A few primers on using computers, buying software, and setting up a Web site may be just what your child needs.

The children of this decade are surrounded by computers and electronic gadgets. They can access information on any subject, find fun Web pages and chat rooms to communicate with others their age, and play educational games unheard of only a few years ago. While the use of computers has increased in the classrooms and libraries of today's elementary schools and summer camps, many parents and teachers are wondering how to encourage children to use computers and still keep them safe from the dangers of commercialism and pornography.

Computer book authors are starting to take notice. Recently, there have been a flood of titles about kids and computers. Some are written to educate parents, while others reach out directly to the children themselves. This month, we look at four new guides to help kids get the most out of their computer experience. Great Software for Kids and Parents by Cathy Miranker and Alison Elliott, The Internet Kids and Family Yellow Pages by Jean Armour Polly, Mousetracks: A Kid's Computer Idea Book by Peggy L. Steinhauser, and Kid's Web Kit by Lisa Lopuck all offer suggestions for using the family system creatively.

Great Software for Kids & Parents

Great Software for Kids and Parents is one of the first in a series of "Dummies Guides to Family Computing," yet another spin-off from IDG's immensely popular "... for Dummies" line. With the kids' series, IDG seeks to take some of the worry out of kids' inevitable interest in computers by making sure that they at least learn something along the way.

Authors Cathy Miranker and Alison Elliott are themselves mothers who happen to test educational software to boot. As a result, their advice on selecting software for kids is both practical and insightful. One of the book's most useful suggestions involves looking at children's software as belonging to one of five "food groups," and then making sure that your child receives a balanced "diet." The software reviews that make up most of the book are helpfully arranged into the five categories.

There's a lot of other fine advice in Great Software for Kids and Parents, along with many software suggestions, of course. And the authors avoid talking down to the reader, as some titles in the otherwise excellent "Dummies" series have. There's even a CD-ROM that provides demos of many of the programs reviewed in the book. Great Software for Kids and Parents is highly recommended for any parents of computer-literate 2- to 12-year-olds, and future entries in this series (particularly those by Miranker and Elliott) will certainly demand attention.

The Internet Kids & Family Yellow Pages

Written for use by kids and parents alike, The Internet Kids & Family Yellow Pages is packed with ideas aplenty for fun and safe Internet exploration. Author Jean Armour Polly (a.k.a. Net-Mom) has checked thousands of Web sites on dozens of subjects that appeal to children ages 3 to 14, and has selected only the best for her listing. Her efforts are evident here.

The book is primarily a directory. Polly does, however, reassure parents in the brief but thorough introduction that there is a great deal kids can learn from the Net, and warns that they must be prepared to take an active role in their children's adventures in cyberspace. For her part, Polly has selected sites that not only avoid any violent, racist, or sexist content, but live up to the author's rather stringent educational and entertainment criteria (which are similar to those in Great Software for Kids and Parents).

As a directory, The Internet Kids & Family Yellow Pages really shines. The listings provide not only URLs but incisive, witty descriptions of pages on such vital subjects as spam, owls, and Indonesia. Many of these pages are fun for parents as well. There are also numerous sidebars with trivia questions, suggestions for exploration, biographies of famous people, and interviews with Web-site creators. Best of all, the reader can pick up many fascinating tidbits even before they go online. The layout encourages browsing and jumping from place to place--much like the Web itself. The Internet Kids & Family Yellow Pages is an excellent reference for any household with a computer and kids.

Mousetracks: A Kid's Computer Idea Book

Unlike the first two books, Mousetracks is designed to be read and used primarily by children. The book consists of a collection of computer-related art activities for kids, which are designed not to be platform- or software-specific. These activities are grouped together in units with themes that will interest kids (Dinosaurs, Space and Sports). The units gradually become more complex as kids read on.

The activities are, for the most part, fairly easy, and don't require much in the way of materials beyond a computer and some basic art supplies. The computer doesn't even have to be fancy; the most important elements are a printer and software for drawing and word processing. Even kids with a relatively old computer should be able to do all of the exercises.

Unfortunately, such universality has a cost. The book is labeled as appropriate for 5- to 10-year-olds, but children age 8 or older that we talked to found the exercises overly basic. The author's desire to keep discussion of technology at a low level means that the book ignores many great activities kids can do with a computer, such as research on the Web.

Many of the exercises in the book, in fact, could be performed more easily and efficiently without using a computer. Therefore, Mousetracks is a good choice for younger children, or those whose parents aren't on the cutting edge.

Kid's Web Kit

Kid's Web Kit is another title geared toward kids. Its aim is to help children become a presence on the Web by encouraging them to express their creativity on their own home pages.

The kit comes with a CD-ROM to help the kids along. The software interface looks nice, with eye-grabbing animation and sound. Unfortunately, we and our young software tester initially had problems getting the program to load beyond the introduction. But after checking with Peachpit Press' technical support and on its Web site, we resolved the problem, and we were impressed by what we found.

What you'll find is a selection of page templates and fancy background graphics. The template graphics are quite striking, and the themes (Pop Art, Rainforest) are inspiring. However, to add any graphics besides the background, you'll need a supplemental drawing program (a fact not mentioned on the Kid's Web Kit jacket).

The booklet clearly explains the steps involved in Web-page creation, but doesn't give much detailed insight on the actual process. The software does most of the work, so kids aren't learning the basics of HTML and Web-page creation. Additionally there are only very brief instructions on posting your Web site (on AOL only, though there are phone numbers for other service providers), and a couple of pages of ideas for teachers.

Because it lacks some basic information, some kids may not learn the steps they want to. Still, if your child wants to set up his or her own Web site, and doesn't want to be bothered with the details of how it works, this could be a respectable choice.

Product Listing

Great Software for Kids and Parents
by Cathy Miranker and Alison Elliott
IDG Books Worldwide
919 E. Hillsdale Blvd.,
Ste. 400
Foster City, CA 94404
www.idg.com
ISBN: 0-7645-0099-6; 362 pages
Price: $24.99

The Internet Kids & Family Yellow Pages,
2nd ed.
by Jean Armour Polly
Osborne/McGraw-Hill
11 W. 19th St.
New York, NY 10011
www.mcgraw-hill
ISBN: 0-07-882340-4; 576 pages
Price: $19.99

Mousetracks: A Kid's Computer Idea Book
by Peggy L. Steinhauser
Tricycle Press
(A division of Ten Speed Press)
P.O. Box 7123
Berkeley, CA 94707
Web site in development
ISBN: 1-883672-48-1; 104 pages
Price: $12.95

Kid's Web Kit
by Lisa Lopuck
Peachpit Press
(A division of Addison-Wesley)
2414 Sixth St.
Berkeley, CA 94710
www.peachpit.com
www.kidswebkit.com
ISBN: 0-201-88675-8; 64 pages
Price: $22.95

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