One of the most engaging and long-playing pieces of interactive family fun you're likely to come across, Knowledge Adventure's Books by You generates kid-friendly books as penned by the user, kid or parent - ideally both together.

With the ever-affable John Lithgow as host and step-by-step guide, you start by selecting from one of four story templates. The meat of each tale is already written (plotline, setting, etc.) but artistic license is handed over to the user who types in a whole bunch of literary data, from basics such as the protagonist's name and gender, to a variety of descriptors and contextual particulars one might encounter in a really good yarn.

After that, you're given the role of holier-than-thou editor where you can go in a butcher select passages and turns of phrase to suit individual tastes and fancies. You then add artwork and ultimately compile the whole thing into a publishable book which can be printed off at home (home-binding instructions included), saved as a PDF file for sharing, or, for a fee, uploaded to Knowledge Adventure where it's professionally printed and bound and then mailed to you.

Pro-printing and binding costs $10 for a soft cover or $20 for a hardcover, but it's a heck of a deal, because the stories are not just throwaway, 9-page shorts your might buy in the kids section at Amazon for the same amount; they're each compelling and engaging novellas 4 - 6 chapters deep, each with serious charm, wit and style, made all the more seriously charming, witty and stylish if the users have but an iota of creativity in their cranium.

Truly stimulating and really, really, fun, Knowledge Adventure Books by You is, bar-none, the best piece of software you could get for you and your kid.