History VideoGame / LivingBooks

* UpdatedRerelease: ''Just Grandma and Me'' and ''Arthur's Birthday'' have one. They increased the resolution, and the former added a UI for languages while the latter added minigames. The latter also omitted the Spanish language option (even though the Portuguese version of ''Arthur's Birthday'' was the updated version of that game and included American English).

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: This from ''Arthur's Birthday'':
--> '''Mr. Read''': (talking about ice cream flavors) Look! We got chocolate...strawberry...[[BreadEggsMilkSquick and mocha almond spinach]]!\\
'''Arthur and D.W.''': Ewww!\\
'''Mr. Read''': Just kidding.\\
'''D.W.''': [[DudeNotFunny Dad, that's not funny]]!

* NamedByTheAdaptation: In "Dr. Seuss's ABC", the alligator is now named Albert, the camel is named Clive, the elephant is named Ethel, the Fiffer-Feffer-Feff is named Feffer, the girl is named Greta, her goat is named Gus, Ichabod's sister is named Izzy, the lion is named Leonard, the mice are named Mary, Mario, Malinda, Minerva, Mike, and Marvin, the Queen of Quincy is named Quinella, the rhino is named Rupert, two of the turtles are named Tina and Ted, and the fox is named Xavier.

*** DownerEnding: Clicking the treasure pile results in Arthur/Buster deciding to keep the treasure all to themselves; locking themselves in their bedroom with the treasure and [[PooledFunds swimming in it]] [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987 Scrooge McDuck]]-style. Everyone expresses disappointment in Arthur/Buster for not doing more with their newfound wealth and Arthur/Buster [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking miss their favorite dessert]] because their treasure blocked their door. [[AnAesop A subtle moral about sharing your benefits with others ensues]].

''Living Books'' was a series of interactive books with animation aimed at children[[note]]basically, proto-{{Kinetic Novel}}s (''not'' VisualNovels, as there is no semblance of choice involved)[[/note]] produced by Creator/{{Broderbund}} and Creator/RandomHouse and distributed on CD-ROM for UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows and Platform/AppleMacintosh. The series began with the release of ''[[Literature/LittleCritter Just Grandma and Me]]'' (an adaptation of the book by Creator/MercerMayer) in 1992. Later, in 2012, several former Living Books employees formed Wanderful Interactive Storybooks and secured the rights to Living Books assets from owning company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and have since released many of the games for modern [[UsefulNotes/IOSGames iOS]] and [[UsefulNotes/AndroidGames Android]] mobile devices, with Windows and Mac versions still on the horizon. The newer apps add a few new features such as an in-page interface for skipping directly to other pages, as well as the ability to switch between languages on the fly.

** ''D.W. the Picky Eater'' is the only game that doesn't use the [[UsefulNotes/GameEngine Mohawk engine]].

** ''The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight'' has a bee. The [[UsefulNotes/IOSGames iPad/iPod]] versions gave him the name Buzzy.

* SameLanguageDub: Much like how Creator/HumongousEntertainment got entirely redone dubs for the UK, Living Books also got several UK dubs. Four of these UK dubs were also rereleased on the [[UsefulNotes/IOSGames iPod, iPad, and iPhone]] by Wanderful Storybooks.

''Living Books'' was a series of interactive books with animation aimed at children[[note]]basically, proto-{{Kinetic Novel}}s (''not'' VisualNovels, as there is no semblance of choice involved)[[/note]] produced by Creator/{{Broderbund}} and Creator/RandomHouse and distributed on CD-ROM for UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows and UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh. The series began with the release of ''[[Literature/LittleCritter Just Grandma and Me]]'' (an adaptation of the book by Creator/MercerMayer) in 1992. Later, in 2012, several former Living Books employees formed Wanderful Interactive Storybooks and secured the rights to Living Books assets from owning company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and have since released many of the games for modern [[UsefulNotes/IOSGames iOS]] and [[UsefulNotes/AndroidGames Android]] mobile devices, with Windows and Mac versions still on the horizon. The newer apps add a few new features such as an in-page interface for skipping directly to other pages, as well as the ability to switch between languages on the fly.

* OnceAnEpisode: The title screens are always done in the same format - the main character explains what to do, and then they dance to the ThemeTune.

* PullARabbitOutOfMyHat: On Page 9 of ''Green Eggs and Ham'', clicking on Guy will cause a spotlight to shine on him as he does a hat trick; the first click will cause him to pull out a goose and be embarrassed, while every subsequent click will cause him to pull out a rabbit and an offscreen crowd applauds him.

* {{Feelies}}: Almost every title came with the book it was based on and a parental guide in a few cases. Also, the disc had audio tracks for when you wanted to listen to the music from the game.

** Clicking on the lamp in page 11 of ''Arthur's Birthday'' plays the ThemeTune from ''Arthur's Teacher Trouble''.

* StealthPun: ''The Tortoise and the Hare'' has a quartet of hens who get really excited when they see Simon and swarm around him. Apparently, Simon is a ChickMagnet.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: On Page 9 of ''Green Eggs and Ham'', clicking on the fox will reveal he is attempting to eat the ham in the dark only to get caught. The normally cheerful Sam actually looks angry as he [[TranquilFury silently]] orders the fox to put the ham back on the plate.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: On Page 9 of ''Green Eggs and Ham'', the fox is attempting to eat the ham in the dark only to be caught. The normally cheerful Sam actually looks angry as he [[TranquilFury silently]] orders the fox to put the ham back on the plate.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: On Page 9 of ''Green Eggs and Ham'', the fox is attempting to eat the ham in the dark only to be caught. The normally cheerful Sam actually looks angry as he [[TranquilFury silently]] orders the fox to put the ham back]].

* NamedByTheAdaptation: In "Dr. Seuss's ABC", the alligator is now named Albert, the camel is named Clive, the elephant is named Ethel, the Fiffer-Feffer-Feff is named Feffer, the girl is named Greta, her goat is named Gus, Ichabod's sister is named Izzy, the lion is named Leonard, the mice are named Mary, Mario, Malinda, Minerva, Mike, and Marvin, the Queen of Quincy is named Quinella, the rhino is named Rupert, two of the turtles are named Tina and Ted, and the fox is named Xavier.
* NoNameGiven: A lot of the original characters (such as the purple bird from "The Cat in the Hat" and the moth/butterfly from "Stellaluna") are unnamed.

* {{Leitmotif}}: In "The Tortoise and the Hare", the title characters and a dragonfly that appears on most pages have their own theme tunes.

* ''[[Literature/LittleCritter Just Grandma and Me]]'' (1992)

* SlapstickKnowsNoGender: In "The Cat in the Hat", the purple bird falls over backwards while she's claiming it's "time to be firm" with Thing 1 and Thing 2.

* DogsLoveFireHydrants: In page 5 of The Tortoise and the Hare, a dog sniffs a fire hydrant and gets soaked by it.