Hell Yeah! Worthy: Dante Made Cool, Reading in the Future, More Adapted Trailers, Philanthropic 5th Graders, and DJing for Dummies

curated by the Atticus Books staff

Hell Yeah! Worthy is a weekly Friday feature where our staff distills the plethora of scat on the Internet into a succinct list of the best you haven’t seen, the best you ignored, and the best you should visit again.

Demystifying Aged Classics for the Classroom
These films are introductions to different lessons that would be taught in a high school English classroom. They’re just meant to get kids to dig in and read. Good thing there aren’t many, because I couldn’t stop watching them. This one about Dante’s Inferno I find to be pretty Hell Yeah! Worthy. (Abby)

Reading Between the Lines
I’m cheating a little this week…and sharing a YouTube video that is a snappy introduction to Small Demons, which is nothing less than the future of books and book reading! (Dan)

Another Adaptation to Discuss
This week I’m sticking with the movie-trailer-for-an-adaptation-of-a-classic thing. Except this time I promise not to whine about everything that’s going to be wrong with this movie (a la Baz Luhrmans’s Gatsby). I’m just going to send you to a more entertaining rundown of the newly released trailer for the musical version of Les Miserables (another Christmas present from Hollywood). But can I just say…Anne Hathaway? Really? (Libby)

It’s Never Too Early to Start Giving Back

After winning a $10,000 award from the Letters About Literature national writing contest for his letter to poet Mark Doty, a fifth grader in West Virginia donated the entire prize to his school library. As if this isn’t enough to melt your heart (and make you hang your head in shame–when was the last time you donated money to your local library?), this to-do list from another youngster is both adorable and envious. (Lacey)

Making Music Made Easy
If you’re into books, its probably a safe bet you’re a fan of music too. Unfortunately not all of us were endowed with the finger dexterity of Bach, and so while listening to music is great for anybody, creating it is a whole other story. While I’m pretty sure iNudge won’t further your rockstar potential nor get you spinning the biggest raves in town, it is still pretty cool to pretend to play DJ for a little while. And the best part is, it’s pretty hard to sound awful, so bump away there, Skrillex, you sound awesome. (Lindsay)

Photo Source: Entertainment Blur