Double act

One of the favourite predictions of the IT (information technology) prophets is the imminent death of the book. In the future, they tell us, we'll read only from monitors, if, that is, we read at all. Talking text, voice command and touch screens will make reading, writing, and even typing, obsolete. Well, all I can say is, don't hold your breath. The book, that anachronistic wad of non-interactive paper, seems to be holding its own pretty well in this new era of Chips with Everything.

The big joke on the pundits is that the computer industry itself generates mountains of literature. Apart from the obvious manuals, mags and how-to tomes, there are the game hero fanzines, the Quick Ways to Win game books, even a whole genre of IT-dominated science fiction set in that bookless future.

Now comes the ultimate irony - the educational CD-Rom 'n' book combo, an embodied admission that each medium has limitations that can be supplied by the other.

Proof that this new hard-copy/software hybrid is more than a gimmick has recently been provided by educational publisher Two-Can. Its book-plus-disc Interfact series has already attracted favourable reviews from both the educational and the computer press. The bulk of the range is designed for Key Stage 2 pupils. There are 20 basic titles covering historical, scientific and geographical subjects (examples include the Romans, Weather and the Rainforests) and three reference packages incorporating a large format map, interactive quizzes, puzzles and suggested experiments.

The Interfact range also includes four Play & Discover titles for children between the ages of three and six: Colours and Shapes, Counting, Letters, and Numbers. We had a close look at Colours and Shapes, and found much to commend. The PC and Mac-compatible CD-Rom was easy to use, with clear instructions, colourful illustrations and a welcome touch of humour. Introduced by baby astronauts Luke and Jo, the space-age equivalents of Janet and John, from the surface of a red 'colour and shapes moon', the eight activities include colour creation with Mr Mixit and the Jackpot game, where a talking fruit machine encourages you to choose the odd symbols out and win a shower of stars. In each case, right answers were congratulated and explained, so that even random success would reinforce learning.

The book's introductory and follow-up activities are just the thing to keep the rest of the children productively busy while the lucky few take their turns on-screen.

Many of the better educational programmes already supply activity sheets and teacher's notes. Putting them together in book form seems so obvious that, anti-paper prejudices apart, you can't think why it didn't happen before.

To contact Two-Can publishers phone 01933 443 862