the show and talk about the scientificity of the presentation. Big cinema.
  Overall, roughly comparable to the great “Once upon a time life..” Books
  From TV to book is often an arduous way, usually more difficult than the other, since the possibilities in this direction seem more limited .
  
  However, the book series succeeds surprisingly well, thanks to a wild mixture of comic, technical book, notebook and a partly quite interesting variation on the subject of science comic. In the cinema, one would say that the “fourth wall” is repeatedly broken.
  This encourages readers to discuss and reflect and give the issue more interaction than one can expect.
  
  In the Time of Dinosaurs
  A journey through the different ages of dinosaurs, virtually live. Playful and with lots of details about the three epochs of the dinosaurs, always with a nice reference to the present age (that is, a connection between what we can now find in the earth and what really could have been at that time).
  
  The language
  Clear, it's English. But no scientific English. Scattered technical terms appear. But my children can understand everything well after 2 years of living in Tanzania, where English is also not the national language.
  
  Conclusion
  A kind of insider tip! Ideal for children who grow up bilingual. Or to complement English in primary school. Recommended age: about 6 - 10 years.
• 
  Amanda Lynch

  I think this is my favorite MSB book, mostly because dinosaurs are awesome, we learn Ms. Frizzle's real name is Valerie, and we have the underlying story arc of what's going on between her and the dashing archeologist. But maybe I am just misinterpreting things. After all, I do have a Young and the Restless type backstory for Sofia the First.
• 
  Aneesa

  6yo made a sculpture of a trooden, the "danger" to maiasaura, aka the "good mother lizard."
• 
  Brittni Carraway

  This is the 6th book in the Magic School Bus series. On this magically adventure, Ms. Frizzle takes her students to a known dinosaur bone site. When she discovers that some of the Maiasaur bones were missing, she turns the magic school bus into a time machine. They go back to the age of the dinosaurs to learn more about dinosaurs like their habitats, their diets, and even the different species.
  
  This book is a nonfiction text because it includes factual information to educate its readers using fictional characters. These kinds of text are typically used to get its younger readers attention in the form of a picturebook. Once you have your readers attention, your able to keep them entertained while also informing them with useful information. In this case, educating its readers on the history of dinosaurs.
• 
  Andy Zach

  This time Joanna Cole through her stalwart teacher Ms. Frizzle has the Magic School Bus travel backward in time to the Triassic period, during a class field trip to a dinosaur dig.
  
  Naturally, things go wrong. They go back further they planned and hop around in time, visiting the Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods and then seeing the approaching meteor, return home. Sadly, one child lost her plastic dinosaur in the past. But don't worry, for a paleontologist finds it in a nest of dinosaur eggs.
  
  This would have been my favorite book as a child, for I was crazy for dinosaurs from 5-10.
• 
  Kim

  SO GOOD! these books are gold!!! my 4 1/2 year old learns so much from them!
• 
  Alex

  I enjoyed this book because I like Magic School Bus books. I also enjoyed this book because I like eggs, dinosaur eggs I mean.
• 
  Stacy Renee (LazyDayLit)

  A fascinating journey through the time of the dinosaurs with Ms. Frizzle and her science class students!
• 
  Kamillah

  Luckily for Ms. Frizzle's class, it turns out she has other connections to the scientific community besides her magic school bus. In this book, the topic of the day in Ms. Frizzle's class is dinosaurs, and she just so happens to have a former student who works as an archaeologist on a real dinosaur dig. The class sets out for a real-life lesson in archaeology on their trusty school bus and learns the archaeologists are searching for evidence of an ancient maiasura nesting ground. When their bus turns into a time machine, they accidentally overshoot the proper dinosaur era and end up taking a journey through time to find their way to the real maiasura nesting ground and back to the present day to help the archaeologists to success.
  
  This is a great book for children interested in dinosaurs--it goes beyond the different species of dinosaurs and examines the different eras in which they lived, how they lived, the climate, and their habitats. The illustrations are tremendously detailed with each dinosaur clearly labeled. I especially liked that the children had an active role in trying to "discover" fossils. However, while this book packs in a significant amount of information, the delivery of the information can be overwhelming. More than other books I've read in the series, this volume reads more like a graphic novel with information and plot points delivered through speech bubbles and notes disguised as students' homework packed into the margins. With multiple readings, these additions provide more to discover, but it can make the plot difficult to follow at times. Still, this is another excellent book in The Magic School Bus series, especially for a child (or adult) in a dinosaur phase.
• 
  Leslie Bardo

  The Magic School Bus is a series of picture books (and now short chapter books) that have been around for at least a decade, encouraging young children to explore more about scientific topics. In this particular picture book, their teacher, Ms. Frizzle, decides to teach the topic of dinosaurs. Ms. Frizzle has a magic school bus that transports her classroom of children into different settings and time periods to learn. It really is such a unique way to encourage and enlighten children about science topics. The illustrations are drawn specifically for children, entertaining them while they also learn. It is illustrated, similar to how a comic strip would be illustrated with speech bubbles, cartoonish drawings, and blurbs with random facts. This classroom is filled with lovable characters, such as Ms. Frizzle (the teacher) and each student has his/ her own personality that makes it easy for every kind of child to relate. In this installment, the book covers: dinosaur names, dinosaur fossils, the timeline of dinosaurs, how a fossil dig works, characteristics of dinosaurs, and random facts about dinosaurs. The book is filled with tons of interesting facts and figures about dinosaurs that catch the reader's attention. I will definitely be purchasing this book for my future classroom because it holds valuable information in a fun and interesting way. This book would be perfect for 1st through 4th grade. It seems like this book could really be ageless, as long as the children were old enough to understand some of the words. This is all why I am giving this book a 5 out of 5 stars!
• 
  Dolly

  Yet another
  Magic School Bus title to add to our inventory... this one is about dinosaurs and it was a very well-written tale about the age of the dinosaurs, with lots of facts about where and when they lived, how they didn't interact with humans, which ones were more prevalent at which time and how they likely died out.
  
