Good News: Kindle Readers Get to Keep Their Appendages!

CHAPTER TEMPLATE

BOOK PART

How the Kindle is affecting literary study in a very good way!

CHAPTER TITLE

No Need to Cut Off Toes and Heels When You Have a Kindle Touch at Your Fingertips

TWEETHIS

The X-Ray feature on the Kindle allows a reader to increase their comprehension of and ability to analyze a literary work rather than using sites like SparkNotes that provide a “cheat sheet” causing students to not read the literary work at all.

KEYWORDS

XRay, Kindle, Reading Comprehension

TOPICAL IMAGE

Maybe a picture of an xray on a kindle or a skeleton reading or this brain?

CONTENT PARAMETERS: DIGILITERARY VIA AMAZON-KINDLE-GOODREADS CONNECTION

Students are able to read a book on the Kindle and use the device to understand the novel rather than turning to sites that tell them everything – which causes a decrease in their ability to analyze a work of literature on their own.

LITERARY WORK

Grimm’s Fairy Tale, Cinderella

TRADITIONAL REFERENCES - (General Literary, Scholarly)
1. CEA Critic - “The Right Understanding”: Teaching Literature in the Age of SparkNotes
CEA Critic, Volume 76, Number 3, November 2014, pp. 273-277
by: Alison Bach

2. Computers in the Schools: Interdisciplinary Journal of Practice, Theory, and Applied Research
Volume 29, Issue 1-2, 2012
Special Issue: Signature Pedagogies Incorporating Technology

SOCIAL REFERENCES (current conversations, social media, interviews)

1. Discussion on Amazon about X-Ray feature:
http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1D7SY3BVSESG&cdThread=Tx1SUCCCPG6ZVPG

2. Amazon User Guide

3. Ereader.com - http://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2013/03/18/kindle-x-ray-feature-review-video/

CONTENT LAYOUT - Rough Outline of My Chapter

1. Cutting toes and heels is like cutting corners to “read” a book.
2. SparkNotes vs X Ray.
3. The things you can learn using the X Ray feature
4. Conclude: The Kindle device promotes reading comprehension which in turn promotes a motivation to read more.

Sample of my very rough draft:

Cutting Off Toes and Heels?

Is the future looking Grimm, brothers (and sisters)?

Image:
http://inkmonster.net/blog/why-ash-maiden-the-original-cinderella-kicks-ass

Our English class is in the process of writing an ebook about using the Kindle, Goodreads, and Amazon. I have chosen to use the 1812 version of Cinderella by Jacob Ludwig Grimm and Wilhelm Carl Grimm to illustrate my ideas for my chapter. Please let me know what you think!

1. To expound on my last post (click here to read), I can discuss the necessity of a bridge between the isolation of the Kindle and the socialization of Goodreads. It is crucial to a reader’s online identity that they know how to review and discuss the books they read. In the Grimm version of Cinderella, the stepmother and stepsisters mock Cinderella for wanting to attend the festival because she cannot dance. Later, when she does attend the ball, she is able to dance with the Prince – three nights in a row. How was this possible? She went from being the dish-washing, floor-sweeping, bird-talking girl to the elegant woman at the festival that could dance the night away with a Prince. When readers enter the online social world without the proper training, it isn’t always charming. Posting a thought online can damage a person’s credibility as a reviewer and tarnish a person’s online identity.

2. When we search something in Google, we leave a cookie behind – a footprint. Google is then able to show us ads based on our preferences. Goodreads is similar with the recommendations feature that is based on the books readers had read and rated. It is important for a reader to be selective in their choices so that they make the best use of this feature – otherwise, books are recommended that they have no interest in. The first two nights that Cinderella runs from the ball, she leaves nothing behind to give a clue for the Prince to find her. On the third night, the Prince pours pitch on the stairs that causes Cinderella’s shoe to get stuck – thus forcing her to leave a “footprint” (Ha!) behind. The Prince is then able to find her so he can marry her. In order to fully utilize Goodreads and Amazon, users must tailor their visits to the site to better the recommendations provided. It is vital that we leave our footprint behind.