There are numerous children's stories and books available to readers on the World Wide Web (WWW). Some are electronic versions of stories originally published in more traditional form. Others have been written for and published only on the Web. A growing number of these online stories and books take advantage of the electronic medium to support the text with pictures and sound, as well as to provide opportunities for other types of reader-text interaction. The following is an annotated list of a few of the interactive stories and books that can be found on the WWW. These particular sites were selected for Web Watch because they illustrate different types and levels of interaction.

 
StoryBook Park
<http://www.planetzoom.com/St orybook/Storybook.htm>

StoryBook Park is published by Planet Zoom, a student-run organization in Minnesota, USA, dedicated to quality reading and learning on the Internet. It provides readers with a variety of original interactive stories, accessed through imaginative places like Kiwi Island, Tornado Lane, and Midnight Mountain. On Kiwi Island, for example, readers can enter an Escape Your Disaster story where they interact with the storyline and determine the plot by making choices at key decision points. On Tornado Lane, readers can help create Twisted Tales by first supplying a list of requested nouns, verbs, and adjectives and then seeing their words turned into stories with improbable action and crazy story lines. And on Midnight Mountain, readers join Info-Spy and acquire a mission that can only be accomplished by reading the thriller-like text carefully and answering questions using information found at other sites on the Web.

 
The Global Campfire
<http:www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec/fl/pcto/campfire.html>

The Global Campfire is a project of the Family Literacy Center at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA, and is available through the Family Learning section of the ERIC Clearinghouse for Reading, English and Communication. Readers imagine themselves gathered around a campfire where people from all over the world are telling their stories. Four types of stories are in process, one each in the genres of science fiction, adventure, mystery, and family relationships. Each story is the cumulative offerings of other readers, or "storytellers." After reading the contributions that make up a story, readers are encouraged to build on to the story by writing and submitting their own text and then checking back in a couple of days to see if it was included. Because of the popularity of the site, not all submissions can appear, so "storytellers" are encouraged to pay attention to what others have written and make a positive addition to the plotline.

 
The Adventures of Banph
<http://www.banph.com/>

This contemporary story of an ant knight, who lives in a medieval castle and is commander of his queen's army, is gradually coming online, and readers are apparently anxious for the next monthly installment. It is a delightfully adventurous tale set in the future when insects are in control of the world. The well-written text is enhanced with charming and colorful illustrations (be patient when loading). Interactivity is restricted to selecting options outside the main body of the text, including an illustrated description of the book's characters, a guide giving readers an overview of this imaginative world, a reader's forum for comments, and "Banph Mail," an opportunity to write to the author, artist, and Webmaster.

 
Pride and Prejudice
<http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~chur chh/pridprej.html>