Black Beauty
$12.95		(Win95/98/Me/XP) (Retail) (BLACKBPR)

Sound Source

Children

Ages: 3 and up

Ratings:

4 1/2 stars from CD-ROM Today

Based on the Warner Bros. Film

Includes text, film footage, pictures, sound effects, animation, and fun learning exercises. Kids like to read books and they love to watch movies. That's why Sound Source created the Interactive MovieBook Series based on current silver screen versions of classic children's tales.

"Read to Me" button provides narration in either a boy's or girl's voice, while highlighted text accompanies the narration.

Film strip buttons trigger movie clips, and display a preview of the scene.

Many "hot" buttons animate when clicked, accompanied by 3-D sound.

Readers assemble jigsaw puzzle screens by answering reading comprehension questions at the end of each chapter.

Requirements:

Windows - 386DX 33mHz or better CPU with 4MB RAM (8MB recommended), 256 color VGA monitor, 15MB free disk space, CD-ROM drive (double speed recommended), sound card (stereo for Qsound enhancement).

Windows XP users: Run the INSTALL program on the CD-ROM and *DO NOT* install Video for Windows 1.1.

Reviews:

New Media, September 1995

"I was a bit worried when I volunteered to help in a fourth-grade bilingual class in a San Francisco public school...Here's a little insight into the discs my team of reviewers especially liked and why.

"Black Beauty is an interactive book with photos and video. It was a big hit with the girls, who gathered around as we took turns reading this classic. That wouldn't happen with a traditional book, and it was especially helpful given the kids' varied reading abilities."

CD-ROM Today, May 1995

"Sound Source Interactive is teaming up with movie companies to offer a new series for kids ages 3-8. The series is called MovieBooks, and each title combines the abbreviated text of classic kids' stories with clips from recent Warner Bros. and Paramount movies. To date, there are three MovieBooks available, each of them a classic: The Secret Garden, Black Beauty, and Lassie.

"All MovieBooks follow the same, easy-to-use setup of opening up the contents page, picking a chapter, and starting to read. You have two options: read the text yourself, clicking on hot spots and hypertext as you go, or have a boy or girl narrator read to you. I find that being read to works very nicely since the experience is closer to watching a movie. Each sentence is highlighted as the narrator reads, so kids can follow along and pick up some reading skills.

"Reading the text yourself, however, gives you a bonus game: a picture puzzle. To get to the puzzle, you must answer a reading comprehension question correctly. The questions are very easy. Plus, when you start the puzzle, you can already see half of the picture. At the end of the book, you can print out the completed picture. Finally, when you are through being entertained, these Windows programs include for you a convenient uninstaller."

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