Line #118 VideoGame/LivingBooks


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/living_books_series.png]]
2	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wanderful_interactive_storybooks.png]]
3	%%[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]
4	''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 Platform/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 Platform/{{iOS\|Games}} and Platform/{{Android\|Games}} 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.
5
6	The games in the series, in order, are:[[note]]Titles republished by Wanderful Interactive Storybooks are marked in bold, and titles that are not book adaptions are marked with an asterisk.
7	[[/note]]
8	* '''''[[Literature/LittleCritter Just Grandma and Me]]''''' (1992)
9	* '''''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'s Teacher Trouble''''' (1993)
10	* '''''[[Literature/AesopsFables The Tortoise and the Hare]]'''''* (1993)
11	* '''''The New Kid on the Block''''' (1993)
12	* '''''Ruff's Bone'''''* (1994)
13	* '''''Little Monster at School''''' (1994)
14	* '''''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'s Birthday''''' (1994)
15	* '''''Harry and the Haunted House'''''* (1994)
16	* '''''Literature/TheBerenstainBears Get in a Fight''''' (1995)
17	* ''Creator/DrSeuss's ABC'' (1995)
18	* ''Literature/SheilaRaeTheBrave'' (1996)
19	* '''''Literature/TheBerenstainBears in the Dark''''' (1996)
20	* ''Literature/GreenEggsAndHam'' (1996)
21	* '''''Literature/{{Stellaluna}}''''' (1996)
22	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'s Reading Race'' (1997)
23	* ''Literature/TheCatInTheHat'' (1997)
24	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'s Computer Adventure'' (1998)
25	* ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}} D.W. the Picky Eater]]'' (aka ''Arthur's Adventures With D.W.'') (1999)
26
27	All of the games have the option to either have the story be read to you, or to play the story and then allow you to [[PopUpVideoGames click anywhere to bring inanimate objects to life]]. Pretty much everyone who plays the games went with the latter option.
28
29	They are notable for featuring EasterEgg-laden stills on each page.
30
31	For books that are actually alive, see BooksThatBite.
32	----
33	!!Tropes featured include:
34	* AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal: In "The Tortoise and the Hare", several animals wear only accessories. One bear, for instance, wears a tie, the bird narrator wears shoes, and the beaver wears a baseball cap and shoes.
35	* AdaptationalExplanation:
36	** "Green Eggs and Ham" explains the reason the eggs are green-- a green bird laid them.
37	** "The Tortoise and the Hare" explains why the hare got tired -- he ate too much.
38	* AdaptationExpansion: Some games have extra scenes that aren't in the original books.
39	%%* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Just about everything said in ''Dr. Seuss's ABC''. (except in the Hub pages and the demo section).
40	* AlternateAesopInterpretation: InUniverse. In "The Tortoise and the Hare", the narrator bird maintains that the moral is "Slow and steady wins the race", but other animals interpret it as "Don't be such a big shot", "Always eat a balanced breakfast" or "The journey is the reward".
41	* AmbiguousGender: While most of the characters' genders can be determined by their voices or clothes, it is difficult to tell with the child of the woman on the train in "Green Eggs and Ham", who has a bob and wear pants. It may be presumed that the child is a boy.
42	* AnimalTalk: Ruff in ''Ruff's Bone'' can only bark, but is able to talk to the player.
43	* AnimateInanimateObject:
44	** In "The Cat in the Hat", the milk jug and glass, the table mirror, the three portraits, and a book can all speak.
45	** In "Dr. Seuss's ABC", a cactus, the moon, the soda glasses, and the portrait of Nixie Knox are all sentient.
46	** "The Tortoise and the Hare" features some sentient chimneys, windows, and mailboxes.
47	* AnthropomorphicFood:
48	** In "Dr. Seuss's ABC", the doughnuts in David's dream can speak and sing. Some peppers sing and dance in Xavier's stomach.
49	** In "The Tortoise and the Hare", the cabbages, carrots, beets, and tomatoes in the garden can speak.
50	* AntiFrustrationFeatures: According to [[https://web.archive.org/web/20120212141742/http://silicon-valley.siggraph.org/MeetingNotes/LivingBooks.html this article]], the running guy cursor during the load screens was used to keep the players distracted while they wait.
