Our first two books in the Literature Disguised as Fun series were officially published today: The Bet by Anton Chekhov and Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street by Herman Melville are available on Amazon.com (opens new window) and on our website.
The new series aims to bring great literature to your students in a way that will entertain and educate them. The books have memes and posters to reinforce concepts in the stories, a creative biography of the author that may involve space travel and/or time machines, “Wrap Ups” that go more deeply into the stories’ themes and ideas and Socratic discussion questions.
With the posters and memes we are also using art when we can to introduce your students to the great tradition of classic art that more and more seems to be ignored.
The books are printed in black and white to keep the cost as low as possible. The memes and posters in all their colorful glory are available to purchase for each book ($2.99) in a PDF download. Currently the book prices range from $4.99 – $6.99 (cheaper on our website) per book.
We will be beginning the series with 9 books:
- “The Bet” by Anton Chekhov
- “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift
- “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” by Herman Melville
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
- “Civil Disobedience & Walking” by Henry David Thoreau
- The Red Badge of Courage by Stephan Crane
- “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Selected Poetry of Emily Dickinson
- Selected Poetry of William Wordsworth
We will be holding our free book contest with this change: instead of winning one book, you’ll win the two new books along with a coupon to download the posters for both books for free. I had thought about offering free time machine trips, but the logistics was just too complicated. The contest newsletter will go out next week.
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