A Dr. Seuss Rhyme Makes It Onto ‘ROM

Hey, kids, it’s story time! Let’s get out an old favorites, such as Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham” or one of the classic Little Golden Book titles like “The Sailor Dog.”

All you need is about 8 megs of RAM.

Some of the most beloved storybooks for bedtime reading are now on CD-ROM, complete with animation, music, narrators and lots of value-added games and puzzles. But these digital enhancements don’t necessarily make the classics any better.

No English-language books for beginning readers are more beloved than those of the late Theador Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, whose whimsical rhymes, distinctive drawing style, irreverent characters and wild hats have become childhood standard issue. Not only are his books clever, they are also at times moving.

Seuss’ tales can successfully translate into other mediums. The great animator Chuck Jones made a cartoon version of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” that beautifully captures the rhythms and emotions of the original.

But the CD-ROM version of “Green Eggs and Ham,” recently released by Living Books on a Windows and Macintosh hybrid disk, doesn’t come close to conveying the magic of the original. The CD-ROM is technically well made--it’s just soulless.

The main problem is that Seuss depends on the cadence of his wacky rhymes to carry the story forward. You almost want to read his books too fast, just to get to the next funny twist of language.

The CD-ROM moves at a halting pace, however, stopping after every page to allow kids to click on parts of the screen to open doors, look into cupboards or start up animation sequences.

These clickable surprises are the hallmark of Living Books products, several of which have proven to be extremely popular. One of their most commercially successful CD-ROMs is their version of Mercer Mayer’s “Just Grandma and Me.”

But Suess does not lend itself to this kind of treatment. Furthermore, “Green Eggs and Ham” is not well-served by the cutesy voices and tinny music on the CD-ROM, which sells for $29.95.

It’s not likely many have claimed that the use of language in the Little Golden Books is revolutionary. This series of children’s books, now more than 50 years old, instead depends on charming drawings and sweet stories. The CD-ROM versions, released by Powerhouse Entertainment in the Windows format, work in a similar fashion to the Living Books. A narrator reads a section of the story (in English or Spanish) as the words appear on the screen. A child can watch the story unfold scene by scene, or can stop to try out the clickable extras, including sing-along songs.

So far, six Little Golden Books have been given the CD-ROM treatment (prices are usually $29.95), including the “The Sailor Dog,” and “The House That Had Enough.”

The pauses to click-and-explore don’t really do any damage to these stories, and kids I’ve watched seem to love using a mouse themselves to find little surprises on the screen.

And therein lies a dilemma. There is a good chance that your kid, with just a little practice, will be able to use a mouse with ease all by him or herself. And because these CD-ROMs come complete with narrators, the kids don’t need you around to understand what’s going on in the stories.

In other words, they can now have classic storybook tales read to them by the computer. Although I don’t usually give credence to Luddite claims that digital devices are dehumanizing society, the notion that a computer could take over the task of bedtime stories gives me the chills.

* Cyburbia’s e-mail address is david.colker@latimes.com.