Ms. Frizzle’s students are putting on a play about global warming, and they need some cold, hard facts. The Friz knows just where to find them! A hop on the Magic School Bus takes the kids on a whirlwind tour. From the Arctic to the equator, they see telltale signs of climate change. But to get the really big picture, the class has to get really small – so they can see exactly what is in the air and why it is making the world warmer. What they find gives them a real cause for concern!

This is the premise behind,, the latest book in the Magic School Bus series.  Now, there are two things you need to know before you read this review:

1. I LOVE Magic School Bus books. And so do my kids.  I swear I have learned more about butterflies, germs, evaporation, and dinosaurs from the Magic School Bus series than I ever learned in elementary school.
2. I received my review copy of the Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge for free.  (With my aforementioned love of the book series, and obvious interest in the climate challenge topic, is it any wonder that I jumped at the chance to review this particular book?)

With all that said, I just gotta tell you that I HIGHLY recommend The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge

.  As I’ve come to expect from Magic School Bus books, it gives some solid background in a quirky format on what might otherwise be considered a “too-complicated-for-kids” subject matter.

I have to admit, I was a little concerned that the book was going straight over my daughters’ (ages 4 and 7) heads.  Ms. Friz started talking about carbon molecules and greenhouse gases and I thought for sure I had lost them.

But when we finished reading, I asked my girls what they thought.  Here’s how it went:

7-year-old: I LOVED IT!!

4-year-old: ME TOO!! ME TOO!!

Me: What did you love about it?

7 and 4 year olds talking over each other: Arnold is so funny!  That Ms Frizzle is crazy!  I wish we had a Magic School Bus at my school!

Me

: So, what was this book about?

7-year-old: The Earth is getting hotter because of the things people are doing.

Me: That’s right!  So what can we do about it?

7-year-old: Recycle, don’t drive our cars so much, turn off lights

4-year-old

: We need to keep the frigerator closed so we can save our planet.

Me

: Wow.

Check out the book, and If you’re trying to teach your kids about going green, you’ll definitely want to add this book to your collection.  Oh, and don’t miss the on April 20th (actually the webinar will be hosted by Joanna Coleand Bruce Degan, the author and illustrator of the book.)

Want to win of The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge?  Check it out:

1 Grand Prize winner will receive:

• Kids Organic “Go Green” Scholastic T-shirt
• Copy of The Magic School Bus and The Climate Challenge

AND 2 additional winners will receive a copy of the book!

How do you win?  You can either blog, tweet, facebook, or digg this contest (don’t forget to include a link back here) and leave me a comment below to let me know.  You can also here, join , or follow me on .  Again, leave a comment to let me know what you did.  Leave a separate comment each time for more entries!

Contest starts today and ends Friday, April 16th and 5pm EST.

Grist is giving away some free goodies to those willing to go green more than one day this year.  By signing up for their daily and weekly news updates you will get a free download of their popular, award-winning book Wake Up and Smell the Planet: The Non-Pompous, Non-Preachy Grist Guide to Greening Your Day; and be registered to win a free trip for two (including round-trip airfare, full festival passes and carbon offsets) to Bonnaroo, the popular music and arts festival that has a long-standing commitment to sustainability. 

To download a free copy of Wake Up and Smell the Planet and enter the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival sweepstakes, register at  or .