The Book of Shadowboxes

A Magical Book for Tots

A Review of The Book of Shadowboxes

Tamara Miller

Shadowboxes is a cuddly little program designed to teach preschoolers the

alphabet . Shadow , a computer generated doughboy, guides your child

through the story. He explains the menu options and offers to read the text

to you child. The child also has the option of reading the text himself.

The beautiful graphics are reminiscent of a cozy quilt. They actually appear

to be soft and squishy. The unusual and appealing artwork is inviting to

children and parents alike. The animation is lifelike and intriguing. This

really is a beautiful program.

The music and dialogue are easy on the ears. Shadows voice and the female

narrators voice are both pleasant and soothing. The music is nice and won’t

irritate adult sensitivities.

The program is easy to install and very easy to use. Shadow explains the

menu at the very beginning so even a young child can find his way around

without too much trouble. There are numerous click points providing hours of

fun.

I really, really like this program as a Mom. As a teacher, I wish the

phonics were a little more "pure." For instance, the "C" shadowbox should

not contain words like "circle", but should initially focus on words with

hard "c’s" like "cup" or "cat." Ideally, all vowels should initially be taught as short vowels, yet this story introduces short and long sounds together. This may seem like a small thing, but it can be very confusing to a young child just learning his letters. In spite of this though, I highly recommend this program. It is beautiful to look at, pleasant to hear, and fun to play. You can’t ask for much more than that.

School House Scorecard

Product:	The Book of Shadowboxes
Company:	IBM Multimedia Publishing Studio
Cost:	Not Available

System Requirements:

Windows 3.1 or higher
4MB RAM
Sound Card
CD-ROM drive
Mouse

Breakdown:

Ease of Use 4
Learning Value 5
Entertainment Value 5
Graphics 5
Sound 4

Overall Score: