Carmen Sandiego's ThinkQuick Challenge. The Learning Company, $30. For ages 8 to 12. CD-ROM for Windows 95/98 or Macintosh

I'm sorry to say that something similar has happened to Carmen Sandiego. A couple of years ago, "Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?" was a CD-ROM title that I could wholeheartedly recommend to parents of middle-schoolers who wanted something fun that wasn't a complete waste of time. Kids had a ball searching the far corners of the globe for the fictional spy Carmen, in the meantime getting tours of fantastic places from the ruins of Persepolis in Iran to Sydney (Australia) Harbor. It was a near-perfect combination of fun and learning.