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LitCharts Take a Completely New Approach to Explaining Literature

CliffsNotes and every other literature guide series that followed (including SparkNotes) all use long paragraphs of summary followed by long paragraphs of analysis. LitCharts break that mold in several ways:

Side-by-Side Summary, Analysis, and Themes: LitCharts present a bulleted-list-style summary of every single plot point in the book side-by-side with analysis and color-coded themes for each point.

LitCharts Make Theme Development Visual: Every LitChart includes a color-coded Themes Key, which assigns a specific color to each theme. Readers can then trace the prevalence of themes as they develop throughout the book.

LitCharts Improve Close Reading: Close reading has become a crucial skill for English and ELA students in classrooms across the U.S., both in states adopting and not adopting the Common Core. While the analysis in other literature guides is often disconnected from the summary and underlying text, our side-by-side summary and analysis are always examples of close reading. As a result, LitCharts help students understand the text at the closest level, and serve as a model that teaches how to read closely.

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