Collins Big Cat provides a range of interactive resources that develop literacy skills. They are designed to be used in conjunction with the printed books by children working in groups or pairs. They can also be used with the whole class. They provide: talking books, active books, electronic big books, a ClipArt library and book review section.

Talking Books give children the opportunity to:

* Listen to the story as it is read aloud on screen

* Read along to the audio following the text and pictures

* Read the text on screen without audio support

* Check each word individually with an audio prompt

* Follow up with a range of interactive activities that relate to text, word and sentence level learning objectives.
Animation and sound effects support comprehension and engage the reader.
Talking books featured: The Brave Baby, Good Fun Farm, Fly Facts, Star Boy's Surprise, Buzz and Bingo in the Fairytale Forest and Swimming with Dolphins.

Active Books are designed as interactive electronic texts. They provide children with the opportunity to influence the development of a story, making choices and determining outcomes. The Active Book is Travel Writer, linked to Pacific Islands and Unusual Traditions (Purple/ Band 8).

Electronic Big Books are ideal for:

* Whole class/ group work

* use on an interactive whiteboard

* generating group discussion

* use in plenary sessions

ClipArt library contains a collection of ClipArt characters and objects from the books, ideal for customizing worksheets, record sheets and own work, making models and creating presentations.

Book Review is a downloadable form for the reader to fill in as a personal record of their own reading.

This book is part of a book series called Collins Big Cat Software .

This book has been graded for interest at 6-7 years. This book is part of a reading scheme, meaning that it is a book aimed at children who are learning to read.

This book was published 2005 by HarperCollins Publishers .

Collins UK has been publishing educational and informative books for almost 200 years. Jonathan was born in 1965, the son of a rig fitter and a primary school teacher. He first developed his skills as a writer and illustrator while studying architecture, illustrating poems and lyrics that he had written. After leaving college, he worked as an architect for several years, before pursuing a career in children's books. In addition to writing books such as Bringing Down the Moon, and Ruby Flew Too, he also paper-engineers pop-up books.