51	* ArgumentOfContradictions:
52	** In "Green Eggs and Ham", one long-necked animal admits he eats green eggs and ham, and another one says, "Ah, you'd eat anything!". They begin shouting, "Would not!" "Would too!" at each other.
53	** In "Stellaluna", two of Stellaluna's bird "brothers" begin arguing "Did not", "Did too" when one accuses the other of bumping him.
54	* ArtEvolution: The early titles featured characters with very basic design and no shading and much more LimitedAnimation. Eventually, the characters started to look more like actual illustrations, and the animation got progressively better.
55	* ArtisticLicenseAnimalCare: On the penultimate page of ''Arthur's Reading Race'' where Arthur and D.W. have gotten their ice cream, clicking Arthur will have him let Pal lick his ''chocolate'' ice cream cone; after which Arthur states: "Pal loves chocolate, too!" Do the math. [[spoiler: Chocolate is toxic to dogs.]]
56	* ArtShift: A subtle one in ''Stellaluna''. The character designs (particularly in the main characters and various gag characters) are slightly more cartoon-ish than the nearly photo-realistic illustrations in Janell Cannon's original book.
57	* AutomaticLevel: Several pages in each story will always advance to the next page without giving any clickables. The whole story is transformed into this in "Read to Me".
58	* BabySeeBabyDo: In "Stellaluna", when Mama Bat names Stellaluna, she echoes back, "Stella... luna."
59	* BananaPeel: Clicking on "Skip" in "The Tortoise and the Hare" causes the Hare to slip on a banana peel.
60	* BigEater:
61	** The dinosaur from "Dr. Seuss's ABC" eats twelve doughnuts and twelve daisies.
62	** The Hare in "The Tortoise and the Hare" eats a lot of vegetables from the garden, which ultimately ends up making him sleepy.
63	* BlatantLies:
64	** On the title screen for ''The Tortoise and the Hare'', the Hare introduces himself like so:
65	--->'''Hare''': And I'm the Hare! And this is the story about how I beat him in the race! It all began one day when the Tortoise was just lying around not doing anything, and I was trying to help him get moving! (Checks watch) Oh, gotta go! See you later!
66	** Yalley's "what I did over the weekend" story in ''Little Monster at School''
67	--->'''Yalley''': Does anyone wanna hear what else I did?\
68	'''Class''': NO!
69	* BoringButPractical: The "Read to Me" option is unanimously considered to almost be a total throwaway option (in fact, ''D.W. the Picky Eater'' doesn't even have the option at all). However, when you think about it, it does make sense for the option to exist, considering it is a book, after all.
70	* BravadoSong: In their adaptation of ''Literature/SheilaRaeTheBrave'', Sheila Rae sings a song about how nothing can scare her. She turns out to be wrong, however, when she becomes lost in the woods.
71	* BreadEggsMilkSquick: This from ''Arthur's Birthday'':
72	--> '''Mr. Read''': (talking about ice cream flavors) Look! We got chocolate...strawberry...and mocha almond spinach!\
73	'''Arthur and D.W.''': Ewww!\
74	'''Mr. Read''': Just kidding.\
75	'''D.W.''': [[DudeNotFunny Dad, that's not funny]]!
76	* BrickJoke:
77	** In ''Dr. Seuss's ABC'', Page Y has Young Yolanda Yorgenson yelling "Yoo-Hoo, is that you out yonder?", followed by a voice saying "Yes!". [[spoiler:This turns out to be the voice of the Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz on Page Z.]]
78	** ''Arthur's Computer Adventure'' has one page where a couple of mice order a large cheese pizza with extra cheese, and hold the pizza. A later page has a man at the pizza parlor calling Arthur's voice mail confirming the order.
79	* ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes: Page 9 of ''Green Eggs and Ham'' shows Guy, Sam, the mouse, and fox as barely visible silhouettes in the dark tunnel with just their eyes lit.
80	* CallBack: It wasn't uncommon for a game's click point to feature a CallBack to an earlier game.
81	** ''Harry and the Haunted House'' features the return of the epic paper airplane from ''Arthur's Teacher Trouble'' on Page 8. One of the [[RecurringExtra bugs]] folds a piece of paper to form it, and when he tosses it off, it plays the same heavy metal it was known for.
