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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A mother of a kindergarten student attending N.J. Macpherson school wants to know what education value exists in the video games advertised in a catalogue sent home with her son at the start of the school year.

Nicole Hammerberg, a mother of a five-year-old boy attending N.J. Macpherson school, said the video games advertised in the Scholastics Canada catalogue she is hold have no place in the classroom. - Mike W. Bryant/NNSL photo

The catalogue, issued by Scholastic Canada - a well-known book ordering club dating back to 1957 - features a number of educational video games but Nicole Hammerberg finds many more she says are rather dubious.

Those include Barbie Island Princess Pack, which promises those ages six and up "20 mini-games filled with music, singing, and dancing." Another, Teenage Zombies - "Invasion of the Alien Brain Thingys" - invites those ages 13 and up to "Fight through seven challenging worlds to reach the ultimate big brain snack!"

The catalogue also advertises well-known games such as Guitar Hero and Mario and Sonic.

Hammerberg said she doesn't think schools should be encouraging students to purchase video games of any kind.

"It's all just crap, all of it," said Hammerberg. "I'm not against video games. It's just hard to get kids into books these days."

Hammerberg said she approached her son's teacher after seeing the catalogue, who she said didn't even know about it. She said a teacher's aide at N.J. Macpherson told her if she didn't want any of the games, then don't buy them.

Regardless, Hammerberg said her son's school shouldn't allow the video games to be advertised to students.

Scholastic Canada, she said, "do book fairs at schools. Is this the kind of stuff they'll be sending there?"

Scholastic Canada's website promotes the company as "one of the country's leading publishers and distributors of children's books and educational materials." It also states that "for over 50 years, Scholastic Canada has introduced young people to the joys of reading, and has enlarged their understanding of Canada and the world."

Metro Huculak, superintendent of the Yk Education District No. 1, sounded surprised when Yellowknifer read back some of the video game titles to him Monday.

"I didn't even know they had videos to be honest with you," said Huculak. "I think we want to promote books."

The superintendent said he plans to discuss the issue with the principals in his school district.

Maral Maclagan, corporate communications manager for Scholastic Canada, said the video games are vetted by a team of educational experts before they are entered into the catalogue.

"Their decisions are based on making sure that each of them have some kind of educational value, whether it be strategy, problem solving or hand-eye co-ordination," said Maclagan.

When asked if that applied to games such as the Barbie Island Princess Pack, Maclagan said it did.

"It's been reviewed so there must've been something, some kind of skill, curriculum connection that's re-enforced in that," said Maclagan. "Otherwise, it would not be included."