School Zone Beginning Reading: A Different Tune & It's Magic

Reviewed by Joy Geizer
Published by School Zone Interactive

Age Group: Age 2 to 5, Age 4 to 8
Type: Language Arts
Price: $20

PC version requires:
Windows 98/95+, 24 MB RAM, 640x480 16-bit color video, 16-Bit sound, Pentium, 50 MB HD, 4x CD-ROM

Mac version requires:
System 7.5.5+, 24 MB RAM, 640x480 16-bit color video, PowerPC 601 or faster processor, 50 MB HD, 4x CD-ROM

Description:

The Beginning Reading from School Zone Interactive comes with two readers and a CD containing two corresponding interactive stories. A Different Tune and It's Magic are level 3 readers. In the software you have a choice of which story to read in two modes, you can read the entire story in I Can Read, or you can just go to a certain page in Pick A Page. Also included is a Dictionary, and an area where you can Create A Story with pictures and text. Clicking on the words in the story allow them to be read again. The children can try to follow along with the readers provided, but that is difficult to do. It's probably best to go through the software first and then try to read the books on their own.

Features:

  • Software comes with books included
  • Stories with morals
  • Audio guidance

Technical Aspects:

I emailed technical support because we have two CD-ROM drives, a HP CD writer and a regular 40X drive which is on its last legs. We have been installing everything using the burner drive, but when I tried to install this software we were getting an error message that it could not find the file and to please insert the CD. I tried the regular drive and it installed perfectly. I still wanted to know why it would not work with the burner drive, so I emailed their technical support (there was no 1-800 number). I received a response within the hour of my initial email (fantastic response time!). They suggested that because the letter of my regular drive is d: and the burner is e: that the software looks at the d: first. They suggest that I change the order of my drives to fix the problem with this one game. I think I'll just use the other drive till it dies.

The software has cute music but thankfully it does not play throughout the game. The help section is verbal only, so if someone who was hearing impaired was using it they could not access the help in the software itself, although it is written out in the readme found on the cd. The graphics are bright, colorful and not too busy. The graphics on the CD cover are never again seen in the software, so I don't know why they chose to put them on the cover.

Report and Conclusions:

As a rule I really don't like "interactive storybooks" because I feel that books are something which should be enjoyed away from the computer and that people spend enough time staring at screens, but this one is done really well with the goal of helping the child learn to read and work with words. My daughter is 7 and went through the entire program in about 1 hour, but she is at an advanced reading level. She said she would enjoy working on creating a story, but would not be interested in reading the stories with the books because she already read them once. I think this would be a great asset to classrooms for children currently at a level 1 or 2 who still need the support and help with reading. They would not feel rushed to read since the computer has infinite patience and the children can spend as much or as little time on a page as they need to.