82	** ''Dr. Seuss's ABC'' has a CallBack to the same game -- on Page K, clicking on the kite reveals the small yellow guy ([[spoiler:the Zed]]) sliding down the string and creating a hole. He tries patching it up, but it still shows a little bit. Clicking on the hole forms a spider, playing the same music it went along with in ''Arthur's Teacher Trouble''.
83	** ''Little Monster at School'' also features the return of the epic paper airplane. On Page 12, one of the kids inside the school for recess decides to throw a paper airplane out; when he tosses it, heavy metal music plays when it flies.
84	* CallingYourNausea: In "Stellaluna", one of the bird brothers claims he's going to be sick when hanging upside down. He never actually throws up though.
85	* CanineConfusion: In one of the adaptations of one of the ''Literature/{{Arthur}}'' books, Pal is portrayed as loving chocolate, even though in real life, chocolate makes dogs sick and could even kill them.
86	* CactusCushion: If you click on "Spring" on page 6 of "The Tortoise and the Hare", the Hare will jump up, only to land on a cactus.
87	* ChickenJoke: In "The Tortoise and the Hare", a chicken walks across the racetrack, causing another to wonder why she crossed the road.
88	* CompressedAdaptation: ''The New Kid on the Block'' only features 17 of the original 100+ poems found in the original book for obvious reasons.
89	* ContinuityNod:
90	** The ThemeTune in ''Arthur's Birthday'' is an upbeat remix of the tune from ''Arthur's Teacher Trouble''.
91	** Clicking on Arthur's pillow on page 2 of ''Arthur's Reading Race'' temporarily turns it into a ghost, complete with the ghost leitmotif from ''Harry and the Haunted House''.
92	* CountingSong: In ''Sheila Rae, the Brave'', Sheila Rae, while [[NightmareFetishist pretending her cherries are bears' eyes]], sings a song with lyrics such as "One, two, three, four dead bear eyes."
93	* DevelopersForesight:
94	** Between pages 11 and 12 of ''Green Eggs and Ham'' (as the train and everything/one on it is plummeting toward the boat), the story is paused for an optional rhyming mini-game where Sam-I-Am asks the player to match words in a box at the bottom of the screen with the falling objects and characters on the screen that they rhyme with. The Green Eggs and Ham themselves are a possible object (with the words they rhyme with being either "yam", "jam", or "Sam(-I-Am)"). There's nothing preventing the player from clicking on Sam himself, since (obviously) his name also rhymes with "ham", and if this happens, Sam will simply ask the player what else on the screen rhymes with yam/jam/Sam.
95	** On page 5a of ''The Cat in the Hat'', you can use your mouse to knock on the side of the box containing the Things. Normally the Things will [[StopCopyingMe repeat your knocking pattern back at you and giggle]], but if you knock the first five notes of ShaveAndAHaircut, they'll complete the pattern with two knocks of their own.
96	* DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength: In "Ruff's Bone", the protagonist's owner throws his bone too hard and the owner says that he is the TropeCodifier.
97	-->'''Owner''': Okay Ruff, here's your bone. Ready? (throws bone) Whoa! I didn't know my own strength; Go get it Ruff.
98	* DogsLoveFireHydrants: In page 5 of ''The Tortoise and the Hare'', a dog sniffs a fire hydrant and gets soaked by it.
99	* DramaticIrony: On almost every page of ''Harry and the Haunted House'', you can click on items to make ghosts appear. Despite this confirming that the house is haunted, no main character in the story catches on...aside from Earl who briefly catches glimpses of the spirits but otherwise doesn't confirm his paranoia.
100	* DubNameChange: D.W.'s name in Spanish is Dorita, since "W" isn't used often in Spanish.
101	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
102	** ''Just Grandma and Me'' has much more basic click points, and has no RunningGag (V2 remedied this with Little Critter's grasshopper friend). One moment of notice is when clicking on a radio causes it to play the same noise as when you click on a menu button. Later games only used this noise on the menu and nowhere else.
103	** ''Arthur's Teacher Trouble'' and ''Arthur's Birthday'', from the perspective of the overall ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' series. They predate the television show, thus featuring different character designs and voices. From ''Arthur's Reading Race'' on, the character designs and voices are more similar to the television show.
