CD-ROM

-- School Library Journal, 1/1/2007

Also in this article: Language Arts Multiple Skills Music

Gr 1–6—This interactive video program in CD-ROM format teaches the elements of a good book report. Annie the Bookbird provides clear instructions, while Willie the Bookworm adds a comic element. Both are puppets. Viewers watch a story involving Willie facing a dangerous enemy in his quest for potato chips. This tale becomes the example for writing a book report. Users learn about the three parts of a report—introduction, body, and conclusion. Theme, setting, plot, characters (protagonist and antagonist), and opinions are introduced and defined. There is also a segment teaching note-taking skills. Printable items include outlines for note taking and book reports, and samples of a book report and notes. Installation is easy, but contains many layers of security. Connection to the Internet is required during installation. There is a strong audio element requiring a speaker or headphones. Users can easily rewind, fast-forward, pause, and exit. The only flaw in the production is that the puppets' lip-sync is frequently poor. While DVD format with an Internet component for the printables might have been a better choice to facilitate class presentations, the program offers clear, concise information on writing a book report.—Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary School, Federal Way, QA

Gr 1–6—Abby sneaks away from her babysitter by crawling out of her bedroom window after learning about Gordonne's plan to tear down the old school. Abby and her sidekick Cleo, a turtle, and Paul, a computer guru, explore the library, the auto repair shop, and the town to stop Gordonne's evil plans of taking over the school's real estate for his own evil purposes. Throughout the program, players must apply their knowledge in math, science, language arts, and more. Starting from the second opening sequence when Gordonne makes his announcement to the townspeople, the program experiences bugs. The background sound clip of the people laughing loops repetitively in a mechanical way. Instructions are not intuitive, and there are no help screens. Cleo sometimes alludes to what needs to be done, but not on a consistent basis. Some of the puzzles don't make sense and host incorrect answers when trialed on the first grade level. Visual cues are not logical and it is often a pixel-hunt. The library puzzle in the sixth grade version is especially frustrating because even students with the right answer can't click on the correct area to make the game progress. When questions come up in a rectangular box asking the player to figure out a task "below," the task remains invisible until the area is clicked—but users are not prepared for this feature. The animation is slick with a unique metronome timer and colorful buildings and scenes, and the characters are dynamic but a bit like caricatures with gigantic heads and tiny bodies (especially Abby and Gordonne). The background music is pleasant and the program has a movie-quality soundtrack. However, there are too many spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and errors in the solutions. The program text and narration is available in Spanish and English, but these versions are confounded so some Spanish words appear in the dialogue, icons, and pictures of the English version.—Ann Crewdson, King County Library System, Issaquah, WA

Gr 6 Up— Travels with Music is an interactive series of programs that have been produced by an international nonprofit music-media organization that works "to encourage the discovery and appreciation of native music cultures and performers worldwide." This segment has 30 15-minute units of interactive content, visiting 15 countries and featuring 28 artists. Each unit explores some of the musical traditions and instruments of Indonesia, Mexico, Israel, China, Morocco, North India and Pakistan, Trinidad, the Philippines, West Africa, and North America. Through text, video, and audio clips, viewers see the country and regions involved, then read and hear about customs and rituals that are important to that culture. The most interesting parts of the program are the videos of master musicians teaching a particular skill or instrument. From the main page, users choose between playing a game or learning a skill; the skill portion consists of exercises such as a matching game, instrument identification, and a maze. From the game path, users can select a region from the world map, get help from Ditto the Lyrebird, or visit the sound collection. Rolling the mouse over the map reveals the region's name and a rather lengthy description of its geography and culture. Clicking on a region brings up an assortment of instruments. Clicking on an instrument provides the choice of an extensive text overview, an introduction to the featured artist, several videos featuring that artist, a description of the instrument, a selection of songs, or a link to the games (from which it is difficult to get back to the region). Much of the information is provided through densely written text. The sound collection is an array of musical instruments that players can earn by answering questions, and the game can be saved from one session to the next. The game can be loaded and played from the DVD, or accessed through a web browser requiring Adobe Flash 8 player. The video segments provide valuable exposure to master musicians and fascinating musical instruments and musical arrangements from around the world, while helping students to develop listening skills and a rich musical vocabulary. The hefty teacher's guide provides background for each country, musician featured, and musical piece performed; video descriptions; background for each unit; and the questions and answers for each game. A sample unit is online at travelswithmusic.org.—MaryAnn Karre, Horace Mann Elementary School, Binghamton, NY