Author of 'Magic School Bus' Series Joanna Cole Dead at Age 75
Author Joanna Cole, whose “Magic School Bus” books transported millions of young people on extraordinary and educational adventures, has died at age 75.
Scholastic announced that Cole, a resident of Sioux City, Iowa, died Sunday. The cause was idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
“Joanna Cole had the perfect touch for blending science and story,” Scholastic Chairman and CEO Dick Robinson said in a statement Wednesday.
“Joanna’s books, packed with equal parts humor and information, made science both easy to understand and fun for the hundreds of millions of children around the world who read her books and watched the award-winning television series.”
The idea for “The Magic School Bus” came in the mid-1980s. Scholastic senior editorial director Craig Walker was receiving frequent requests from teachers for books about science and thought a combination of storytelling and science would catch on.
He brought in Cole, whose humorous work such as the children’s book “Cockroaches” he had admired, and illustrator Bruce Degen.
In Memory of Joanna Cole. via @scbwi: https://t.co/eAgMB7nOZv
We thank you for your wonderful contributions to children’s literature and entertainment. Joanna wrote over 250 books, most notably being The Magic School Bus series. She was 75 years old. pic.twitter.com/uCxWiJ3LPP
— Mackin Educational Resources (@MackinLibrary) July 15, 2020
With the ever maddening but inspired Ms. Frizzle leading her students on journeys that explored everything from the solar system to underwater depths, “Magic School Bus” books have sold tens of millions of copies and were the basis for a popular animated TV series and a Netflix series.
Plans for a live-action movie, with Elizabeth Banks as Ms. Frizzle, were announced last month.
Ms. Frizzle was based in part on a fifth-grade teacher of Cole’s.
“Magic School Bus” author Joanna Cole has died at age 75. Launched in the mid-1980s, the educational book series transported millions of young people on extraordinary adventures led by Ms. Fizzle, based on a fifth-grade teacher of Cole’s.https://t.co/A6HXInD5Ud
— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) July 15, 2020
“I think for Joanna the excitement was always in the idea. What? Why? How?” Degen said in a statement.
“And with ‘The Magic School Bus’ it was how to explain it so that it is accurate and in a form that a kid can understand and use.”
“And you can actually joke around while you are learning. She had a rare sense of what could be humorous.”
A lifelong fan of science, Cole was a native of Newark, New Jersey, and a graduate of the City College of New York who worked as a children’s librarian and magazine editor before “The Magic School Bus.”
She is survived by her husband Phil; daughter Rachel Cole and her husband, John Helms; grandchildren Annabelle and William; and her sister Virginia McBride.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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