What is Just Grandma and Me?

Once upon a time, Brøderbund Software took a popular $1.95 storybook, Just Grandma and Me, by Mercer Mayer, and transformed it into a $49.95 CD-ROM-based Living Book. So what do you and your three-to-eight-year-old get for the extra $48 (assuming you're lucky enough to own a color Mac with a CD- ROM drive)?

Something special indeed. Together with Voyager's A Silly Noisy House CD-ROM, Just Grandma and Me shows just how good computer illustration and animation for children can be when you're given the elbow room afforded by a CD-ROM disc and the color capabilities of a Mac LC II.

Just Grandma and Me differs from A Silly Noisy House in its traditional narrative structure: Mayer’s Little Critter and his grandma take the bus to the beach, fly a kite, go into the water, eat hot dogs, build a sand castle, and ride home again. The story takes place over the course of a dozen “pages" that faithfully duplicate the original book’s whimsical illustrations. Children can watch die pages turn or manually turn them and play with the interactive elements. In either case, the story is narrated out loud by Little Critter — in English, Spanish, or Japanese — as the words are highlighted.

The interactive elements are what really bring the story to life. Almost every object on a page can be clicked on to provide something entertaining or whimsical (starfish dance, umbrellas launch like rockets, and so on). Brøderbund has done a good job of targeting the humor at its youthful audience, with surprises that won't wear thin quickly. And the production values are high enough that parents will also enjoy sitting through the story many times.

Brøderbund plans to produce an entire series of Living Books titles. With Just Grandma and Me, the company has set a very high standard.

Bradbury, James. (December 1992). Just Grandma and Me. MacUser. (pgs. 89-90).

Download Just Grandma and Me for Mac

Architecture

68K + PPC (FAT)

System Requirements

From Mac OS 6.0 up to Mac OS 9.2

Compatibility notes

Emulating this? It could probably run under: Basilisk II