Animal Genius, Scholastic, Nintendo, http://www.nintendo.com Nintendo DS, Rated E. Collections: Public Library, Home.  $19.99
Animal Genius is a collection of trivia and puzzle games.  It starts out five different environments, and you, the player, must fill the environments up with animals. By answering trivia questions and playing puzzle games, the player earns enough points in order to populate the environments.  Some of the puzzle games include: Scratch and See, Matchomatic, and Creature Collector.  Have fun and see if you are an Animal Genius!!

Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes A Day! Nintendo, http://www.nintendo.com Nintendo DS, Multiplayer options (2-16) Single-Card, Download Play.  Rated E. Collections: Public Library, School Library, Home. $19.99.
Brain training with over a dozen activities for children to improve memory, teach self-control and heightens creativity.  For children, the brain age check isn’t as important as the graph that indicates daily progression or regression, month by month.  Quick play options for brain age check; training and Sudoku are suitable for kids with short attention spans.  Piano player, calendar count word scramble, block count, clock spin and virus buster are supplemental to the original Brain Age games.  Mastering each section, unlocks other sections for play. Custom options for stamp design, signature and picture drawing allow unique game-play for multiple players.

Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, Nintendo, http://www.nintendo.com Nintendo Wii, Multiplayer, Rated E. Collections: Public Library, School Library, Home. $49.99
Do you want to make your brain bigger and weigh more?  Now, you can when you play Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree.  Players are also graded from A+ to F- through playing a series of visual and audio puzzles and games which claim to boost your brainpower.  Choose from Practice Mode to Test Mode and make your little professor proud by amassing brain weight and mass.  Practice strategies and improve your skills in categories--Think, Memorize, Analyze, Compute, and Identify.  See how big your brain really is!

BookFlix, Scholastic, http://www2.scholastic.com Online Database, Ages: PreK – 3. Collections: Public Library, School Library, and Classroom. Fee-based subscription.
BookFlix fosters children’s love of reading through an interactive online database.  It pairs fictional and non-fiction books that are structured around nine different categories, some of which include: Animals and Nature, People and Places, ABCs and 123s, and Celebrations.  Children are able to watch a fictional story and read along with the corresponding non-fiction ebook.  In addition, there are Spanish corresponding pairs, educational games, author biographies, and much more!

Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition,Ubisoft Entertainment, Inc.  http://www.ubi.com PC DVD-ROM (Windows Vista, Windows XP), Multiplayer options, disk required to run.  Rated E, Collections: Public Library, School Library, Home. $39.99
Chess players, girls and boys alike, will not look at the game the say way again with this comprehensive but fun tutorial.  Game modes range from Training, Ranked Play to Tournament Style, online or LAN.   Fun play allows kids and absolute beginners to play chess against low-level opponents in a colorful, easy-to-use interface.  It comes with state of the art graphics, a 3D animated chess set featuring the famous bunnies from Rayman Raving Rabbids, 10 different chess sets, and 12 chess variants including eg: Pocket Knight.  Correspondence play allows kids to email plays against one another, when they can’t get online. The Chess Academy offers mentoring by famous chess players.  In a class called, “The Art of Learning,” 8-time national chess champion Josh Waitzkin narrates and demonstrates moves on the chessboard while participants are invited to interact and follow along with a read-along screen.  Players can study 900 historic chess matches (1619 to 2007) from a fully searchable database to analyze and calculate the best moves.  Kids can have fun while exercising their brain.  Children develop logical thought and strengthen reading skills, among other cognitive abilities, when they play chess.

Cooking Mama: Cook Off, Majesco Entertainment, http://www.cookingmamacookoff.com/ Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, Multiplayer, Rated E. Collections: Public Library, Home. $29.99
Try your hand at cooking, and then challenge a friend to a cook off!  Cooking Mama: Cook Off lets you dice, chop, and mash your way to victory as you follow the recipes from 10 different countries.  This game reproduces the preparation of an actual meal, so players learn to follow the recipe, make the meal, and the satisfaction seeing the recipe turned into a meal.  Can’t cook?  Let Mama help you learn and have fun while doing it!

Discover Bach, Arts and Music Games, Inc., http://www.bachgame.com PC CD-Rom, DVD, and CD, Ages: 8-14. Collections: Public Library, Home. $49.95
So you think you know your instruments? Train your musical ear while learning about the music and life of J.S. Bach in this unique multimedia set. In addition to a CD-ROM of computer games, the set includes a DVD with a movie about Bach's life and a CD of the music used in the computer games. At the computer, you can solve melody puzzles that help to train your musical ear, play with musical jigsaw puzzles, and answer trivia questions about the life of Bach. This collection of games, activities and audio-visual materials will provide hours of fun for music-loving kids and adults alike.

