Hello Kitty PC Magazine Review

P C M A G A Z I N E

HELLO KITTY BIG FUN STORYMAKING
Few characters are more familiar to little girls than Hello Kitty, few activities more appealing than storytelling. Combine the two and you have a product that's sure to be a favorite.
The biggest draw to this story-creation package is its protagonist: Hello Kitty, star of pencil cases, backpacks, makeup sets, and, now, software.
Young storytellers can interact with one of two stories to determine what exactly Hello Kitty does in her day. In one of the stories, kids get to choose which ingredients Hello Kitty will include in her stew. In the other, they decide where she will go, how she will get there, and what she'll do once she arrives at her destination.
To create a story, children listen to the narration and then fill in the blanks that determine Hello Kitty's actions. To do this, kids choose from a palette of icons. Passing the mouse over these icons elicits a spoken description, so even children who can't yet read can create their own stories, then have Hello Kitty read it all back to them. What the children may miss, though, are the hotspot animations that are popular in other digital storybooks but are absent here.
The illustrations are lovely and stick to the spirit of the original, nondigital designs. What Hello Kitty Big Fun Storymaking does, it does extremely well. Still, the fact that there are only two stories to interact with means that all but the youngest raconteurs are liable to quickly yearn for more.

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W E L C O M E

P C M A G A Z I N E
	`HELLO KITTY BIG FUN STORYMAKING` Few characters are more familiar to little girls than Hello Kitty, few activities more appealing than storytelling. Combine the two and you have a product that's sure to be a favorite. The biggest draw to this story-creation package is its protagonist: Hello Kitty, star of pencil cases, backpacks, makeup sets, and, now, software. Young storytellers can interact with one of two stories to determine what exactly Hello Kitty does in her day. In one of the stories, kids get to choose which ingredients Hello Kitty will include in her stew. In the other, they decide where she will go, how she will get there, and what she'll do once she arrives at her destination. To create a story, children listen to the narration and then fill in the blanks that determine Hello Kitty's actions. To do this, kids choose from a palette of icons. Passing the mouse over these icons elicits a spoken description, so even children who can't yet read can create their own stories, then have Hello Kitty read it all back to them. What the children may miss, though, are the hotspot animations that are popular in other digital storybooks but are absent here. The illustrations are lovely and stick to the spirit of the original, nondigital designs. What Hello Kitty Big Fun Storymaking does, it does extremely well. Still, the fact that there are only two stories to interact with means that all but the youngest raconteurs are liable to quickly yearn for more.