Eight CD-ROMs sold as two sets of four, developed as part of the Inside Stories Big Book series. The eight titles, all of them traditional tales, gradually increase in challenge to provide a carefully structured programme. Each CD ROM contains a range of lively interactive activities designed to help children integrate text, sentence and word-level work in a creative way. Activities include editing, point of view, speech and thought bubbles, work on genre, vocabulary and punctuation - all encourage writing on screen which can be printed.

National Literacy Association (NLA)

This package offers an opportunity to use traditional tale format to explore a variety of genres through presentations related to the tales theme. Fiction and non-fiction are explored through the related pages in the big book and on the CD ROM. The wide variety of activities ensures that a comprehensive range of activities can be undertaken using a central theme approach.

The package addresses the 'Fairy Tales' element of the national Literacy Strategy. The vocabulary and reading levels are appropriate to this age range and the text is clear and well structured. The content makes a very useful contribution towards Literacy the text.
The quality throughout the package is very good. The text is very clear and visible from a distance. The page layouts and graphics draw the individual into the work and encourage the user to respond. The exercises are clearly and easily accessible from each page on the CD-ROM. One of the strengths of this program is it's activities. The package offers lots of variety that provides practice in a wide range of Literacy Skills.

This package offers a clear and very useful approach to traditional tales and associated texts and would prove a useful addition to the Key Stage 2 teacher's repertoire. Its adaptability ensures that it can be used with a class or group approach, working effectively in either set-up.

TEEM (Teachers Evaluating Educational Multimedia)

Eight CD-ROMs sold as two sets of four, developed as part of the Inside Stories Big Book series. The eight titles, all of them traditional tales, gradually increase in challenge to provide a carefully structured programme. Each CD ROM contains a range of lively interactive activities designed to help children integrate text, sentence and word-level work in a creative way. Activities include editing, point of view, speech and thought bubbles, work on genre, vocabulary and punctuation - all encourage writing on screen which can be printed.

National Literacy Association (NLA)

The E-Books were a huge success with all of the teachers and children at Redstart Primary School. They are very colourful, entertaining and we found them to be great fun.

All the teachers and pupils found the large screen version used in conjunction with our interactive whiteboards made for a truly stimulating lesson. They helped to engage and motivate the children who would usually find the idea of sitting and reading as a whole group challenging.

The hard copy of the big book was an excellent resource for carpet and group work. Whilst the diversity offered by the software allowed our lessons to stay fresh and exciting for all the pupils.

The extra facilities included in the CD-Rom were excellent and helped to keep some well-known stories fresh and engaging to the reader. The inclusion of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and writing for different purposes included in every CD-ROM and Big Book meant that we were able to plan and use them in many different contexts - meeting many of the objectives set out by the Primary Strategy.

I would have no hesitation in recommending them as an interactive teaching resource for any primary classroom. I can't wait for the next issues!

Steve Morton, ICT Co-ordinator, The Redstart Primary School

“The Fisherman and his wife” E-Book

The Fisherman and his wife story was a huge success with the Year 3 and 4 children in my class as it was colourful, entertaining and we found it great fun. I found the CD-ROM version useful on the whiteboard to involve all the children, especially the children who find reading and writing difficult.

We used the CD-ROM on the interactive whiteboard and the Big Book during our literacy session to help teach the conventions of speech or thought bubbles. The illustrations were very powerful and helped to sustain the children's attention throughout the session.

We were also able to amend the text by using the text boxes and the children could write their own version of the story. I enjoyed our class discussion about the characters; their thoughts, feelings and the moral of the story.

There are many different aspects to this book. We looked at the narrative story but the book also contained a poem, informational text, a newspaper report, instructional and a play. This book could cover several weeks of literacy objectives and I have no hesitation in recommending it as an interactive resource for the classroom.

Julie Grindon, Redstart Primary School