Here's another winning two CD bundle. Eyewitness Encyclopedia of Nature is a particularly easy-to-use reference on many aspects of nature including animal life, plants, fungi, weather and ecology. Layers of menus let you access increasingly detailed information about each topic. You can click on a globe to view the world's major habitats, or select a picture to access information about the major plant or animal groups. A quiz feature provides practice and application with the content, and a handy Internet link is available. The beautiful photographs, smooth video, clean design and clear narration combine to make this an excellent resource for home or school settings. Important subjects like chemistry, math, physics and life sciences are presented in Eyewitness Encyclopedia of Science CD. Eighty animations, 40 video sequences, 800 photos and illustrations and 3 1/2 hours of audio bring the subject matter to life. Over 900,000 words of text including a Who's Who of Science make this an exceptionally comprehensive resource. New features to this version include a searchable glossary and deeper content. This program was awarded the 1997 Bologna New Media Prize.
Teaches: science, research skills, biology, botany, zoology
Age Range: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 Copyright © 2000 Children's Software Revue
Amazon.com Review
Perfect for today's modern royalty, Disney's
Princess Fashion Boutique is sure to provide hours of artistic fun. You begin by creating a paper doll of yourself, choosing from thousands of different clothing and hairstyle combinations. The facial-feature and skin-tone options are plentiful, but it's also possible to use a self-portrait if you've got a scanner or digital camera. Either way, the dressing room is a great place for playing pretend, with a wardrobe most girls can only dream about.
Once you've completed your character (and you can save up to 20 different outfits), you can put yourself in animated storybooks (as, of course, the star) and play with sounds, backgrounds, and text to come up with all-new fairy tales. There's plenty of coloring options here, and they range from altering the stock art pieces to creating your own designs from scratch (using the easy icons to paint and animate them).
All these creations are easily printable and can also be sent over the Internet. They have to be sent as e-mail attachments, though, so a little help from the queen or king may be necessary for your little princess to get it accomplished properly. Each of the three princess guides--Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty--has different worlds to explore, with tons of clickable treasures to add to your wardrobe. The worlds are slightly different every time they're opened, providing constant new surprises. All in all, this software is a great way of playing paper dolls and pretend, with a magic that will keep your little princess entertained for hours. --Jill Lightner
