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Having taken stock of how many Shakespeare plays I still need to read or re-read for next month, I have lots of reading to do this weekend: I am mid-way through Measure by Measure now, and enjoying it, although I cannot help but notice how very many of the puns and jokes the Folger Shakespeare editors let go by unacknowledged and unexplained. If you've read books like Filthy Shakespeare, which I mentioned last year, then at least some of them are obvious, but I'm gonna need to find a better commentary for this one. I have copies of The Taming of the Shrew, The Comedy of Errors, The Winter's Tale and Julius Caesar piled up and ready to go. And, of course, I've got non-Shakespeare and non-Austen books piled almost to my own height that I need to read.

That said, I did manage a bit of actual leisure reading earlier this week (extremely late one night/early one morning). I was lucky enough to have an ARC of Touch Blue, the forthcoming novel by my friend Cynthia Lord, and I really had to read it because I shared custody of it with Angela De Groot, and I know Angela has been chomping at the bit to read it.

The book officially comes out on August 1st, but I sure hope that it will sneak into stores early, because seriously, you want to read this one. And look at that lovely cover - you know you'd rather read it in the summer, right? Even more so when you realize that the book itself takes place in summer on one of the small islands off the coast of Maine, when Tess's family decides to take in a foster child in order to help "replace" the children who recently moved away from the island. You see, if there aren't enough kids to justify keeping the school open, more will happen than the school closing: the families with kids will all have to leave the island so the kids can attend school elsewhere (although in real life, I suppose home-schooling would be an option, albeit not one discussed in the book). And eleven-year old Tess sure doesn't want to leave the island she loves so much. But getting used to having a closed-off thirteen year-old foster brother may be too high a price to pay.

Cindy has again drafted a masterpiece. It's a book filled with superstitions ("Touch blue and your wish will come true") and suspicions and misconceptions and mis-starts. It is also full of love and hope and possibility, with humor and tears and just the right amount of luck, and with the sort of lyrical writing that makes the hearts of readers everywhere pitter-pat a bit more quickly. And Monopoly.

Absolutely not to be missed - and that's not something I say lightly. You'll thank me when awards season rolls around and you can say you've read it.

Last night, after becoming bored with paying work (which is something my wife says REALLY needs to stop happening) I took a little break and sketched some of the characters from the children's novel I'm currently writing.

I would say that I'm about halfway though the story, which I think I may have to extend out to a second book in order to tell properly. Thus far, I like what I've written - which is weird because I'm usually my toughest critic.

This is either a good thing, or a very, very bad thing. Only time will tell I suppose.

Steve

Title: Zoo Tycoon 2
Website: http://zootycoon.com/default.htm
Publisher: Blue Fang/Microsoft Game Studios
Platform tested under: Windows XP
System Requirements: Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, or Windows XP
Pentium III 733 MHz or high processor
256 MB RAM
Direct3D-compatible super VGA graphic adapter with at least 16 MB of Video RAM (VRAM).
16-bit color at 800_600
DirectX 9.0-compatible sound card
4x or higher CD-ROM
900 MB available hard drive space
[Not available for Macintosh, sorry]
RATING: E (everyone)
AGE: This one doesn’t have an age rating, but for least frustration I would say it’s going to work best for 8+, unless you play along with your kids.

There is one important thing my junior reviewer and I have in common – we love animals. So we just had to buy Zoo Tycoon 2. The animals are gorgeous 3-D creatures that walk, run, snuggle, roar, fly – most of the interactions you’d see real zoo animals do. If you put males and females in the enclosures you get babies, both a crowd favorite and viewer favorite. Plus, the game has a file on each animal telling things about its life in the wild. My seven year old loves those – and the zoo information also tells you what kind of ecology is right for the animals, what they need to eat, and what kinds of toys they like. There are actually a lot of things to keep in mind when building exhibits and stringing fence can be a little frustrating at times, but the resulting zoo is well worth it. Once the player becomes fluent with building enclosures, there are also interesting variations you can do with raising and lowering terrain and adding gorgeous waterfalls.

The game names each animal by specifies and gives it a number according to how many you have in the game, but you can rename the animals if you like. Our junior reviewer always names all the animals so she was pleased by this feature. You can give all the staff and visitors new names too, if you like.

One of our all time favorite things about the game is that you can go into “zookeeper mode” and see a human-eye view of the zoo. You can walk down the paths, peer into the displays, and wander right into the enclosures – while you’re in the enclosures, you can go ahead and clean up animal poo, wash the animals, and fill their food and water dishes. It’s always fun to wash an animal and see him get happy. The zookeeper view also gives you a chance to really enjoy the animal animations – they are amazing! You also get to admire the fountains, flower gardens, and other decorative items. My junior reviewer also loves snapping pictures of the animals.

Care of all the zoo animals does take some knowledge. If you fill the bear exhibit with males – they tend to fight. If you put antelope in with the lions, it doesn’t go well for the antelope. And if you leave openings in the cage walls, the animals terrorize the zoo guests – though, we have to admit, watching the lemurs attack guest is a bit funny. For some kids these are bonuses rather than challenges, but for sensitive younger children it is worth noting that the animals can and do die. Most from old age, but poor care will also result in animal loss.

The game actually has choices about how challenging you want to play. In freeform mode, you never run out of money – which is just great for young children who just want to build zoos and have the fun of playing zookeeper. For older children, there are challenges available with specific goals and limitations to see how well the player can manage all the different elements in a zoo. Keeping all the animals well and happy AND keeping all the visitors happy can be quite challenging – especially on a tight budget.

Once you meet all the challenges of Zoo Tycoon 2, you can add expansion packs for more fun – including special endangered species packs, water animal packs and even dinosaurs. This is one of our favorite games for fun, fantasy, and educational value.

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Reviewed by Jan and Rachel Field, NWFCC Children’s Softward Review Team