104	* EasterEgg: Lots of them. Such as clicking on the letters that spell out HELP! in the pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey minigame in version 2 of WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'s Birthday, which would cause the graphics to be all Christmas-y.
105	* EasyModeMockery: [[DownplayedTrope A downplayed case to be sure]]. In the Deep Dark Sea minigame in ''Arthur's Computer Adventure'', nothing is stopping you from simply hugging the surface of the water and bypassing all the danger below. However, the surface offers little to no treasure to find (let alone the much-hyped "Thing"), is often devoid of any sea life (hostile or non-hostile), and as long as you are there you have Arthur constantly nudging you to "dive down to the bottom to look for treasure". As a result, surface-hugging runs of Deep Dark Sea make for rather boring experiences unless you actually go down to the ocean floor to explore as you are encouraged to do.
106	* EmbarrassinglyDresslikeOutfit: Implied for their adaptation of the ''Literature/{{Arthur}}'' book "Arthur's Teacher Trouble". When Mr. Ratburn's pants are replaced with a kilt, he looks shocked, but it's unclear whether it's because of the kilt or because of the clothes simultaneously changing.
107	* TheEnd: Nearly every game ends on this, though there are a few exceptions, such as ''The New Kid On The Block'', ''The Cat in the Hat'' and ''Stellaluna''.
108	* EpisodeTitleCard: After the logo, the book cover will show up along with the title being announced.
109	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: It's a book that is living.
110	* ExpositoryThemeTune: The ThemeTune in ''Sheila Rae'' is this.
111	--> ''B-R-A-V-E spells "brave"''
112	--> ''That's what they call''
113	--> ''Sheila Rae!''
114	* FadeToBlack: Between just about every screen.
115	* FailedAttemptAtScaring: In "The Tortoise and the Hare", a sentient scarecrow says, "Boo!" to Simon, a bird. Simon isn't scared, and scares the scarecrow by yelling, "Boo!" back.
116	* FaintInShock: Discussed in "The Cat in the Hat", when Tommy says, "Mom would faint at this mess!".
117	* FatFlex: In ''Arthur's Birthday'', there is a rotund man at the party store. [[https://youtu.be/lxrg3nCf2bg?t=6m7s Clicking on him]] causes him to turn into a [[TheCape superhero]], complete with the HeroicBuild. But then his fat quickly plops down, prompting an embarrassed look on his face.
118	* FemaleFelineMaleMutt: A weird example in ''Harry and the Haunted House''. While Amy the cat is anthromorphic, Spot the dog is zoomorphic.
119	* FollowTheBouncingBall: The words were highlighted as they were read.
120	* FoodComa: "The Tortoise and the Hare" explains the reason for the Hare getting tired as him having eaten too much when he stopped by a vegetable garden.
121	* {{Foreshadowing}}: A book on Page 12 of ''The Cat in the Hat'' foreshadows the events of ''The Cat in the Hat Comes Back'' (which never was a Living Book).
122	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: With all the things to click in the background, this is basically happening ALL THE TIME to the characters in the story.
123	%% * GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
124	* GoodAngelBadAngel: In ''Arthur's Computer Adventure'', Arthur has a devil and angel appear in thought bubbles.
125	-->'''Devil:''' You can play while Mama's away! She'll never know!\
126	'''Angel:''' No! You mustn't listen to him; always do what your mom says!\
127	'''Devil:''' You ''have'' to find the Thing; you'll win all that stuff!\
128	''(later)''\
129	'''Angel:''' See? I ''told'' you to listen to your mom!\
130	'''Devil:''' You can blame it on DW or Pal!\
131	'''Arthur:''' [[WontGetFooledAgain You got me into this mess!]] I'm not gonna listen to ''you'' again!
132	* GotVolunteered: In ''Harry and the Haunted House'', this happens to Harry.
133	--> '''Harry Voice-Over''': The front door was open a little so we went in. ''(Earl and Stinky shove Harry through the door)'' [[BlatantLies I volunteered to take the lead]].
134	* GuideDangIt:
135	** The paper airplane on Page 24 of ''Arthur's Teacher Trouble'' is hidden in an extremely obscure spot. As in, the last place you'd ever expect to look. On top of that, the click box is very small. [[spoiler:The location of it is just barely above Mr. Ratburn's head.]]
