Reading's a pleasure...

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Read Right Away/Reading Pack 2 is yet another cassette from the successful series of reading programs from Highlight Software. Like others in the series, it contains two similar games, and the accent is truly on games yet there is still a remarkable educational content.

Educational programs have long been renowned for their poor quality. However this sad state of affairs is rapidly changing, and this kind of program certainly helps.

It is almost an outstanding example, which makes the few minor snags even more noticeable and frustrating!

Pyramids, the first program, proved most useful when I tried it with a group of less able first year juniors, but it has also shown great value over a much wider range. There is an initial choice between 'easy' or 'hard' words, followed by the selection of a skill level from one to five.

A scene — somewhere in Egypt - is beautifully drawn with an incomplete pyramid.

The idea is to supply the missing blocks by successfully combin ing a consonant blend at the bottom of the page with a word-ending in the pyramid.

Actually, the consonant blend is selected by moving two ofthe famous Wilson, Kepple and Betty group until they are correctly positioned.

Should a mismatch be made, it is likely that a native worker will fall dramatically to his death from the pyramid, but I guess you need to make a few sacrifices now and again ...

Sploosh is really very similar, but this time the scene is a swimming pool, with a variety of vowel pairs arranged at the top of the board.

The graphics are superb, and the sound effects help, but I found some of the choice mechanisms rather repetitive, having to re-enter them every five goes.

A longer game would be welcomed. So would the chance to more easily get into the listing, in order to alter some of the choices, and to re-check the list of valid responses.

However, this is a creditable program, which young children will love for the graphics and which parents and teachers might find useful for the reading skills involved.

Phil Tayler