This post is going to be a little different than my normal book posts because I want to share with you a wonderful company and their wonderful products. Teachers, librarians, and parents (home school parents, especially) should know about Naxos Audiobooks. If you don’t, then stay tuned. If you do already know about them, then click on over to their website now and see their new releases in October. They have audio books and supplemental materials for all ages from elementary school aged kids to adults.
This post is specifically about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson because that is the sample Naxos provided for me to review as part of their Young Adult Classics series. We all know the story of Dr. Jekyll, who tried to live a respectable life until he became addicted to the potion that changed him into Mr. Hyde. Heck, I think even little kids know the story because isn’t there a Bugs Bunny episode where BB drinks a potion and turns into a big, green, mean, nasty rabbit? But if you are studying the classics with your children or your students OR if you have a child who is an auditory learner, then I urge you to check out this version of Stevenson’s classic.
WHY?
Well, the study guide and booklet are wonderful. See, when you order the audio CDS from Naxos for $17.98, you also receive a CD-ROM with the text for the ABRIDGED version (which is what is on the audio CD), the text for the UNABRIDGED version, and a 38-page study guide written by a wonderful educator, Francis Gilbert, who actually makes the study guide entertaining as he talks right to the youth (but teachers, you can use it too! 
).
Here are a few excerpts from the study guide:
- “This study guide takes a different approach from most study guides. It does not simply tell you more about the story and characters, which isn’t actually that useful. Instead it attempts to show how the author’s techniques and interests inform every single facet of this classic novel.
Most study guides simply tell you what is going on, then tack on bits at the end which tell you how the author creates suspense and drama at certain points in the book, informing you a little about why the author might have done this. This study guide starts with the how and the why, showing you right from the start how and why the author shaped the key elements of the book.” - Robert Louis Stevenson was born in 1850, slap bang in the middle of the 19th century. He is a figure who straddles both the Victorian and the modern age: his writing appears Victorian on the surface, in its settings and characters, but dig deeper and you find a modern interest in the darker sides of the human mind.”
Just from these two excerpts, you can tell the study guide is not boring. It has sections on the context of the novel, themes and structure, critical perspectives, discussion questions, quotes, and a glossary. If you home school a teen, this is the perfect guide for them. If you teach middle school/high school English, this audio CD and the study guide will complement any unit on Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
BTW, you can order it as a download too, in this techy age, and currently the price for that is $12.00.
Here’s a link to the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde page on Naxos: http://www.naxosaudiobooks.com/296612.htm
IF you aren’t interested in this Young Adult Classic,
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