Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Medieval Castle (Magic School Bus Series)

From School Library Journal
Grade 2-5-One Saturday morning, Ms. Frizzle runs into one of her students, Arnold, at Craig's Castle Shop. They find themselves traveling back to medieval times, checking out life in a castle. The story mixes adventure with humor, fact with fiction. Cartoon illustrations, as usual, are awash with action and scenery. The busy layout includes large-type narration in white rectangles, pale yellow dialogue bubbles, and fact boxes. Kids will appreciate the funny asides, particularly Arnold's thoughts on his teacher-"Not my teacher! It's Saturday!" Although most of the facts can be found elsewhere, the presentation will be a draw for the many Frizzle devotees. Although the book has a larger format than the "Magic School Bus" series (Scholastic), it will attract the same audience. Even the endpapers have a spiffy spin on heraldry, with coats of arms depicting the teacher, her student, and their friends. Bus or no bus, there's no denying the Frizzle magic.Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WICopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Gr. 2-5. As in the Ancient Egypt (2001), this amusing, informative, large-format entry in the Ms. Frizzle's Adventures series follows Ms. Frizzle on a time-travel trip into history. She and her student Arnold find themselves in a twelfth-century English castle with barely time for a tour before an invading army attacks. There's plenty of action and comic byplay, but along the way children will learn a good deal about the purpose of castles, their structure, their history, and the social roles of those who lived in and around them. The pictures are brightly colored and the graphic design is reminiscent of comic books, with small panels and speech balloons in addition to narrative text and larger illustrations. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
With her reluctant student, Arnold, the Friz slips through a mysterious trap door -- and ends up in the Middle Ages! There, they explore a medieval castle, meeting the people who live there and learning about everyday life within the castle walls. When the castle is threatened by invaders, Arnold and the Friz don chain mail to lead the defense. They repel the invaders just in the nick of time, then they joust and feast before returning to the 21st century. With their careful research and trademark wit, Cole and Degen introduce the many facets of medieval life.



Card catalog description
When Ms. Frizzle and her student Arnold follow an underground passage beneath Craig's Castle Shop and find themselves in the middle of a siege of a 12th century English castle, they learn a great deal about both castles and the Middle Ages.


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Not content with her rollicking science adventures in the Magic School Bus, Ms. Frizzle continues her explorations of history begun in Ancient Egypt. One Saturday she spots her student Arnold going to Craig's Castle Shop, and leads him, the shop owner, and a costume designer into the distant, medieval past. Borders of the bright, word-ballooned pictures fill in the narrative with definitions and descriptions, while knights lay siege, ladies run the castle, and Arnold (camouflaged as a rose bush) gets to smuggle a letter out to Lord Robert. Besides the usual high and low humor and action-packed information, an end page of notes, "Don't believe everything you read!" fills kids in on what's made up and what needs a little more detail. There cannot be too many castle books, and her many fans will be pleased to see Ms. Frizzle explore new, and old worlds. Next stop: Ancient China. (Picture book/nonfiction. 8-12)


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