Magic School Bus A Science Fact Finder: Bats

I was surprised to locate a non-fiction series of Magic School Bus Chapter books. I knew they had used the characters from the original picture books to bridge to a chapter book series, but I was not aware they made a brief attempt at a non-fiction series similar to the Magic Tree House series. In fact when I picked up Magic School Bus Fact Finder Bats I thought it part of the Magic Treehouse Fact Finder series. It was only as I got it home and examined it more closely I realized it was a series I hadn't encountered before.

It is part of a 4 book series, sadly all out of print. Your library may have some of them to borrow. If you wish to purchase, with some searching of online book sites and at library sales you may come across them. I found the first of the series at a library sale.

The rest of the series consists of:

Skeletons (The Magic School Bus, A Science Fact Finder)

Space and the Planets (The Magic School Bus, Fact Finder)

Whales: The Magic School Bus Fact Finder

This series is kind of a bridge series between the Magic School Bus and Tree House and I wish they'd written more. The font is a little larger, the length of the book shorter. The language is structured more for readers who are interested in non-fiction, but needing information spread out into chunks that are more easily digested. There are lots of pictures and informational charts with highlighted information the author wants the reader to walk away from the book understanding. Words are clearly defined and the author does a great job of trying to break down a complicated subject into understandable language in a fairly short format. I hope to find the rest of this series as I think it would be interesting to see if the rest of the series is equally as informative.

It can be hard to find good non-fiction for kids that is also engaging. This book I believe accomplishes that goal.