{"id":29,"date":"2026-01-15T21:30:29","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T21:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanjac.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2026-volume-7-issue-1\/magic-book-bus-expands-reading-culture\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T14:35:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T14:35:56","slug":"magic-book-bus-expands-reading-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanjac.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2026-volume-7-issue-1\/magic-book-bus-expands-reading-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Magic Book\u00a0Bus\u2019\u00a0expands\u00a0reading\u00a0culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Climb on the Magic Book Bus!<\/span><\/p>\n

San Jacinto College North Campus English professors Dr. Courtnee Fenner and Nikkol Baker took a cue from the popular 90s-era book and TV series to create an out-of-this-world literary experience for their students.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the \u201cMagic School Bus,\u201d Ms. Frizzle and her students take field trips across time and space to dive into science. In Fenner and Baker\u2019s reimagining, 32 San Jac students from English 1301 classes boarded their own \u201cmagic\u201d charter bus Oct. 15 for a day-long adventure to literary and cultural spaces throughout Houston. The trip was funded through a San Jacinto College Foundation Student Success Initiative grant.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Professors

Magic Book Bus literary adventure<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Students explored the Institute of Hispanic Culture, Brazos Bookstore, and Contemporary Art Museum. Along the way, they collected books to start their own home libraries.<\/span><\/p>\n

What does it take to turn non-readers into bookworms? With declining literacy rates across Texas and the U.S., Fenner and Baker decided to take students beyond northeast Houston, which has few bookstores or literary institutions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGetting exposed to the reading culture of San Jac and Houston can be the first step in establishing new literary and intellectual practices for students,\u201d Fenner said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond the field trip, the project included semester-long activities \u2014 with students touring the North Campus library, <\/span>learning about San Jac\u2019s literary magazine \u201cAccents,\u201d participating in \u201cPower of the Pen\u201d writing events, and signing up for a public library card.<\/span><\/p>\n

By Courtney Morris<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Climb on the Magic Book Bus! San Jacinto College North Campus English professors Dr. Courtnee Fenner and Nikkol Baker took a cue from the popular 90s-era book and TV series to create an out-of-this-world literary experience for their students. In the \u201cMagic School Bus,\u201d Ms. Frizzle and her students take field trips across time and… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":62,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"article_type":[],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-and-literature","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Magic Book\u00a0Bus\u2019\u00a0expands\u00a0reading\u00a0culture - Spring 2026, Volume 7 \u2013 Issue 1<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sanjac.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2026-volume-7-issue-1\/magic-book-bus-expands-reading-culture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Magic Book\u00a0Bus\u2019\u00a0expands\u00a0reading\u00a0culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Climb on the Magic Book Bus! San Jacinto College North Campus English professors Dr. Courtnee Fenner and Nikkol Baker took a cue from the popular 90s-era book and TV series to create an out-of-this-world literary experience for their students. 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