Licharts Online

He walked out of the skyscraper and back to the rain-soaked streets of Portland, where his small team of six people—mostly former teachers and obsessive readers—continued to write guides for obscure poems by John Donne and forgotten plays by Aphra Behn.

Justin loved literature. He loved the way a single metaphor in a Toni Morrison novel could crack open a century of history. He loved the rhythm of Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter. But he hated what traditional study guides had done to his classroom. They had given his students answers, but not understanding . They provided summaries, but not the why . licharts

In the cramped, book-lined office of a former high school English teacher in Portland, Oregon, an idea was born from sheer exhaustion. The year was 2008, and the teacher, Justin, had just spent his entire Sunday afternoon hunched over a stack of student essays. Each paper attempted to analyze the green light in The Great Gatsby . Each one, despite his best lectures, was painfully, achingly close to the argument presented in the ubiquitous yellow-and-black study guides from a certain well-known company based in Spokane, Washington. He walked out of the skyscraper and back