The Wordville Train Station is the main stopping point for trains travelling to and from Wordville. It has its own ticket office and a selection of four destinations including the Word Mine, the Vowel Pond, the Match Patch and the Alphabet Dance Barn. In Reader Rabbit 2, Reader takes his own. THE LEARNING COMPANY Reader Rabbit's Preschool and 2nd Grade (PC, Used) - $12.34. Preschool disc is very good condition. 2nd grade disc has some scratches on it. Case has scratches on it and cracked. Usually ships within 12 hours.

Hardware: MS-DOS computers (512K; 640K on Tandy) with EGA graphics or better; supports Ad Lib, Sound Blaster, and Roland sound cards; mouse optional. (Macintosh version in development.) Emphasis: Reading, language arts.

Grade levels: 1-2. Publisher: The Learning Company, 6493 Kaiser Dr., Fremont, CA 94555.

Price: $59.95.With the rapid increases in hardware capabilities that have taken place in recent years, many old software favorites are disappearing from retail shelves. But not Reader Rabbit. Unlimited ninja guide.

Fans of this classic program will be glad to know that it's back, with new and improved graphics and sound, under the name Reader Rabbit 1. Better yet, it now has a sequel.Reader Rabbit 2 takes full advantage of recent improvements in color graphics and audio technology, and is an ideal next step for children who have mastered the introductory sound/symbol relationships covered in Reader Rabbit 1. The sequel features four games that stress phonics, word recognition, and alphabetizing skills. Each game also offers four levels of difficulty, allowing a child either to progress through a predetermined series of increasingly difficult activities or to skip directly to more challenging material.The first two games are primarily phonics activities.

In Word Mine an ingot is dropped into a rail car every time a consonant blend or a compound word is used correctly. At the most difficult level, the student is given a beginning consonant blend or half of a compound word and is asked to type in the appropriate ending.

In Vowel Pond, players catch fish by correctly identifying the vowel sounds of words passing under the boat. The game requires recognition of both long and short vowel sounds.The third activity, Match Patch, was the one my students enjoyed the most. In this 'Concentration-style' game, children pull carrots out of a three-row by four-row garden plot as they try to find pairs of rhyming words, homonyms, and antonyms. The last game, Alphabet Dance, presents the children with lists of names to be alphabetized-at first by the initial letter only and at the challenge level by the first two letters of the word.Strengths.Reader Rabbit 2 is a thoroughly engaging program. All of the games are enhanced by attractive graphics and animations, and by entertaining music that sounds good even without the help of an optional sound card.The program is very easy to use. Commands are intuitive and little training is necessary before children are able to move easily through the on-screen options. Although operating with a mouse is slightly simpler, keyboard users should have no trouble; virtually all program choices can be made using arrow keys, escape, and return.

A help option provides explanations of the game being played as well as 'skill hints' for anyone who is having trouble.This software is great for children who do not respond well to the high pressure and fast action of arcade-style games. The only game that requires any quick response time is Vowel Pond and, even here, if a fish swims by uncaught, it will keep returning until the child finally nets it.