From Collegiate Presswire (http://www.cpwire.com):

Consumer
Declare Your Love Like a Romeo This Valentine's Day; SparkNotes' No Fear Shakespeare Series Offered Free on Its Web Site
Source: Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Feb 9, 2006, 11:00

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE via COLLEGIATE PRESSWIRE)--Feb. 9, 2006--Show your sweetheart you're studied in the language of love this year. Send your beloved one of SparkNotes' free No Fear Shakespeare Valentine's Day e-cards, complete with a Shakespearean declaration of love and its translation into plain English, featured on www.nofearshakespeare.com. Let your beloved know that "For thy sweet love remembered," you would not change places even with kings.

 
SparkNotes, a wholly owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller, has launched its No Fear Shakespeare series free online. No Fear Shakespeare provides the complete text of original Shakespearean plays side-by-side with a translation into everyday language anyone can understand. Just in time for Valentine's Day, the Web site features nine original Shakespearean works, including the perennial love story Romeo and Juliet. The rest of the plays are due to launch later in the year.
 
A timeless Shakespearean classic studied in schools throughout the country, Romeo and Juliet is among the top three No Fear Shakespeare bestsellers at Barnes & Noble stores and online at Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com). Teachers too are using the No Fear Shakespeare series. High School Principal Karen Wessil from Homer, Alaska, says No Fear Shakespeare: Hamlet enabled one of her students "to appreciate Shakespeare and the stories Shakespeare told without having to feel uncomfortable with the language." Wessil has even used No Fear Shakespeare: King Lear at a University of Alaska class with students ranging in age from high school seniors to senior citizens.
 
This Valentine's Day send a free e-card containing both the original words of the master of love poetry and a translation that makes your love clearly understood. For the rest of the year, from Macbeth to Hamlet to The Taming of the Shrew, No Fear Shakespeare will help you sort out what's happening, who's saying what, and why. With No Fear Shakespeare, understanding "to be or not to be" will never be a question.

About SparkNotes

Founded in 1999 by four Harvard seniors, SparkNotes, a wholly owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), is producing a new generation of smarter, better, and faster educational resources for high school and college students to use on and offline. Originally launched as SparkNotes.com, the company has quickly become the world's most popular educational Web site with more than ten million registered users. In response to demand from students, parents, and educators, SparkNotes began printing their products in 2002. There are now more than 450 educational titles in print.


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