Clifford Reading is another excellent package from children's publisher Scholastic, perfectly designed to help young children aged 4-6 years to develop early reading skills. It features Clifford, the ever-popular big red dog, known and loved by many children for more than 30 years. Throughout, your child will be asked to help Clifford to explore the fun-packed neighbourhood on Birdwell Island and take part in various activities, among which are the creation of t-shirts, making a theatre sign, helping Monique the artist to identify words and paint them, dunking Clifford in the sea, and returning Loretta's parrots to her boats. All these activities are entertaining, involving situations only Clifford can create. Skills covered include letter recognition and sorting, visual discrimination, word building, phonics, word and object association, letter/sound recognition, upper and lower-case letters, sight-word recognition, sound blending, spelling, vocabulary, listening, memory, following directions, basic PC skills, fine motor skills and creativity. All these have seven levels of learning that automatically adjust, according to your child's progress. Once a level has been completed, and all the letters and sounds have been mastered, a Bonus Book is given as a reward. The books earned will be placed on the bookshelf in Emily Elizabeth's bedroom, and they can be accessed at any time to be read, coloured or printed out. The accompanying leaflet is excellent: it is extremely well set out and explains everything from technical support, installation, explanations of the activities, to reporting on a child's progress, and troubleshooting, using straightforward, simple language. -Susan Naylor.

Barbie is finally a woman of action. Taking up international espionage in Secret Agent Barbie, she travels the world in pursuit of justice in this game-based CD-ROM. A thief has stolen valuable clothing from a friend of hers, a fashion designer who is just setting up for a big show. In order to bring the thieves to justice, Barbie has a full team of helpers and a complement of gadgetry. To get past a guard who won't let her through a door, she uses her compact to blow foundation in his face. To investigate areas too tiny for her to access, she has a robotic spy puppy. Her Pinkvision goggles can seek out the combinations to otherwise secured doors. Finally, Barbie has two gymnastic skills-dive rolls that carry her past guarded areas, and jumps to get over obstacles and laser alarms. By virtue of its emphasis on gizmos, this game makes itself a distant relative of pop culture heroes such as James Bond or the Mission Impossible team. However, Secret Agent Barbie lacks the defining characteristic of this milieu: violence. [+]

Not too many software packages will have you jumping and spinning, but that's what Barbie Gotta Groove is all about. Work with Barbie and her gal-pals Tori, Nichelle, Ana and Chelsie (plus set designer Lara) to make cool clothes, rockin' stages and swinging dance routines, then put them all together for the big show. Get creative on the dance floor with hip-hop, salsa and other styles-once you've got the virtual girls going, you can try the moves out yourself. The interface is supereasy-for the most part, pointing and clicking is all that you need to do. The CD works in stereos, too, so even if you're not around a computer you can practice your jams. Use the Barbie Digital Camera (not included) to put yourself in the action-make CD covers or your own personality page! You can save your favourite outfits and dance pieces and watch them again and again, plus you can challenge yourself by watching a dance and then playing back the moves in just the right order. If you want, you can even compete with your friends to see who's got the right moves. Just imagine-all the lights, colours and glamour of show business without the stress and heartbreak. Barbie and all her Generation Girl friends need a little direction-slide into your choreographer's chair and get busy. -Rob Lightner.

Forget the cat litter, all-hours dog walks and outrageous vet bills; the Barbie Pet Patrol CD-ROM features some of the most realistic, adorable animals ever seen in a computer program-and without all the work involved in owning a real-live pet. Visit Barbie and her kid sister at Pet Rescue Center, where you'll wait for rescue missions, explore in the playrooms or tend to pets in the Care Center. Rescue missions come in over the phone or via e-mail; after learning which pet is missing where, travel with Barbie on her scooter to one of three different environments in which to search for one of eight lost pets. In many missions, you'll have to use your wits to figure out how to entice scared animals to come to you, or how to retrieve pets trapped in trees or other sticky situations. If you get stuck yourself, Barbie's full of helpful hints to send you on the right direction. With each successful mission, you'll receive a printable Paw & Purr Award that hangs on the PRC wall. Rescued pets come back to the Pet Rescue Centre with you and Barbie to wait for their owners and receive a little TLC. Nurse them back to health in the Care Centre, where you'll give recovered pets water, treats, vitamins-even baths and brushings; sometimes you may also need to bandage a hurt leg or pick burrs from ruffled fur. After creating a file for them in the computer and giving them a name you select from a list of suggestions, the animals go to one of two playrooms to wait for their owners. In the meantime, you can play with them, plus all the other pets already in the playroom-a kitten, bunny, hamster, puppy, and even a turtle-in what is perhaps the best of the game's activities: petting! Select which animal you'd like to pet, then use the cursor to stroke an animal's head or back, or perhaps scratch her under the chin. [+]