Description:
Encourage your child to use the dictionary with this CD-ROM package from Simon & Schuster. Grade-school students will find it attractive, easy-to-use, and fun. Kids simply scroll down a list of entries and click on the word they're looking for. A click on the word elephant, for example, turns up a still photo of an elephant, a National Geographic-style video of an elephant running through water, and the following definition: "A huge mammal; the largest land animal now on earth. It has gray, wrinkled, nearly hairless skin, a long snout called a trunk, and two long, curved, pointed ivory teeth called tusks. Elephants live in Asia and Africa." The publisher recommends this digital dictionary for 8- to 12-year-old children, but it might be more appropriate for ages 6 to 10. Younger children are likely to enjoy the graphics and still have little difficulty using the program. Loading the CD-ROM is quick and simple--if your machine isn't equipped with Microsoft Explorer 5.0, the program will install it for you. (When using the dictionary, you'll be asked if you want to connect to the Internet. Despite the warning message, you don't have to be online to use the program's basic dictionary feature--simply click on the Explore button to go straight to the dictionary.) The online component of this package is important if you want to fully utilize its various capabilities. Once online, you're automatically routed to a Web site where you can purchase and download other e-books to install in your reference library. The Children's Dictionary is the only title included in the package, but an encyclopedia and other references are available as add-ons and are set up for reading through the same browser used by the dictionary. --Matt Kohut
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