  I also learned that there were ancient reptiles that I grew up calling dinosaurs (like Pteranodons) that aren't truly dinosaurs. Finally I learned that the dinosaur that I grew up calling Brontosaurus is now called the Apatosaurus (I'd heard recently that there was some mistake in identification so they now called it a different name). And that's just some of the stuff I learned. There was a lot of information given in the pages of this book, so I'm not sure how much our girls absorbed, but it was all very interesting and I'm sure they will continue learning more about this subject as they progress through school. This is a great way to introduce them to the science and the discoveries of prehistoric times.
  
  6 Oct 2011 update: We recently read
  Dinosaur Detectives and also received this book as a gift at the National Book Festival at the National Mall in Washington DC. I didn't realize how closely the plots matched in the two books until now.
• 
  Eva-Marie

  3.5 - Fans of the Magic School Bus will like this book and this edition is an added bonus for dinosaurs lovers. The book is very, very busy. There are tons of add-ons on each page. Besides the main storyline we have some conversation between teacher and students, we have some "schoolwork" with added facts, Q&A's, etc., you have a number of books with titles that can be read aloud, names of dinos, etc.
  Any dinosaur fanatic, even young ones, will probably know most of the facts. Julia is 5 years old but has been interested in dinosaurs, any and everything about them, for over 2 years now so she was pretty much not astounded by the facts themselves. A kid not knowing them though would certainly be interested I would think.
  Julia still liked the book. She's very interested, and has been for quite a while in fossils, digs, and paleontologists. These are a major factor in the story so that played the whole thing up to her.
  It's definitely a fun book. I can see how it could be tedious for any parent that's been reading the Magic School Bus books for awhile but this was our first one so thankfully I experienced none of that.
  
  **1/27/11** - We just read this again a few days ago and it was found at the library. Julia enjoyed it just as much. Nevermind the fact that there is no information included here that she doesn't know, she loves anything that has to do with dinosaurs.
  If you have a kid as into dinos as mine this is a winner. It'll only help more if they're a fan of the Magic School Bus but I think it would work either way honestly.
• 
  Alex

  This popped up on my e-book app as a suggestion (it knows me so well....) and I couldn't resist getting it. I LOVED these books as a kid, but haven't read one in at least 25 years. (I keep hoping I can get my niece and nephew into them, so I have an "excuse" to read along with them.)
  
  This one is a more updated version than what I would have read, simply because science behind some of these dinosaurs has changed. I don't remember what the original book would have said that contradicted this new one, but judging from some old reviews it had a lot to do with new species and things.
  
  This was just SO fun to read after all these years. Mrs. Frizzle is somehow even cooler viewing her from an adult's eyes, and I LOVED the little Easter eggs hidden on every single page. I strongly suspect I'll be picking up a few more of these soon.
• 
  Natalie

  This book is perfect for children, especially those who have a love for dinosaurs. Parents, if you want your children to learn more about science and the world around them, I recommend this book. And all of the other Magic School Bus books.
  
  I read it as part of a reading for the children at my old elementary school. It was fun to go back to books that I have since forgotten. Also, to learn these facts all over again.
• 
  Sean Harding

  Book six of The Magic School Bus and this one takes on a perennial favourite of kids, the dinosaurs.
  It gives interesting information as well as the normal entertainment that comes with the magic school bus.
• 
  Judy

  I can understand the appeal of the series. It seems like too much info for so few pages, but even if kids just pick up on a few facts, that's good.
  
  This is the original edition. I'd like to compare it with the new, updated version.
• 
  Jessica

  An entertaining read and very educational.
  
  Has a lot of facts about dinosaurs.
  
  Fun to read.
• 
  SaraKat

  Another great one. The little jokes here and there made me laugh and the science is great. Educational and funny together is always a win for me!
• 
  Ke

  I wouldn't recommend listening to this as an audiobook because it was hard to follow the dinosaur timelines and hard to imagine how the dinosaurs looked like.
• 
  Rachel

  Perfect research for my Ms. Frizzle Halloween costume!
• 
  Rebecca Brown

  I used to love these books when I was younger, and I haven’t read one in a long time. It’s nice to know they still hold up!
• 
  Melissa Namba

  Pretty informative, but very dense for young kids. It felt like the format was a little different than normal, because the little asides are fewer by count. A pronunciation guide might be nice too.
• 
  Lily Frey

  I have always loved “The Magic School Bus” series growing up. Ms. Frizzle takes her students through multiple different time periods to learn about dinosaurs. She turns the school bus into a time machine and has some trouble getting to the right era to research the Maiasaura. The trouble they had actually benefited the students because they were able to learn about so many different dinosaurs. I loved this book and think it would be a great way to let children learn about dinosaurs in a fun way!