136	** The dragonfly in ''The Tortoise and the Hare'' is hidden in some very obscure places, and is commonly used as the yardstick for levels of obscurity when it comes to other {{Guide Dang It}}s. For example, [[spoiler:on Page 11, he's hidden on the far left, a place that looks like there's nothing to click on there.]]
137	* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: A lot of the animal characters in "The Tortoise and the Hare", including the title characters, wear only shirts, while a pig wears only pants, as does a dragonfly.
138	* HereWeGoAgain: In ''Ruff's Bone'', [[spoiler:after Ruff FINALLY retrieves his bone from a long journey, his owner throws it again. His reaction is...less than satisfying]].
139	** Similarly, in ''Harry and the Haunted House'', after Stinky gets his ball back, Harry loses his hat, and he and his friends have to go back into that mansion to find it. [[spoiler:However, Harry did get his hat back in the "The End" screen.]]
140	* HypocriticalHumor:
141	** A kid on Page 3 of ''Sheila Rae'' mentions why he was sent to the principal's -- through talking too much. This, of course, prompts him to start getting very talkative about it.
142	** Simon, the narrator for ''The Tortoise and the Hare'', on page 1. He will comment that the Hare is moving so fast he is not paying attention to where he is going... as he absentmindedly steps on a weak spot of the roof of the Tortoise's house and falls through it.
143	* InteractiveNarrator: In addition to narrating ''The Tortoise and the Hare'', Simon often participates in some of the story's in-universe events, such as acting as the referee to start the race.
144	* InterfaceSpoiler: On many occasions, during a huge plot twist or something along the lines of that, the text would always be displayed as the twist was being worked.
145	* IrisOut: ''Sheila Rae'' ends on this.
146	* KineticNovel: The series could be considered a prototype version of this genre, despite coming out way before this term (or its related term, ''sound novel'') [[OlderThanTheyThink was even invented.]]
147	* LampshadeWearing: In "The Cat in the Hat", one of the "lamps" turns out to actually be the purple bird wearing a lampshade.
148	-->'''Purple Bird''': Guess it wasn't too bright to try being the light!
149	* {{Leitmotif}}: In "The Tortoise and the Hare", the title characters and a dragonfly that appears on all pages have their own theme tunes.
150	* LethalLavaLand: The Pacific Ocean level in Deep Dark Sea (from ''Arthur's Computer Adventure'') includes an optional underwater volcano to explore early on. Using the minigame's mouse controls is required for exploring it to its full extent.
151	* LickedByTheDog: On Page 3 of ''Sheila Rae'', a click spot has a dog coming up to Wendell, while he's tied up in a jump rope. He tries to get the dog to untie him, but he gets licked on the face instead, and he finds it disgusting.
152	* LiteralBookworm: In ''The Berenstain Bears in the Dark'', clicking on one of the books in the library will cause a glasses-wearing bookworm to pop out, who rubs his tummy in satisfaction and says, "Mm! I love a good book."
153	* LivingClothes: One of the animations on the first page of ''Green Eggs and Ham'' has Guy-Am-I's [[FurIsClothing fur]] come off of his body and [[WalkLikeAnEgyptian do an Egyptian dance]] around the room leaving Guy in [[GoofyPrintUnderwear an orange tank top and polka-dot boxers]]. Guy then whistles, causing the fur to come back.
154	* LogoJoke: ''Green Eggs and Ham'' starts with a usual Living Books logo, but then the face worryingly looks upward followed by being smashed by the plate for the title screen.
155	%%* LoudGulp: Harry does this in "Harry and the Haunted House" when Earl tells him that if anyone enters the haunted house they never return.
156	%%* MagicCarpet: Page C of ''Dr. Seuss's ABC'' features one.
157	* MelancholyMusicalNumber: In "Stellaluna", the eponymous bat sings a sad song once she's lost, asking if she'll ever find a friend.
158	* MiniGame: Some later games included one, and even later games included several. [[note]]The books that have mini games are ''Sheila Rae'', ''In the Dark'', ''Green Eggs and Ham'', ''Stellaluna'', ''Arthur's Reading Race'', ''The Cat in the Hat'', ''Arthur's Birthday V2'', ''Arthur's Computer Adventure'', and ''D.W. The Picky Eater''. ''Dr. Seuss's ABC'' has a Let Me Play style for the ABC song, and ''Just Grandma and Me V2'' has a sticker placement activity on every page[[/note]]
159	* MisplacedWildlife:
160	** Several (humorous) examples with the tree hotspots on page 10 of ''Arthur's Teacher Trouble'', most notably a penguin.
