Educational Media Reviews Online

Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre is a polished and insightful resource appropriate for library collections serving university undergraduates and high school students. Amenable to Macintosh and PC platforms alike, the CD-ROM is user-friendly. Upon activation, the program presents a concise overview of its contents, followed by a main menu from which students can choose a particular category.

Each facet is unique. "The Text" consists of the entire novel, broken into chapters, accompanied by an engaging introduction and a brief synopsis. A glossary to bolster the reader's vocabulary, and a list of key events, each of which links to relevant essays, round out this section. "Key Scenes" provides audiovisual movie clips. The user can listen to or read the film dialogue, then compare this enactment to the corresponding scene in the novel. "Characters" furnishes descriptions and analyses of the major and minor characters, drawing upon examples from the text. The "Literary Criticism" section contains both modern and contemporary criticism, though the modern criticism originates from only one source, a few professors at the University of Warwick. Particularly wonderful are the extracts of book reviews written when the novel was first circulated. These come from various publications, and are fully cited. Videotaped mini-lectures by Brontë experts Dr. Sally Poulson, of the University of Warwick, and Professor Judy Simmons, of De Monfort University, discuss debated questions about the novel and its author. A lesson entitled "Charlotte Brontë" supplies a brief biography, a list of her other publications, and a time line, comparing the author's life to the general events of the period. The program also offers "Sources for Research," containing a bibliography, a filmography, and links to Internet resources. The filmography is of special interest for libraries with media collections, as it covers films produced from 1910 to the present, but it is disappointing that current distributors are not listed. Finally, suggested classroom exercises, writing assignments, and quizzes, designed to help students understand the text, can be found in the "Teachers' Notes" segment.

The CD's well-designed interface is visually appealing, using a parchment and earth tone palette that's easy on the eyes. The font is large, but not oversized. Navigational elements include logically and conveniently arranged scroll bars and buttons, as well as a keyword search module that penetrates the text of the entire CD-ROM. This search engine is limited, however, by its inability to accommodate Boolean searching. Throughout the program, subtly inserted period drawings and classical music create an erudite atmosphere, complementing the subject matter. One can shut off the music, if it distracts. "Print" buttons make it simple to print any portion of a lesson.

Considering the content and presentation, $149.00 is a reasonable price for Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre, which is sure to pique students' interest and will enhance any course in Victorian literature. The most versatile supplemental learning tool of its kind on the market. Highly recommended.