Living Books series
| Living Books | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Parent company | Random House/Brøderbund |
| Founded | 1989 |
| Defunct | 1998 |
| Status | Currently owned by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Location | Eugene, Oregon San Rafael, California Novato, California |
The Living Books series is a series of interactive animated multimedia children's books, first produced by Brøderbund and then spun off into a jointly-owned (with Random House) subsidiary, which were distributed on CD-ROM for Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows. The series began with the release of Just Grandma and Me (an adaptation of the book by Mercer Mayer) in 1992; other titles in the series included The Tortoise and the Hare, Arthur's Teacher Trouble (and other adaptations of books by Marc Brown), Dr. Seuss and Berenstain Bears titles.[1] Nicely produced "play-through" videos on most Living Books titles can be found on YouTube and several former Brøderbund leaders are now releasing the titles on iOS and Android as Wanderful interactive storybooks.
CD-ROMs in the series
| Story | Author | Year | Other Language(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Just Grandma and Me | Mercer Mayer | October 20, 1992 |
|
Version 2.0 released in 1997, which included a game. |
| Arthur's Teacher Trouble | Marc Brown | October 20, 1992 |
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|
| The Tortoise and the Hare | Aesop | September 1, 1993 |
|
An original Living Books story that is not based on any real books, because Mark Schlichting, founder of Living Books, retold this classic fable. This version uses hilarious twists and cartoon animal characters. |
| The New Kid on the Block | Jack Prelutsky and James Stevenson | September 1, 1993 | ||
| Ruff's Bone | Eli Noyes | February 1, 1994 |
|
The second original Living Books story, but it's actually produced by Colossal Pictures and created and written by Eli Noyes, the producer of the 1964 short claymation film Clay or the Origin of Species. The style is different from the other two original Living Books games. |
| Little Monster at School | Mercer Mayer | October 28, 1994 |
|
|
| Arthur's Birthday | Marc Brown | November 23, 1994 |
|
Version 2.0 released in 1997, which includes two games. |
| Harry and the Haunted House | Mark Schlichting | November 23, 1994 |
|
The third Living Books game that is not based on anyone's books. This is the only original Living Books story that was officially created by Mark Schlichting, founder of Living Books. This was actually written and published in 1987 as a paperback book. |
| The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight | Stan and Jan Berenstain | 1995 |
|
|
| Dr. Seuss's ABC | Dr. Seuss | 1995 | Sing-a-long is included. | |
| Sheila Rae, the Brave | Kevin Henkes | 1996 |
|
A game and 7 sing-a-longs are included. |
| The Berenstain Bears in the Dark | Stan and Jan Berenstain | 1996 | 2 games are included. | |
| Green Eggs and Ham | Dr. Seuss | 1996 | 3 games are included. | |
| Stellaluna | Jannell Cannon | October 29, 1996 | A game is included. | |
| Arthur's Reading Race | Marc Brown | October 29, 1996 | 3 games are included. | |
| The Cat in the Hat | Dr. Seuss | 1997 | A game is included. | |
| Arthur's Birthday Version 2.0 | Marc Brown | September 30, 1997 |
|
Version 2.0 released in Fall 1997, which includes two games. |
| Arthur's Computer Adventure | Marc Brown | 1998 | Five games are included. | |
| D.W. the Picky Eater | Marc Brown | 1998 | New menu system. Four games are included. Last book released in the Living Books series. |
Buttons
Here are the games with the same button options:
- Read to Me button: The story is read to the user.
- Let Me Play button: Takes the user to the story and allows interaction after each page is read.
- Options button: Takes the user to choose a page from the Let Me Play section clicking on the left and right arrows and to see credits and demos if available.
- Quit button: Ends the game and returns to the user's desktop.
Reception
Computer Gaming World in 1993 praised Just Grandma and Me and Arthur's Teacher Trouble, describing Living Books as "Broderbund's acclaimed series".[2] Publishers Weekly, in a review of Dr. Seuss' ABC, called that title "one of the best children's CD-ROMs to date" and stated that, "[...] the producers' fondness for Dr. Seuss and their fidelity to his sense of refined silliness spill into every sequence."[3] Simson L. Garfinkel and Beth Rosenberg found that the CD-ROMs played better on Macs than on PCs. Although they found the titles to be of high quality in a market flooded with "questionable" releases for children, they stated that not all of them lived up to the company's educational claims (noting Dr. Seuss' ABC and Arthur's reading Race as exceptions) and felt that the added dialogue supplementing the book's text was sometimes "out of character".[4] Arthur's Teacher Trouble, The Tortoise and the Hare, Ruff's Bone, and Little Monster at School all received a very high score of over 90.00 in the book CD-ROMs Rated by Les Kranz; in the review for Little Monster at School, the graphics and the number of clickable areas were described as positives.[5]
References
- ↑ Series Review "THE LIVING BOOKS Series by Living Books/Broderbund." McMath, Chuck. Game Bytes Vol 1. Num. 21. 1994. Retrieved March 24, 2007.
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