Liberty's Kids
$14.95		(Win95/98/Me/2000/XP/Mac) (Retail) (LIBKIDSDR)

Publisher: The Learning Company

Ages 8 to 12

Ratings:

A+/B- from Just Adventure

The American Revolution

From the Boston Tea Party to the signing of the Declaration of Independence to the Victory at Yorktown, put yourself on the scene of the American Revolution’s most dramatic moments! Become one of Liberty’s Kids™ – the unflappable young journalists in search of the ultimate cover story. As a reporter for The Pennsylvania Gazette, you’ll write about the events that shaped our nation, encountering soldiers, spies, Indians, Loyalists, statesmen, and townsfolk in a series of incredible historical adventures. An unforgettable hands-on lesson in American history, journalism and more!

Experience the American Revolution as one of Liberty’s Kids – the fearless young reporters determined to get to the truth. Meet fascinating characters, observe great turning points, and witness – first hand – the birth of a nation. You’ll never look at history the same way again!

Understand the events surrounding the birth of our nation.

Learn valuable skills of investigative reporting such as listening, observation, and separating fact from opinion.

Meet more than 30 interactive characters including famous heroes like Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Abigail Adams and Paul Revere.

Experience seven replayable events, portrayed from different perspectives.

Gather facts from an expansive reference guide to people, places, and events.

Challenge yourself with more than 20 printable puzzles, games, and quizzes.

Publish and print your own front-page newspaper story!

Requirements:

Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP: Pentium 166 (or equivalent), 32 MB RAM, 8x CD-ROM drive, 60MB hard disk space, high color, 16-bit, Windows compatible sound card and speakers, Windows compatible mouse.

Macintosh: Power PC 180 MHz+, System 8.6 to 9.1, OS X, thousands of colors 16-bit, 32MB RAM, 8X CD-ROM drive, 60MB hard disk space, Sound card and speakers, mouse.

Reviews:

Just Adventure by Cindi Kyser and Mercedes Morgan

"Liberty's Kids is a point and click adventure with animated, 2-dimensional graphics. It provides an interactive encounter with the American Revolution by placing the player in control of Sarah and James - two young reporters who assist Ben Franklin with the Philadelphia Gazette. When Ben is called away to Europe, he leaves these two in charge of providing news for the paper."

"As you interview and sketch, the results accumulate in an online journal. When all sources have been exhausted, you return to the newsroom to review your findings, sort facts from opinions, and build your story for publication in the Gazette. In addition to content, you are responsible for creating the headline and providing artwork to accompany each front page story. For each issue, your success as a journalist is measured by the number of Gazette copies that are sold."

"In terms of educational value, this is a solid title that requires creativity, problem solving, a lot of paying attention, and strong reading skills. It is recommended for children ages 8-12 and Mercedes was most challenged by the task of sorting facts from opinions and rumors in order to decide what was really "news." For parents and teachers, it provides all of the qualities that we search for when seeking to ensure that our children spend meaningful time with a computer.

"However, from a child's view, things are a little different. Mercedes, who is a gaming veteran, agreed that it was an interesting title but said that she'd only recommend it to "...a kid who really wanted to learn about history." For her, after a long day of school and homework, Liberty's Kids required far too much reading and listening..."

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