The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 37

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1999 C9 THK OTTAWA CITIZEN A J- LIFE ft frida Magic School Bus makes a stop in Ottawa TO hi 1 P- y-- About 10 million copies of The Magic School Bus books have been sold around the world. By Laura Robin It's an understatement to say that Joanna Cole, author of the award-winning Magic School Bus books, which have sold 10 million copies, gets a lot of invitations. "And I always say she says. "One year I started saying and, as a result, I was always travelling and I didn't have a chance to write at all." tan 1 She had always been interested in science, however. "I had a teacher who had a classroom very much like Ms.

Frizzle's (the eccentric teacher in the Magic School Bus series). She didn't look like Ms. Frizzle she looked very conservative, very 1950s but she had a library of trade science books. She had us check out one book a week. She never asked if we read them.

I thought that reading science books for pleasure was an ordinary thing." So Ms. Cole decided to write a book for children about insects. "But you don't see a lot of butterflies or ladybugs in New York City, so I wrote about cockroaches." Cockroaches and about 90 other children's books later, Ms. Cole says her career "has been like a dream come true." "I never had a big plan. All I wanted was to get my first book published.

I didn't realize that once you had one book published, they want you to do more." She and illustrator Bruce Degan have taken more than a year to do each of the 10 books in the Magic School Bus series, from Inside the Human Body to Lost in the Solar System. Ms. Cole says she starts by reading mountains of books on the subject, and she and Mr. Degan end up working with an expert consultant in each field. "It's wonderful to take the time.

The most frustrating thing is that everything I learn doesn't make it into the book. My aim, though, is to deal with ideas rather than just facts. All the ideas and the story are interrelated; it's not just wacky gee-whiz facts." Does she have a favourite Magic School Bus book? "I do like Inside the Earth. In it, Arnold brings a piece of Styrofoam covered in dirt to school as a rock. That actually happened to my daughter.

"We were living in New York City and Rachel was supposed to find a rock to take to school. She found any number of disgusting things, none of which was a rock. When she finally came running over with this piece of Styrofoam covered in dirt, and she thought it was a rock, I didn't have the heart to tell her." Rachel is now 22 and getting married in two weeks. Ms. Cole is planning more books about Ms.

Frizzle, but they'll take a new direction. .1 1 5oe- Author Joanna Cole will be giving free presentations at the Ottawa Public Library tomorrow. 200Xceoe 1 1 1 fJV hi! Brian Wraiiu surrou industrial WOrU But when Patti Giffin, wife of the U.S. ambassador to Canada, called Ms. Cole a few months back and asked her take part in the Writers-fest, the Ottawa International Writers Festival that starts today, Ms.

Cole was somewhat surprised to hear herself saying yes. "I suppose I should say something wonderful about Ottawa and always wanting to see it," Ms. Cole confided in a telephone interview from her home in rural Connecticut. "But, really, my husband was so excited about staying in the ambassador's residence: 'What's it like? I bet it's real As honorary patron, Mrs. Giffin is able to lend stature and financial support to the eight-day festival.

But, in what's become typical for the outgoing U.S. Southerner, Mrs. Giffin has extended a much more personal note. "I decided that we needed to add a children's component," she says. "The first two authors I thought of were Joanna Cole and Mark Brown (author of the Arthur series of books).

I used to read The Magic School Bus, At the Waterworks to my daughter." Mrs. Giffin immediately got on the phone herself to invite these American authors, not just to read in Ottawa, but to stay with her for the weekend. Both wanted to come, but Mr. Brown declined when he realized that the weekend is also Rosh Hashanah. Ms.

Cole, like Mrs. Giffin, was looking forward to hearing one of her favourite authors, E. Annie Proulx, read tonight. "I've read all her books, her short stories and everything," said Ms. Cole.

Tomorrow, in addition to Ms. Cole's presentations as part of the festival, Mrs. Giffin has planned just the kind of day any great hostess might plan for out-of-town guests. "We're going to tour the art gallery on Saturday, and then Saturday night, I think I'll take them to Les Fougeres for dinner," she said. Ms.

Cole, 55, says that while she has visited a friend in Toronto, and a cottage on P.E.I., she's never visited the Canadian capital before. "I'm excited. It's certainly the first time I've been invited to stay with an ambassador." Ms. Cole started her career at 21 as an elementary school teacher and lasted exactly one year. "It's the hardest job in the world! I said can't do this; I've got to find something Next, she got a job at Newsweek in New York City, writing replies to letters to the editor that weren't going to be published.

"It was tremendous fun," she says. "We wrote on old manual typewriters. Things like 'We're sorry that you didn't like our article on CUAUres to achieve profits CUttinS At Rn maerials true cnfime: 'Z Tikbk- BRONO SCHLUMBERGER, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN Patti Giffin, wife of the U.S. ambassador, personally invited Joanna Cole to come to Ottawa. wiee 57a2 Callahan CE O.

and President of Barrymore Furniture Friday 10 am to 9 pin; Sat 9 am to 6 pin; unuuy noun 10 pm Our inters no rners. hmd-crafted excellence. ii I and kn, ma making almlitv uiul our inhc 1 toZgLT! of ian W. Callahan, "We're starting to do social studies books Ms. Frizzle goes on vacation.

The first will be Ms. Frizzle's adventures in ancient Egypt. I went to Egypt about two years ago and, while I didn't have all the adventures that Ms. Frizzle will have, since then, I've been daydreaming about Egypt." Ms. Cole will do two presentations tomorrow, one at 10 a.m.

and one at noon, at the main branch of the Ottawa Public Library, but don't expect dry readings. "I've never really read a Magic School Bus book. It's the poor parents who have to read them over and over. I'll give a slide presentation about how I write the books and how Bruce (Degen) does the illustrations." Admission is free, but Mrs. Giffin is asking that children bring a used book or canned food donation.

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