Wow! If you look up that word in this easy-to-use, multi-faceted, electronic encyclopedia's dictionary component, you find that it means "an exclamation, as of surprise, joy, or dismay." Forget the dismay. This latest and least-expensive deluxe version of the popular student-level encyclopedia is full of surprise and joy.

From the home page, students can access information by searching topics, looking it up in the dictionary, or just browsing. Everything is linked in a rich blend of multimedia that includes the tried-and-true print articles, sound clips ranging from honky-tonk music to Harry Truman speeches, video clips, plus hundreds of photographs, animations, charts and graphs (most accessed from the second disc).

The World Book contains all of the articles from its 22-volume print edition, and more--which is actually less than some college or adult electronic encyclopedias. But this resource is kid-friendly, enabling youngsters from third and fourth grade up to search and manage thousands of topics on their own. Want to see where Afghanistan is located? Click the Atlas icon, key in Afghanistan or find the general area on the globe and click. A map of the country appears, showing most major cities and surrounding nations. The Time Frame feature lets students search by specific years, decades, or centuries for blocks of chronological events and info.

Another excellent set of features is the Homework Wizards--five instructional programs that guide students in preparing reports, charts and timelines, and even help them create Web pages and quizzes. For younger students especially, this encyclopedia is a remarkable resource.