If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Reviewed by Jason Levine
Published by HarperCollins Interactive

Age Group: Age 2 to 5, Age 4 to 8 Type: Teaching Tools Price: 24.95

PC version requires:
486-25, 4M RAM, 1M HD, x2 CD-ROM

Mac version requires:
Version is available.

Description:

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond's best-selling story about the unexpected chain of events that unfolds when a young boy innocently shares his cookie with an energetic mouse, has been a favorite in our family since our four-year-old was a baby. So I was delighted when I discovered the interactive CD-ROM version of the story on the software store's shelves. Unfortunately, the CD itself is not an unqualified delight. It's not a bust either. The graphic artists, animators, and programmers at Media Station have done a painstaking job of bringing Ms. Bond's award-winning illustrations to life. In fact, the program's graphics are indistinguishable from the book. And Doug Howell's charming original score adds just the right touch of sonic whimsy to those playful drawings.

The problem is that, contrary to the story's motto ("You never know what will happen next."), anyone who's read the book before booting this CD does indeed know what will happen next. The program, despite its interactive billing, just doesn't add a whole lot to the book.

Packaging and Installation

HarperCollins certainly has put value into this CD's box. The Windows and Mac (not reviewed) versions of the program are included on the same CD. Also included are an excellent 20-page manual and a mini-sized hardcover edition of the book, a nice bonus. The manual not only thoroughly explains how to use the program, it includes a clearly labeled illustration of each interactive screen with a description of every hotspot. Despite the manual's thoroughness, a README file is included on the CD, and Windows users would be well-advised not to ignore it. The README file explains that, while the program will run at graphics resolutions higher than 640x480x256 colors, any color setting higher than 256 will cause the graphics to appear in a small black-bordered box instead of full screen and that the scene transitions won't play. I have no problem with a program that is itself limited to 256 colors, but any program that requires me to turn my settings down and reboot before it will play properly is a real sore point with me, especially in a kid's program. It's a fair bet that any program producer who okays this procedure has never endured the Windows 95 reboot time with a squirmy four-year-old sitting on his lap who just can't wait to start clicking the mouse! The 256-color bugaboo aside, installation under Windows 95 was a snap and the program runs flawlessly on my Pentium 120. The system demands of the program do not seem heavy, so it should run okay under the stated minimum of a 486-25 with a double-speed CD-ROM.

Choose Your Flavor

The opening screen provides three different ways to use the program. Clicking on the picture of the book activates the non-interactive mode. The story is read aloud from start to finish without input from the child. Most children won't choose this option more than once or twice. Clicking on the mouse (the character, not the user input device) activates the interactive mode from the beginning of the story. In this mode the child can activate whatever interactive features are available on each screen after that screen is read by the program's narrator. Clicking on the painting allows the child to scroll through the scenes and begin the interactive mode from any point in the story. Pressing the space bar in any of the three modes returns the child to the opening screen.

We've Only Got Hotspot

It doesn't take long to discovery that If You Give a Mouse a Cookie comes up depressingly short in the interactivity department. Interactivity is limited to clicking on hotspots and clicking on a word in the story to hear it pronounced. Clicking on the appropriate hotspot might activate a clever animation or play a song, but that's it. After my kid had clicked on all the hotspots (not always an easy matter for little tykes because the hotspots require too much precision for little hands to find), I found myself wishing for more. The designers consistently miss out on opportunities to provide more interaction. Three examples: 1) A kitchen scene asks the child to find all the ingredients in chocolate chip cookies. Clicking on the appropriate hotspots causes the ingredients to be checked off on the recipe list. When the child finds them all, the narrator says, "Congratulations, you found them all," and the story moves on to the next scene. It would have been much more fun (and educational) if the kid could have mixed the ingredients together to see what happens; 2) The program asks the child to help the mouse color a picture of his family, but all the kid gets to do is click on each crayon and watch the program fill in that color automatically. My son was very disappointed when he found that he couldn't color in the picture by himself; 3) Once the picture is colored, the program asks the child to help the mouse stack up boxes so he can climb up to the refrigerator door and tape up his picture, but, again, all the kid gets to do is repeatedly click on the mouse while it does all the work in selecting and stacking the boxes. Wouldn't it have been much more fun for the kid to experiment with stacking up the boxes to see which order works and which causes the pile to collapse? It's as if the program's designers didn't trust the kids to do anything for themselves.

The only exception to the limited interaction is the "Wrong Word" song, which can be started by clicking on the cookie bag in the story's last screen. The "Wrong Word" song consists of lines from the story with a wrong word deliberately inserted in the lyrics. The child is then prompted to choose the correct word from three choices. A wrong choice elicits a gentle prompt to try again, and all three choices are accompanied by clever animations. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie would have been a much stronger program if it included more activities like this and less hotspot hunting.

Still, It Tastes Good

Despite the limited interaction, I give If You Give a Mouse a Cookie a limited recommendation. The program has resided on our hard drive for about 6 months now and my son still plays with it about once a week. It's not hard to see why it still holds his interest. The story itself is an undeniable winner, the graphics and animation are superb, and the music is delightful. If you don't already own the book, the included mini-book and selling price of under $25 US make for an attractive package. But if you already have the book on your kid's shelf, there are better choices for your kid's software collection.

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