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CliffsNotes Sell Manga-Inspired Shakespeare Guides
posted on by Egan Loo
CliffsNotes, John Wiley & Sons' famous line of study guides that summarize English class texts, has Eve Grandt and Candice Chow (Macbeth), and Yali Lin (Romeo and Juliet). According to Publishers Weekly's PW Comics Week, Sexton acknowledges that the books make cuts in the material, but the team "tried to remain sensitive and faithful to the material." PW also quotes Barnard College professor Peter Platt, who skeptically says, “This is an alternative to CliffsNotes, which is an alternative to Shakespeare.”
This series follows in the footsteps of the British publisher SelfMadeHero, which has been Romeo × Juliet fantasy anime series. Wiley itself has also released Manga for Dummies and Manga Studio for Dummies — two art instruction guides in its popular "Dummies" series.
The North American publisher used manga excerpts to similarly teach Japanese.