|
The Jungle Book
 EA*Kids The Jungle Book was based on a story by Rudyard Kipling who was born in Bombay, India, a country which was inspirational in his writing.
For improving reading skills, decision making, and vocabulary building it is the most brilliant interactive storybook that I have ever seen. The sound and animations combined with the interactivity of this production make a child's language development an exciting and fun filled experience. For the 5-8 year old child it stands up to Electronic Art's claim to be 100% learning and 100% fun. It is both.
In the production of this software EA*Kids have consulted children and professional educators and combined their own experiences to create software that has a special magic. It allows the child to become a creative storyteller, controlling all of the events in an enjoyable and educational adventure.
The instruction book included in the package is informative and gives useful "Notes to Parents" throughout. One of these tips suggests that before the child tries the "Create a Story Mode" they listen to the original Kipling story in the "Read a Story Mode" so that they can create their own perception and understanding of the original story.
The "Read A Story Mode" contains the entire text of Rudyard Kipling's immortal story, Mowgli's Brothers. It is wonderfully narrated and children are able to follow along with the spoken dialogue by reading the text on screen. They will be captivated when the story bursts into life with the accompanying cinematic animations. These are activated by a prompt inviting the child to see a picture. Any unknown words may be clicked on to be defined and explained, which is an immense aid in the development of all reading skills. There are useful icons at the base of this screen, to turn the narrative on or off, turn pages back and forth, or to display page numbers so that the young reader will always know where they are in the book. Text options may also be changed from Easy, where the print is very large, to medium which is the default, to Hard which has been designed for the older child and displays the text in a very dense manner.
The "Create A Story Mode" has over 30 scenes and hundreds of different interactive solutions. With the help of the Paintbox Pals the child becomes the author, making choices, decisions and using problem solving logic to create their own story and its eventual conclusion. Their strategies can be revised and altered each time they play creating almost limitless new adventures. The "Hot Words" are words that the child may not know: a word in a different language, the name of a place, by clicking on these a narrated explanation will be heard. The story text appears in a dialogue box with the story beautifully animated behind.
To aid in their journey into the deep dark jungle of India any child would be charmed by the delightful animated characters just bursting to give their assistance. These Paintbox Pals all have special talents and it is in the child's choice of these pals that each adventure is shaped. Whenever Mowgli gets in a fix he is able to turn to Sally Sprayer who sprays her magical mist on predicaments, conjuring up eggs that contain crocodiles; Jazz Painter who changes the colour of things, his magic paint turning the ferocious tiger into a docile pussy cat; Winston Whoosh who will erase all your problems and Nick Lead who has wonderful solutions. Two other Pals are available to give assistance of a different kind, Mark Bookmark to pause the story and Sandy Hourglass who will take you back in time so that you can re-write your story if it is not going the way you want. If the Pal you choose isn't able to solve the problem you can always pick another, they are all there at the bottom of the screen waving, telling you of their special talents and just longing to be clicked into the sparkling ring twinkling on the screen.
Will electronic books ever replace the written word? In this technological age who would dare to say? Children's books are artforms, they are completely mobile and it's much easier to tuck a child into bed on a cold winter's night with a book than a computer. However, this outstanding software from Electronic Arts empowers the child to use their imagination to create their own stories in an exciting, captivating and fun environment, and isn't that where learning should happen?
Copyright © Sandy Ferguson 1995.
All rights reserved.
System requirements:
386/25 or higher, 3MB RAM, CD-ROM, DOS 5.0, mouse
|
