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| Joanna Cole | |
Joanna Cole, author of more than 250 books for children, including the Magic School Bus series, died on Sunday at age 75, her publisher, Scholastic, announced.
With illustrator Bruce Degen, she created the groundbreaking science series in 1986, bringing humor and kid-like curiosity to science and learning. The winner of many awards, the book series has 13 core titles and dozens of series tie-ins, with more than 93 million copies in print in 13 countries.
In 1994, Scholastic Entertainment introduced The Magic School Bus animated television series, based upon the characters created by Cole and Degen and starring Lily Tomlin as the voice of Ms. Frizzle. It is the longest running science series on TV, on the air for 18 consecutive years. The new The Magic School Bus: Rides Again series, starring Kate McKinnon as Ms. Frizzle's sister Fiona Frizzle, launched on Netflix in fall 2017, and the first of four The Magic School Bus specials will air in August. In addition, The Magic School Bus feature film is currently in development with Universal Pictures.
Among Cole's early books were Bony-Legs, The Clown Arounds, and Best Loved Folktales of the World. Her first book, published in 1971, was Cockroaches, inspired by an article in the Wall Street Journal. After doing some research, she discovered that there had never been a children's book written about cockroaches and saw an opportunity.
Cole explained her deep and abiding love for science this way: "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."
Dick Robinson, chairman, president and CEO of Scholastic, said, "Joanna Cole had the perfect touch for blending science and story. 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. Her Ms. Frizzle led a group of eager and curious students on countless adventurous trips on the Magic School Bus--into the human body, hurricanes, the solar system, and everywhere imaginable. Her spirited work will live on as the Magic School Bus continues to be discovered by new readers and viewers."
Illustrator Bruce Degen said, "I think for Joanna the excitement was always in the idea. What? Why? How? 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."
He recalled meeting her for the first time in 1984 in the office of Craig Walker, who asked them to work together. "We did not know each other. In the world of children's books it is not often necessary for illustrator and writer to actually meet, but there were conundrums with the Magic School Bus. Every page was so complicated we had to make decisions: how to make it work. Could it work? And we did. Together. And we became friends. What Joanna has meant to the world, what there is in the world because of her, is well known. What she meant to me I can't describe. Everyone who knew her, worked with her, loved her, knows what a loss it is."
Before her death, Cole and Degen completed The Magic School Bus Explores Human Evolution, scheduled for publication in spring 2021.