It's the dvd with a copy of the Cliffs notes for the book included in a slipcase. I'm sure someone may find this useful, otherwise I think it's just a marketing tool. The titles available are: Les Miserables, Henry V, Jane Eyre, Of Mice And Men, Anna Karenina,Moby Dick, Inherit The Wind, Wuthering Heights, and Lord Of The Flies.

Sample:

So, now you can watch the movie and read the Cliff's Notes. Who needs novels?

I noticed that the store I work at has some of these. I'm not that interested in them but I'll have to take a look at them to see the packaging and whatnot.

Saw a bunch of them a Wal-Mart

that would be the target demographic.

I saw them a few days ago at Suncoast. So the message is: Why read the novel, when we can package all the shortcuts in one box!

They should have saved people ink and provided actual book reports as well.

Not the same thing, but has anyone seen any of those childrens DVDs at Target that have added a subtitle track so you can read along? Are they done well? Seems like they could be a good idea, but will probably be abused as a crutch. (plus I think they were all Fullscreen)

I'm familiar with Cliff's Notes but never bought them myself. I would think these versions with the dvd are a good value -- I saw them priced at less than $10.

I picked up 3 of them, Les Miserables, Jane Eyre, and Anna Karenina. Jane Eyre for mom. One of her favorite movies. I thought they were good bargains. I will have little use for the cliff notes book but I like to get any little extras with the movies I buy. I understand what you are saying about people just buying these for book reports so they don't have to actually read the novels but so what. America is so dumbed down already that this may actually be a bump up with the movie and cliff notes.

P.S. I found the Les Miserables to be a particularly good bargain with two versions of the film on this DVD.


P. S. S. Being a completist, I will probably get the rest of these too.

The only problem is that so many times the movie is a bit unfaithful to the book. Anna Kannerina for example, can't possibly have everything the book has. If someone is really doing this for purposes of a book report they're going to get creamed. Especially if they start referring to the actors, not the characters. Not that someone in high school would necessarily recognize Laurence Olivier.

For English, we had to read Wuthering Heights over the summer prior to senior year. Most of us read it (and I liked it, sort of) but one person had read the comic book version. I have one of those (in Spanish, no less) of some Dostoevsky book. I've never even cracked it open.

I've always used the movies AS my "Cliffs Notes" version.

For the employees or the customers?

I just thought it was funny.

Cliffs Notes get a bum rap sometimes. As an English major I frequently used them as a supplement to the books I read, rather than in place of. They have lots of really good background info, review questions, analyses of characters and themes that point out a lot of things you probably don't notice the first time you read the book, etc. Off-topic but just wanted to throw that in.

(And furthermore, I never understood the whole "using Cliffs Notes instead of reading the actual novel" thing - some of the Cliffs Notes are almost as lengthy as the books themselves. I have one that's well over 100 pages.)

you would be amazed at how many calls you get at this time of year with people wanting a copy of movies like To Kill a mockingbird and moby dick....school kids, (and their parents) trying to get an edge...

I havent seen Cliffs Notes in a long time until I saw these. I think Spark Notes are the format of choice these days in High Schools.

I used to seek out the Monarch Notes when I needed help. I figured they were less popular than Cliff Notes and I had a better chance of the professor not having them.

Helping to teach a child the difference between WS and FS > helping to teach a child to read?

This is actually a pretty good deal/idea. I understand that many people elect to just read the cliffnotes and/or watch the movie instead of actually reading the assigned book. But, I have yet to meet a fellow literature major (I'm in my third year) who doesn't supplement their reading with cliff notes, online essays, and/or movies if such tools are available. In college the more information/prep/material you can find, ultimately the better off you are.

Kudos to the OP for properly spelling Cliffs Notes.

A movie like Dune could really benefit from this.

haha, I agree. I took a sci-fi class last term and was really excited to read "Dune." I'd seen the Lynch movie years ago yet never got around to reading the book. When it came time to read the novel, I tried soo badly to like it, but I couldn't. There was just somethign about it and it was honestly the most painful read I had to encounter last school term.