Fans of Ms. Frizzle and her way-out field trips are in for another bumpy but adventuresome ride. What starts out as a supposed visit to a dinosaur dig to unearth Maiasaurus nests turns into a hair-raising time-travel journey through the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods. Every page is brimming with the latest dino facts and theories, plus plenty of wisecracking dialogue from Ms. Frizzle's band of students. Watercolor, pen, and gouache paintings by Degan are requisite, and he delivers his usual entertaining, energetic illustrations. Cole and Degan are a can't-miss team when it comes to making science a good time, no matter what the subject. With the Magic School Bus TV show scheduled for this fall, expect even more Frizzle fanatics. (Reviewed August 1994)

This time the familiar bus becomes a time machine, taking the class back to the Late Triassic period, then moving forward through the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods to the present for a firsthand view of developments in dinosaur history--with particular emphasis on the 'Maiasaura', some of the very last dinosaurs on earth, who are thought to have cared for their young.

Gr 1-3-Preparations for Visitors Day in Room 101 come to a sudden halt when Ms. Frizzle receives an invitation to a dinosaur dig. With a twist of a dial, the Magic School Bus becomes a time machine hurtling through prehistory, stopping at various points in the Mesozoic Era so the class can observe flora and fauna, shoot a video, make smart remarks, and generate the usual blizzard of written reports. Readers may be confused to read on one page that reptiles are cold-blooded and that dinosaurs were a kind of a reptile, and on the next that some may have been warm-blooded; otherwise, Cole mixes up-to-date facts and general statements with virtuoso skill, stirring in plenty of jokes, small subplots, and flights of fancy. One gruesome scene aside, Degen's full-color illustrations enhance both the humor and the information, featuring maps, charts, actual-size drawings of fossil teeth, plenty of dinos in action, and Ms. Frizzle's famous, ever-startling wardrobe. Climb aboard-there's never a dull moment with ``the Friz'' at the wheel!-John Peters, New York Public Library