The graphics a-go-go layout will pull kids into this site and keep them here, at least for a while. They'll find plenty of stories and activities. Plus, once registered, kids can visit a chat forum and sign up for an E-Pal. But FreeZone fails by trying to appeal to too many age groups. Items by and for young teens, such as book and record reviews, will appeal to that audience. But the really dippy things, such as a rap sung by someone called Mooselips, no one older than eight would find funny. The mix just doesn't work. - Dorrit Tulane Walsh
There's very little here of interest to anyone but the smallest of children, and parents who direct their children to this site will probably live to regret it. This sparse site contains just 10 RealAudio instrumentals, over which kids are encouraged to sing the lyrics to such songs as "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Home on the Range." Thing is, the lyrics have been altered to fit the established personalities of characters, including Yosemite Sam and Marvin the Martian. Kids old enough to read the lyrics and understand them will probably be as annoyed by this as any adult. The concept is infantile-odd, since these characters were created specifically to appeal to adults. - Gary Barker
We've all been warned that looking directly at the sun can lead to blindness, but I'll bet no one ever warned you about Dragonfly, which features enough bright, clashing colors to make your eyes water, plus an awful background image that adds insult to injury. But once your eyes recover from the shock, you'll find an interesting, entertaining, educational site with a lot going for it. Here, kids can study wolf communications, learn to make an igloo, get a brief (47 words!) introduction to the bird-eating spiders of tropical South America, study the aerodynamics of paper airplanes, and learn about the symbiotic relationship of oak trees and squirrels. Apparently intended for kids ages 5 to 10. - Gary Barker
"Have you ever witnessed acts of extreme courage? Generosity? Kindness? Ability? Anyone can be a hero: Mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, teachers, students, literary and historical figures." This site helps kids find new heroes or share the heroes they already have and features 16 different heroic categories, including freedom, writer, earthkeeper, lifesaver, animal, science, angel, explorer, poet, peacemaker, and more. This is about as wholesome and nice as a site can be before sugar crystals start to form on the Web server. I didn't personally check the credentials of every hero listed here, but I doubt Atilla the Hun or your neighborhood junkie is referenced anywhere on the site. - Gary Barker
Most people in the Western world are already familiar with at least the basic outline of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, so I'll spare you the pithy plot recap. Since this multimedia adaptation uses all of the original text and all of Sir John Tenniel's original illustrations, it's about as faithful to the original as possible. Unfortunately, the site is incredibly slow (as long as five minutes per page even on a lightning-fast T1 connection), and some multimedia augmentations are just plain obnoxious. If you know a kid who'd like it, you're better off buying the version of this site they sell here on disk. - Gary Barker
Does your bologna have a first name? Do you spell "relief" ROLAIDS? Have you ever wished, by any chance, that you were an Oscar Mayer wiener? And for that matter, if it says Libbey's, Libbey's, Libbey's on the label, do you like it, like it, like it? If so, blame TV. The Just Think Foundation hopes to promote critical thinking about popular media and to examine the influence of media on the behavior of young people. Did you know that the average child watches 20,000 commercials every year? Did you know the average child has witnessed 8,000 fictional acts of murder by the age of 12? No? You would if somebody had set it to music. - Gary Barker
This "electronic voice of teens," co-sponsored by the Bergen County Record and the Academy for the Advancement of Science and Technology, includes numerous sections, such as Sports Zone, Diversions, Real Time, Trendz, Don't Go Here, Reach, Hot Issues, Magnifique, Road Ready, The Attic, and Jack and Diane. These boil down into love and sex advice, fashion and beauty tips, car culture, jock culture, music, books, movies, news and information of interest to teens, an "All My Children" fan club, anime information, tropical fish, videogames, in-line skating, support for teen writers and artists, humor, volunteerism, job searches, and college preparations. Interesting and well done, the site has something for everyone in the pimples-and-braces set. - Gary Barker
Wonderland takes full advantage of the Web's multimedia capabilities with a collection of text and voice renditions of Disney-adapted tales, including Hercules, Treasure Island, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame; Kiddie Karaoke, which lets kids scroll through the lyrics and sing along to the music of Elmo's Song and other junior-league hits; and Sandbox, a project area whose attractions include three different kinds of paper airplanes that kids can decorate and print out, complete with folding instructions. It's questionable, however, whether the young children Wonderland aims to reach will have the patience to sit through the required Shockwave downloads. If you don't have a high-speed connection, your kids may find the wait in Wonderland a bit too long. - Sandra Stewart
Site of the month!!
Cybert has a question. Which type of corn is not real: Dent, Crunch, or Flint? Answer: Crunch. No, we're not talking Trivial Pursuit; we're talking quiz questions from Bonus.com, one of the only learning tools for kids on the Web that boasts thought-provoking content, full audio-visual flavor, and extensive interactivity in one pretty package. The site houses an impressively varied 600 games, puzzles, and educational activities, all alive with enticing splashes of color and eye-catching graphics. Kids will experience everything from a virtual exploration of the Galapagos Islands to dissection of a cow's eye; they'll also learn everything from how to make a hand puppet to how to write a play. The home page is divided into five categories-play, color, explore, inspect, imagine-that help guide you through the plethora of pages. For the more focused visitor, the site features a search engine that lets you type in a specific word and find the abundance of information Bonus.com has on that topic. Type in "space," for example, and in return you'll get all the facts on the Hale-Bopp comet; lessons on speaking the Star Wars Kriton language, replete with long grammatical explanations and pronunciation help via audio clips; a virtual tour of the planet Venus; and a whole lot more. Navigation on the site can be confusing in spots, and waiting for the graphics and plug-ins to load takes patience, but it's those same pictures and sounds that keep a child's interest, so the annoying wait may be worth your while. Characters such as Helmut Klaus, who takes you into his time machine for a varied history lesson on anything from Ancient Egypt to the Dark Ages, will draw kids in far more quickly than any textbook or teacher. And humorous sections such as the the Belch page, where kids are treated to audio clips of different kinds of burps, provide a welcome respite from all of that learning. Bonus.com monitors bulletin boards to prevent unsuitable material from appearing on the site. Parents can also check which activities are best for their children by consulting what icon is placed next to the content-three icons for three age groups. The real bonus is that the parents will likely become as addicted as the kids. - Marlene Goldman