09 October 2007

Library of Congress Uses Oz to Promote Literacy

The Library of Congress has launched a simple online game called "Storybook Adventures" that draws heavily on knowledge of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for its first round.

And by that I don't mean the more basic story of The Wizard of Oz as it's been popularized by the MGM movie. The game's questions, like those on "The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin" in the following rounds, are obviously designed to test people's knowledge of the written versions of those stories rather than the most popular movie versions. They ask about details not in the films.

The game isn't immediately easy to find. You can start here, wait for the animation, and then click on the box marked "Play!" Or you can go straight to the game, watching the countdown to start. At the end there's an e-card reward or something.

And of course every book today, even one published 107 years ago, needs a book trailer.

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