161	** In ''Arthur's Computer Adventure'', electric eels are among the enemies in Deep Dark Sea. Electric eels are freshwater fish endemic to South America.
162	* TheMoralSubstitute: The short-lived "Little Ark" spinoff series, based on stories from Literature/TheBible rather than picture books and also published by Broderbund.
163	* MotorMouth: Hare from ''The Tortoise and the Hare'' will occasionally speak very quickly.
164	* MultipleEndings: Not so much from the stories themselves, but the two bonus board game mini-games included in ''Arthur's Reading Race'' and ''Arthur's Computer Adventure'' had these chosen by the player who won:
165	** In ''Reading Race'', Arthur or D.W. reach the ice cream shop and the player simply chooses one of several quirky ice cream flavors. No ending is really treated better than any of the others.
166	** ''Computer Adventure'' (where Arthur and Buster race to find hidden treasure) has more defined endings (via a SpinningPaper headline) depending on how Arthur or Buster uses their recently discovered treasure, via the player clicking on ideas in a thought balloon: A lollipop, a teddy bear, a building, an island, a gift box, and a pile of treasure.
167	*** GoldenEnding: Clicking the gift box or the building results in Arthur/Buster giving their wealth away to the general public or donating it to the museum respectively.
168	*** HappyEnding: Clicking the teddy bear or the island results in Arthur/Buster either buying toys or building an amusement park for the enjoyment of their friends and family.
169	*** BittersweetEnding: Clicking the lollipop results in Arthur/Buster opening a huge candy store in town. Everyone enjoys it, but then Arthur/Buster's dental health deteriorates.
170	*** 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. A subtle moral about sharing your benefits with others ensues.
171	* MusicalNod: Music from previous games were featured in newer additions to the series.
172	** A record player on Page 7 of ''Arthur's Teacher Trouble'' plays the ThemeTune from ''Just Grandma and Me''.
173	** Clicking on the lamp in page 12 of ''Arthur's Birthday'' plays the ThemeTune from ''Arthur's Teacher Trouble''.
174	* NamedByTheAdaptation: Many of the characters in "Dr. Seuss's ABC" were given this treatment:
175	** The alligator is now named Albert.
176	** The camel is named Clive.
177	** The elephant is named Ethel.
178	** The Fiffer-Feffer-Feff is named Feffer.
179	** The girl is named Greta and her goat is named Gus.
180	** The hen is named Harriet.
181	** Ichabod's sister is named Izzy.
182	** The king is named Kindly King Kevin Kerplotski III.
183	** The lion is named Leonard.
184	** The mice are named Mary, Mario, Malinda, Minerva, Mike, and Marvin.
185	** The ostrich is named Onis.
186	** Peter Pepper's puppy is named Patches.
187	** The Queen of Quincy is named Quinella.
188	** The rhino is named Rupert.
189	** Two of the turtles are named Tina and Ted.
190	** The fox is named Xavier.
191	* 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.
192	* OddballInTheSeries:
193	** ''The New Kid on the Block'' is the only one to be based on short poems rather than a whole story.
194	** ''The New Kid on the Block'' and ''Dr. Seuss's ABC'' are the only two where most of the interaction comes from clicking on the text.
195	** ''D.W. the Picky Eater'' is the only game that doesn't use the [[MediaNotes/GameEngine Mohawk engine]].
196	** Also, '''''[[Literature/AesopsFables The Tortoise and the Hare]]''''', '''''Ruff's Bone''''', and '''''Harry and the Haunted House''''' are the only Living Books PC games to be original stories not being based on any existing books.
197	* OdeToFood: In "Stellaluna", when the bats are eating the mangoes, if one particular one is clicked, they'll start singing about them.
198	%%* OhNoNotAgain: In ''Harry and the Haunted House'', this is Amy's reaction when Stinky tells her to go back inside the house for Harry's lost hat.
199	* OncePerEpisode: The title screens are always done in the same format - the main character explains what to do, and then they dance to the ThemeTune.
