Hold your breath, 'cause Robby the Raccoon and Emily the Squirrel return in this underwater sequel to Edmark's first learn-to-read title in a bubbly, interactive ocean adventure. Focusing on the sounds of letters, long and short vowels, and simple words, the program takes beginning readers on a search for the bookmobile lost at sea. The colorful animations are eye-pleasing and fun, but the sunken treasure of this software is the built-in speech-recognition technology that keeps kids sounding out answers throughout the adventure. The package includes the cool head-set microphone (a big improvement over hand-held mics) through which your child utters responses, such as the long "a" sound or the short "e" sound. Not only do the animated creatures on-screen react to your child's voice, but kids can use the mic to record themselves reading in the storybooks.

See-and-say exercises play throughout the six learning activities, especially in the Paint-A-Word game, where a friendly manta ray gives repeat-after-me lessons in vowel and consonant sounds. Other games, such as The Word Bubbles, feature "sight words" that defy phonetics, giving kids a chance to recognize them visually and pronounce them. As sea creatures on-screen articulate blended consonant sounds, children click on bubbles containing the letters in the Blend Bubbles exercise. These and the other activities all emphasize basic sound and letter formation reading lessons in nine distinctly styled storybooks as well--all of them kid-compelling enough to dangle a hook baited with the love of reading in this ocean of letters and words.