Born:
August  11, 1944
Newark, New Jersey,

Current Home:
 Connecticut,

Joanna Cole

Biography

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I discovered in the fifth grade that I enjoyed explaining things and writing reports for school. I had a teacher who was a little like Ms. Frizzle. She loved her subject. Every week she had a child do an experiment in front of the room, and I always wanted to be that child. Grade school was very important to me — maybe that's why I ended up writing books for children as an adult.

After graduating from college, I worked as an elementary-school teacher, a librarian, a children's book editor, and a writer. My first book was Cockroaches. An article in the Wall Street Journal inspired me to do some research. I discovered that there had never been a children's book written about cockroaches before. So I thought, why not? Plus, I had ample time to study that creature in my low-budget New York apartment!

Since then I have written both nonfiction and fiction books for children. In my science books, including The Magic School Bus books, I write about ideas, rather than just the facts. I try to ask a question, such as how do scientists guess what dinosaurs were like? Then I try to answer the question as I write the book.

Writing is hard work, but it's the greatest fun in the world.

Learn more about the best-selling Magic School Bus series.

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  The Scholastic Store

  The Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen Scholastic Summer Challenge Book Pick. When the Magic School Bus is swallowed by a bewildered Arnold, Ms. Frizzle takes the class on a tour of his stomach, intestines, and bloodstream. Kirkus All, even those who freeze at the mere mention of 'science,' will be eager to learn about the human body as it is presented here. $5.99 books;paperback books;paperbacks | Ages 6-9

  
  The Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body
  Ages 6-9 $5.99
  
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  The Teacher Store

  The Magic School Bus® on the Ocean Floor by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen Field trips have a whole new meaning since the indomitable Ms. Frizzle entered the world! Her students gets a "bird's eye" view of the inside of bodies, hurricanes, and water works—things and places they couldn't dream of are revealed from the inside out in these stories that are jammed full of science and fun. Ms. Frizzle's class embarks on a marvelous undersea adventure, where they see the formation of an island coral reef, witness life in a tidal pool, and more. Inviting and wond $6.99 Paperback Book | Grades 3-5

  
  The Magic School Bus® on the Ocean Floor
  Grades 3-5 $6.99