200	* 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 puts on a DeathGlare as he [[TranquilFury silently]] orders the fox to put the ham back on the plate.
201	* PopUpVideoGames: The Let Me Play option in every single game in the series, and the TropeMaker as they were the ones who popularized it. The only other known example as early as this was Creator/HumongousEntertainment's games, and they claimed to get their inspiration of this concept from these.
202	* PowderGag: In "Harry and the Haunted House", Harry at one point gets covered in flour, causing [[LovableCoward Earl]] to mistake him for a ghost.
203	* PragmaticAdaptation: ''The New Kid on the Block'' originally contained more than a ''hundred'' poems in the original book. While acceptable for a book of short poems to have that many, it was quite obvious there was no possible way to adapt that many for the game. As such, the game only adapts eighteen of them.
204	* 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 the green bird and be embarrassed, while every subsequent click will cause him to pull out a rabbit and an offscreen crowd applauds him.
205	* RecurringExtra: A few stories have minor characters who don't have much to do with the story, but show up on almost every page. The birds in ''Sheila Rae'' are an example.
206	* RedOniBlueOni: In ''The Tortoise and the Hare'', Hare is the cocky swift busybody Red who can't stay still for a minute while Tortoise is the easy-going, good-natured, and humble Blue who paces himself through life. Their shirts even reflect their respective colors.
207	* RelatedInTheAdaptation: In "Dr. Seuss's ABC", two of the mice (named Mary and Melinda) are now mother and daughter.
208	* RegionalBonus: The NTSC version of ''Sheila Rae, the Brave'' includes a map game, albeit one that is very all over the place in terms of programming -- they used the same scripting that was used for reading the books, which led to different files for every single viewing angle and LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading, all totaling up to almost 350 MB of space (keep in mind this was more than half of what [=CDs=] could even hold at the time, not to mention it was even bigger than the story itself). The PAL localization used custom scripting for it instead, working it into more of an actual game engine and compressing it down to 40 MB.
209	* ReusedCharacterDesign: The final page of ''The Tortoise and the Hare'' has two spectators, one as a skunk wearing a yellow shirt and another as a little cat girl wearing a ribbon on her head. They most likely inspired the designs for Stinky and Amy respectively in ''Harry and the Haunted House''.
210	* RhymesOnADime: The Dr. Seuss books, true to nature, are told in rhyme. Even the main screen and minigames does it.
211	* RidiculouslyAliveUndead: In "Harry and the Haunted House", a ghost is seen drinking water at one point.
212	* RunningGag: Every game has an element that shows up on every page, except ''The New Kid on the Block''. Specific examples:
213	** ''Arthur's Teacher Trouble'' has a paper airplane, complete with heavy metal music.
214	** ''The Tortoise and the Hare'' has a dragonfly, who is hidden in very obscure places.
215	** ''Ruff's Bone'' has the bone as the gag, and the only page it doesn't appear on is page 9.
216	** ''Little Monster at School'' has Little Monster's pet Zipper-Umpa-Zoo.
217	** ''Arthur's Birthday'' has party supplies popping out of random objects. (Both versions are the same)
218	** ''Harry and the Haunted House'' has a spider.
219	*** ''Harry'' also has three multicolored ladybugs and a red bird in the outdoor scenes.
220	** ''The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight'' has a bee. The [[Platform/IOSGames iPad/iPod]] versions gave him the name Buzzy.
221	** ''Dr. Seuss's ABC'' has a yellow fuzzy guy ([[spoiler:the Zed]]).
222	** ''Sheila Rae, the Brave'' has butterflies. It changes from page to page, but there's always a butterfly somewhere.
223	*** ''Sheila Rae'' also has two bluebirds, said to be sisters, that mirror the story's action.
224	** ''The Berenstain Bears in the Dark'' has a firefly.
225	** ''Green Eggs and Ham'' has a green bird.
226	** ''Stellaluna'' has a moth.
227	** ''Arthur's Reading Race'' has an orange cat.
228	** ''Just Grandma and Me V2'' retroactively added one -- Little Critter's grasshopper friend.
229	** ''The Cat in the Hat'' has a purple bird.
230	** ''Arthur's Computer Adventure'' has a couple of mice.
