The Magic School Bus Explores Human Evolution (The Magic School Bus #13), by Joanna Cole with Bruce Degen (Illustrator)

This was the last book in the series written by Cole in 2019 before she passed away in 2020. I really liked the animated TV show as a kid and I do think I read a couple of the books back then. These books were great because they are were informative. As someone who likes to read nonfiction now, no wonder I loved how this fictional series delivered science. Ms Frizzle and the kids was fantastic. I wish there were kinds of books like this.

September 1, 2025.

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo, Anna-Marie Nabirye (Narrator)

Audiobook for about 15%. I got this novel from a Little Free Library in Sydney a couple years ago. I had been putting off reading due to some of the content warnings. A friend started it so we did it as a Buddy Read.

Overall, mixed feelings, but there was a lot of good writing. As I knew the content warnings, I was pleasantly surprised with how it was darkly funny at the beginning. The narrator did a great job with that. I felt for most of the characters. Evaristo had this serious and sometimes deadpan tone about them. The writing was very observant and most of the characters were interesting and even likable.

After the sixth character and their hundredth experiences of misogyny, abuse or aggression, it dragged. It was a tad repetitive. This was a feminist book and while the men are not the only abusive or hypocritical characters in the book, it became very wearisome. It did not need that many characters or that much trauma. The ending was really strong though and I wish there had been more emotional focus on the relationships between each character. It was written well though.

1.5x. Sept 1-6, 2025.