Maybe the most techno-pumped of the comprehensive learn-to-read programs, this tropical adventure in reading flies youngsters off to a colorfully animated island where Robby the raccoon and Emily the squirrel guide them through 20 interactive locations. Sight reading in the Word Clouds, sounding letters at the T-shirt Hut, or feeding “phonetic pies” to pigs, youngsters play at 35 wonderfully fun activities that disguise 175 lessons sequenced to help your child blossom into a reader through a year of playful learning. Rewards for good play are the 12 on-screen remarkably interactive books that reflect the child’s progress. But this program isn’t just great visually: It includes IBM speech recognition technology and microphone so kids can pronounce the words their reading and hear constructive feedback from the computer. The record and playback feature enables children to listen to their own voices reading, and the voice activation feature lets them direct on-screen action by talking to the program.