Compares Strauss to Wagner and Mahler and includes a test-your-ear version of the game ``Concentration.'' Also available for Mozart, Beethoven, Stravinsky, and Schubert. Play them straight through or examine segment-by-segment commentary. This excellent blend of sound and text examines three tone poems by Richard Strauss (``Don Juan,'' ``Death and Transfiguration,'' and ``Till Eulenspeigel''). The graphics won't captivate the spaceship zappers but it might inspire the next Mozart. Most interesting is the breakdown of songs, where each section is described and outlined. It melds music ``matching'' games with looks at history and various instruments. $34.Īny child interested in exploring music interactively, be it jazz, classical, or rock and roll, should consider this CD-ROM. Children who work through the clues with Henry and Frank may not get to Honolulu, but they'll move to the head of their math class. Henry and his dog, Frank, have to solve eight math clues to win a jelly-bean-guessing contest and a trip to Hawa**. If you want to interest a child in math, buy this CD-ROM. Note to parents: Beware of the ``40 Performing Bananas.'' Its tune is so simple and silly you won't be able to shake it. Definitions are sometimes written, sometimes illustrated and animated. Click on a word, and a voice pronounces it. Words are highlighted and illustrations animated as a voice reads a poem. (The Living Books/Random House-Broderbund)īased on the children's poems of Jack Prelutsky. They may pick up clues in Egypt but they'll also learn that it is the birthplace of farming. Information is neatly interspersed with the game, so young sleuths on Carmen's trail learn as they travel around the globe. The classic geography game works well in its junior format. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Junior Detective Edition
Muppets teach children how to count as they point and click their way through games and funny radio reports with Big Bird, Kermit, and the rest of the gang.
$27.ĭOS-format brings the children's TV show to the computer. Music and graphics meld well in this DOS-format program. Or they can help a gorilla through a maze, play delivery man, and so on. Kids can click anywhere and, for example, try to balance a seesaw by piling on characters of differing weight. Richard Scarry's characters bring learning alive in this town. (An means a Macintosh version is available.) Prices listed are what you can expect to pay in a store or by mail-order. Make sure your favorite computer user has a CD-ROM drive, at least four megabytes of random access memory (RAM), Microsoft Windows, and an IBM-compatible computer.
These education, entertainment, and reference works would make great Christmas gifts. If last year's titles seemed like books spruced up with sound or video, some of this year's integrate text, sound, and video so engagingly they create their own category somewhere between books and movies.