Get Puzzled!, Scholastic, http://www.leapfrog.com LeapFrog Leapster, Ages: 5-8. Collections: Public Library, Home. $24.95
Get Puzzled is a collection of hundreds of puzzles of all types at all levels of difficulty. Using the handheld Leapster console, kids from ages 5 to 8, can choose from a wide range of puzzles that develop logic, language and creative problem solving skills. Many of the puzzles use characters from television programs and movies. Using the menu, kids choose a game and a difficulty level and are talked through the process of either touching the screen with a pen or using an arrow pad. Lively music and catchy graphics make this product engaging and stimulating.

I Spy Funhouse Animal Genius, Scholastic, Nintendo, http://www.nintendo.com Nintendo DS, Rated E. Collections: Public Library, Home.  $19.99
Have fun while increasing your expertise at pattern matching! Search for objects in any of the eighteen I-Spy riddles - when you touch the correct figure in the picture, it becomes animated. In the Hoop Shot game, fling objects with shared characteristics into the appropriate hoops. Pop 'n' Drop is an excellent way to build pattern recognition skills as you hurry to eliminate sets of like objects before time runs out. The game Listen Up! has you exercising your memory skills as you repeat the sound/image sequences, using fun sounds like chattering teeth or croaking frogs. And the fun never stops - the more you play, the more challenging it becomes.

JumpStart Advanced Kindergarten, 1st Grade and 2nd Grade World Premium Edition, Knowledge Adventure http://www.knowledgeadventure.com PC CD-ROM, DVD, Audio, and Workbook, Windows 2000/XP/Vista, PowerMac G3, disk required to run. Rated EC. Collections: Public Library, School Library, Home. $29.99
Packed with kid friendly games and fun adventures, this program is challenging and yet allows kids to explore and try new things. Emails are generated to parents so that they can track their child's progress. Kids need to earn gems, which are available through over 15 games in the Math Arcade or the Reading Arcade. Gems can be used for all sorts of purposes, including social interactions like helping others. Kids are encouraged to "wander around" and the program does not require the kids to follow a strictly linear path. With new content constantly added, the games and adventures provide new challenges and opportunities with great music and interesting narrative.

KONAMI Kids Playground: Alphabet Circus, Konami, http://www.konami.com Playstation 2, Rated E –Ages 2-5. Collections: Public Library, Home. $19.99
(Dance pad included)
Children refine motor skills on a dance pad designed for toddlers that allows them to coordinate movement with alphabet activities.  Letter knowledge, an early literacy skill, is honed by numerous games such as pie toss which is enjoyed along with Chico the Clown, Fred the Monkey, and Ethyl the Elephant.

KONAMI Kids Playground: Dinosaur Shapes & Colors, Konami, http://www.konami.com Playstation 2, Rated E –Ages 2-5. Collections: Public Library, Home. $19.99 (Dance pad included)
Children refine motor skills on a dance pad designed for toddlers that allows them to coordinate movement with shapes and colors.  Primary colors (red, blue, yellow) are introduced and mixed to create secondary colors (green, orange, purple) in games involving volcanoes and pterodactyls. 

Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek, Her Interactive, http://www.herinteractive.com PC CD ROM (Windows XP/Vista).  Disk required to run.  Rated E, Collections: Public Library, Home $19.99.
In the wilderness of the Canadian Rockies, there have been several suspicious accidents at the Icicle Creek Lodge, and guests' sightings of a mysterious white wolf in the vicinity might be related. Nancy goes undercover as a maid at the lodge to solve the mystery, giving her unlimited access to the guests' rooms and the grounds. It isn't long before she learns that many of the guests are hiding secrets. In the stunning scenery of the wild winter backcountry, help Nancy solve puzzles, snoop in guests' rooms, interview guests, search for clues in the bitterly cold outdoors, and even cook meals for picky guests in order to find out who or what is sabotaging the lodge in this fun and compelling mystery. As usual, the puzzles vary in difficulty, but useful hints can be found in either the official strategy guide or through the online user forums.

World Book, World Book, http://www.worldbookonline.com/ Online Database, Elementary to Middle School age group. Collections: Public Library, School Library, and Classroom. Fee-based subscription.
Elementary and middle school students will find World Book Online a valuable resource for all of their homework and school projects.  In addition to the interactive World Book encyclopedia, the online version also includes an interactive atlas, a dictionary, educators’ tools, and much more!  Other features include a student activities, features of the month, behind the headlines, and science projects for students.  

2008 Great Interactive Software for Kids Committee
Angelique Kopa, chair, Harford County Public Library, Belcamp, Md.
Kim Bautz, Dayton (Ohio) Metro Library
Michelle Call, Hester J. Hodgdon Librarians for All Program, Somerville, Mass.
Kirsten Freeman-Benson, West Slope Community Library, Portland, Ore.
Anna R. Healy, Rochelle Lee Fund, Chicago, Ill.
Becky White, Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Ind.