Drama Girl is an avid reader. Or perhaps I should say a voracious reader. Having exhausted the school library, she is well on her way to finishing the young adult section of the city library. She loves books. She loves to talk about them. She loves to encourage me to read the same books she's reading.
Our tastes are similar, but we are both stubborn about books we think we will not like. Finally earlier this summer we made a deal: If I would read the second book in the Twilight series, she would read Pride and Prejudice.
I held up my end of the bargain, reading "New Moon" on my Kindle. Not liking wimpy weepy heroines, I didn't warm to this particular book, but I finished it.
She picked up my beautiful leather-bound edition of Pride and Prejudice and got through about 4 pages before setting it down. But I knew if she read more, she would start to enjoy it.
Then I found out about Shmoop. Shmoop.com provides irreverent and entertaining study guides for classic literature, US History, and poetry. You can find the entry for Pride and Prejudice here.
But better still, Shmoop has just released integrated commentary and study guides for their books for the Kindle. I've already read one, for The Red Badge of Courage, and I couldn't put it down. Throughout the text are links to click on for commentary. Then just hit the 'back' button to return to the text. The witty clear comments are like taking a class from a favorite professor.
So Drama Girl and I sat down on the couch together with my Kindle, downloaded the Shmoop Pride and Prejudice in a matter of seconds, and within a minute, she was laughing out loud and commenting on the finer points of the story.
Score points for Jane Austen, Kindle, Shmoop, and a mom who's nice enough to loan her Kindle to her daughter. Introducing her to great literature makes my Monday.
To read more stories of smiles today, visit Cheryl at Twinfatuation.
Don't have a Kindle yet? What are you waiting for? The price has come down.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Makes My Monday: Shmoop
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10 people stopped folding laundry to write:
Excellent! We listened to Of Mice and Men during our two week car trip this summer. The kids loved it, until the ending. The Girl said that it was, like the worst ending ever to a book!
She'll never forget it though.
Drama Girl sounds so much like my daughter Jessica (age 13). She is always reading and manages to have several books on the go at the same time. She has been reviewing books for a newspaper this past fews months. We are a bit behind the times here so I have never heard of Shmoop or Kindle. Will have to look into that if it makes those kind of books more fun. Great that you are enjoying books together.
Lindsay
x
cool resource!!! never heard of shmoop. and who thinks of these names? i need THAT job. :)
Go drama girl, Go!!!
Do you think that Shmoop thing can get my BOYS to like P&P? They all have to read it in high school, and they have all universally hated it.
So sad, since it's one of my favorites.
She's still wimpy and weenie in New Moon? Well maybe she'll toughen up by book 3.
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Ugh. I'm with you (sorry, Drama Girl :( ) "Wimpy heroine" is an oxymoron if you ask me. How excited I am to learn of Schmoop though! :)
A friend just gave me Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Maybe that'd be the perfect compromise? ;)
That is entirely too cool! Alright, that's it, I'm putting a Kindle on my Amazon wish list. :-)
I vividly remember the day I had read through all of the bookmobile. When I say all, I mean the teen section and all the adult novels. I was in grade 6. It was then I found a huge collection of my grandmother's romance novels. After exhausting that stash, I had to go to the library downtown. I understand Drama Girl's pain.
And by the way, that picture of Drama Girl today...WoW! You are going to have to beat the boys away.
I just heard a great line Drama Girl's dad can use on her dates. It's from that movie this year with Harry Connick, Jr and Renee Zellweigger Harry told the boy, "I'm doing to do everything to you that you do to my daughter. Everything." The look on that poor boy's face. Priceless. The visuals in my mind. Cracked me up. Gotta save that for Mini Me.
Oh yeah, and what am I waiting for to buy a Kindle? $299 +tax to spend on a Kindle instead of a new passport or citizenship documents or a new car or fixing my dryer...You get the idea.
I must say, if my husband were handling our finances again, I would have had one long ago... But then we would not have a place to live because he would be behind on the bills. Sadly, I know this to be true. That is why I do the bills now. LOL.
Thanks so much for sharing the good word about Shmoop. Glad we could help Drama Girl find the love for Pride & Prejudice. And we're really pleased to hear that you enjoyed our "mash-ups" (original text integrated with our guide) for the Kindle. Would you consider leaving a customer review for us on Amazon for Red Badge of Courage? It would be a big help. And if we can send Drama Girl a Shmoop t-shirt (as a thanks for your help), just drop us a line at [my first name] at shmoop.com . Thanks and keep Shmooping! Brady
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