By JINNY GUDMUNDSEN
Gannett News Service

Year after year, Microsoft's Encarta Reference Library has ranked as a top-notch digital encyclopedia for families with children in middle school and above.

This year's edition, Encarta Reference Library Premium 2005, is no different. It includes more than 68,000 articles, 26,000 photos and illustrations, 400 videos, 3,000 sound and music clips, and 1.8 million map locations.

What's more, this year's suite adds a new component, Encarta Kids, that will appeal to families with children as young as 7. Here's a closer look at Encarta Kids and another family-friendly feature in this 2005 edition.

Encarta Kids

This new section has more than 500 articles written especially for kids ages 7 to 12. More than 2,500 pieces of multimedia accompany the articles, including videos, photos, animations, and interactive games and activities.

In addition to the search bar at the top of the page, kids also will find 10 categories on the main Encarta Kids page. These starting points cover categories called Animals, Science, Sports and Recreation, The Arts, Reading and Writing, People, Places, History, Social Studies, and Games and Fun Stuff.

Clicking a category leads to subcategories, which in turn leads to thumbnail graphics presenting more options. For example, if a child clicks on Animals, she will see eight subcategories including Kinds of Animals, which reveals 51 thumbnail pictures when clicked.

The thumbnails introduce child-appropriate articles or games. For instance, under Kinds of Animals, the Speedy Creatures thumbnail opens a game in which players try to match animal pictures to traffic signs representing the animals' speeds. An eagle, for example, can dive at 120 miles per hour, while a sloth moves at just 1.2 mph.

Encarta Kids features extra large type sizes, bright colors and loads of multimedia. It anticipates children's misspellings as it guides them to desired content. The games are fun and informative, although somewhat repetitive in their format.

Encarta Kids isn't perfect. It should have more content that can be read out loud. Unlike other sections of Encarta, kids can't click on a word to have it defined in the suite's integrated dictionary.

Math assistance for teens

Through a partnership with the excellent Hotmath.com Web site, Encarta 2005 adds Online Math Homework Help. By launching Encarta's Online Math Homework Help, kids seeking help in pre-algebra, algebra, advanced algebra and geometry can find step-by-step solutions to problems similar to those in their homework.

MORE INFO

Score: five stars out of five

Best for ages 7 and up

From Microsoft, www.microsoft.com/encarta, for $69.99.

Available on one DVD or five CDs for Windows.

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Gudmundsen is the editor of Computing With Kids magazine (www.ComputingWithKids.com) .