I never got involved with Cliffs Notes but maybe I would be better educated if I had. I hadn't given much thought to the little black and yellow covered books until I read the Collecting Children's Books blog the other day. The author, Peter D. Sieruta, has had an idea of a long time that he should try spoofing Cliffs Notes by writing some for children's books such as Goodnight Moon. I think the idea is hilarious and I bet some wily adults could write some cool stuff as spoof Cliffs Notes for kids' books.
Sieruta writes enough about the summaries that I got interested and looked them up on Amazon. A real scholar might look at the Library of Congress online or some even more inclusive list of publications but I tried Amazon. Something about the pricing made me wonder about Cliffs Notes in general so being a modern short-cutter, I Googled "Cliffs Notes" and found (aha!) their separate site.
At the site, I was most surprised by finding that many of the sets of Notes are available free online. Personally, I never really understood what exactly was happening in King Lear but I hear many references to the play. I don't think I ever studied it in school but whether or not I did, I only grasped that the old King gave his kingdom over to two of his three daughters only to find that the third loved him the most. I want you to know that I did read Christopher Moore's version of Lear, too. At the Notes site, I read their synopsis and found it more or less agreed with my skimpy knowledge of the play. I also felt that I never really understood Hamlet but I read Cliffs summary of that, also.
I am confident that many good readers have had such enlightening joy from one book or another that they have been determined to force or seduce or frighten students into fully reading a book, thinking the enlightening joy would come in such cases. I have seen many instances where only pain and shame followed so I hope anyone who wants a good shortcut can find one in Cliffs Notes (now available in podcasts on your iPhone, too).
Further thoughts from Peter on the subject of notes or movies instead of full reading from one of his later posts.