231	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere:
232	** In ''Arthur's Computer Adventure'', the lamp near Mrs. Read's computer keeps begging you to not click on him. He pulls this on his final page by hopping off the table and leaving when you click on him too many times.
233	** In ''The Berenstain Bears in the Dark'', clicking on the card catalogue drawers on page 1 will eventually bring forth a very irate mouse:
234	--->'''Mouse''': Who's flipping those drawers open?! ''(stomps off)'' That does it, I'm outta here!
235	** Sister Bear also does this in the same game as a reaction to the scary story Brother is reading, thus setting forth the plot.
236	* 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 [[Platform/IOSGames iPod, iPad, and iPhone]] by Wanderful Storybooks.
237	** In a similar vein, ''Just Grandma and Me'' was dubbed in Spanish twice -- once in Latin Spanish (what V1 includes), and once in Castilian Spanish (what V2 includes).
238	* ShoutOut:
239	** In the first scene of ''Harry and the Haunted House'', whenever you click on the bird, he'll say [[Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff a rather famous baseball quote]].
240	** In ''Sheila Rae'', when you click on a hole in the ground on the ninth page, a groundhog will show up and ask if anyone knows the way to San Jose. This is a reference to the 1968 song "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" by Burt Bacharach.
241	** At the end of ''Green Eggs and Ham'', the two main characters walk off into the sunset, and Guy says [[Film/{{Casablanca}} "You know, Sam, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."]]
242	** In ''The Cat in the Hat'', the mirror says, "Mirror, mirror on the table. I would hide if I were able", which is a reference to "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest one of all?" from ''Literature/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs''.
243	* SingingInTheShower: A mouse on page 10 of "The Tortoise and the Hare" showers under a waterfall while singing.
244	* {{Slapstick}}: 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.
245	* SoundtrackDissonance: The paper airplane RunningGag in ''Arthur's Teacher Trouble'' gets some heavy metal music, despite just being an airplane being made of paper. This is exactly why it became so well-known.
246	* StealthPun: Page 4 ''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.
247	* StockFootage: Surprisingly averted for the most part, even in games from the same book series. ''The Berenstain Bears in the Dark'' is one example though -- the "TheEnd" screen, the options screen, and the quit screen all reuse animations from ''Get in a Fight'', with some of the dialog being exactly the same. The "TheEnd" screen is particularly blatant due to the lack of detail on the characters compared to the rest of the game.
248	* ThemeTune: Every game has one. The character will always dance to it on every title screen after explaining what to do. [[note]]''D.W. The Picky Eater'' is the only game where the character doesn't dance to it; instead, it appears in the credits And ''The New Kid on The Block'' has Jack Prelustsky singing a song called ''Alligators are Unfriendly''.[[/note]]
249	* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: Amy from “Harry and the Haunted House”. She has a snarky and feisty attitude and enjoys playing baseball with the boys yet she wears a pink shirt underneath her overalls along with a pink bow on her head.
250	* UnstoppableMailman: One of the things that can result from clicking on the window on the first page of ''The Cat in the Hat'' is water flooding up outside of it before a mailman in scuba gear swims by.
251	-->"The mail ''must get through!''"
252	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Hilariously, the characters often don't seem to notice the wacky shenanigans going on around them as the player clicks on everything, even when it's happening before their very eyes. For one instance, clicking on the giraffe drawing on Page 2 of ''Arthur's Birthday'' causes it to come to life and pull on the ribbon in Sue Ellen's hair (causing Sue Ellen visible discomfort) before letting go. Muffy is looking directly at Sue Ellen as this happens and has no reaction whatsoever. In cases where the characters ''do'' notice the strange things going on, commonly they'll simply react with a puzzled AsideGlance to the camera (perhaps with a bemused remark) before going back to what they were doing before.
253	* 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).
254	* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: In "Dr. Seuss's ABC", Jerry Jordan is afraid of jellyfish.
255	* WritingAroundTrademarks: Likely the reason why Harry's dog Spot was changed from white to brown (like the color of Harry) in the PAL versions, as he bore an uncanny resemblance to Snowy from ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' and Snoopy from ''Franchise/{{Peanuts}}''. However, the NTSC version of this PC game kept Spot in white.

Context VideoGame / LivingBooks