Every StoryBites Edition

Everything you need to understand a work

Read. Understand. Remember. Explore.

That’s a StoryBites Edition — every work arrives with all of it, crafted and free. Local-first, no account needed.

Inside every Edition
AnalysisFull-text readerPlain BitesReading NotesFlashcardsQuizQuotesConnectionsCompareReading Paths
Made for people who read to think

Whatever you're reading for

Students Tag lines with the story's own themes and a study sheet builds itself, our analysis beside your evidence. Cite in one tap, then quiz yourself. Essay writers Collect your evidence while you read, grouped by theme, each line ready to paste as “…” (Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart”). Book clubs & teachers Mark what you don't get with “?”, bring your questions to the discussion, and share any line as a card. Lifelong readers Build your own canon: every line that moved you, from every work, searchable in one library and yours to keep.

Mark a line, then do more with it

Take notes in any full-text reader: highlights, notes and tags kept on your device, ready to study, search, share or take anywhere.

In the text Highlight right on the page Three colours, a mouse or a finger as a highlighter pen, across paragraphs. Notes and tags on any line. With the narration Hear it read from your highlight Press Hear on a saved line and the narrator reads from those words, the sentence lit as it goes. Study sheet Your evidence, organised Lines you tag with a theme, symbol or character gather under it, beside StoryBites' own reading, with your questions and quotes. Review Study from your highlights Turn any line into a flashcard; it comes back in Review on a spaced schedule with every other card. Library Search everything you marked Every highlight, note and tag from every work, found as you type.
No lock-in, ever

Plays well with your stack

Bring highlights in from where you read, and send them out to where you think. Your notes stay yours: no account, nothing on our servers.

Import from
Kindle (My Clippings.txt)Readwise CSVAny CSV with a highlight columnStoryBites backup
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Open my notes library →
01

Read it

Choose how you want to read — the same work, four ways.

Full-text reader Read the whole book The complete public-domain work, chapter by chapter, each paired with a 30-second StoryBites version. Plain Bites Read it in plain English Shakespeare and other older works in modern English, side by side with the original, with tap-to-explain notes. 10-minute analysis Read the short version Every work distilled into one flowing breakdown: the hook, what happens, characters, themes, symbols, quotes and the ending. Take notes Take notes as you read Highlight in yellow, pink or black with a mouse or a finger, add notes, tag lines with the story's own themes, and watch a study sheet build itself.
02

Understand it

Distillation, not summarization — what mattered, and why.

10-Minute Mastery Master it in ten minutes A guided run: the hook, the people, the big ideas, a flashcard recall round, then a short quiz. Visual maps See the characters & themes A visual map of who connects to whom and the ideas binding them, drawn from each work at a glance. Literary terms Look up any device Plain-English definitions of 90 literary terms, each with a real example and the works that use it. Shakespeare glossary Decode Shakespeare's English 353 Shakespearean words in plain English — including the false friends that trip students up.
03

Remember it

Active recall and spaced repetition, kept privately on your device.

Flashcards + Learn Memorize the key ideas Auto-built decks for characters, themes, symbols, devices and quotes — flip, self-grade, and let spaced repetition resurface what you miss. Quizzes Test yourself A quick quiz on every analysis, scored instantly with explanations, remembering your best score. Spaced repetition Review what's due One session over every card due across everything you have studied — the Leitner system, built in. Resume reading Save your place A ribbon saves where you left off; pick up right where you were, with progress shown on every Edition cover. Progress Keep your streak A study streak and a private dashboard of everything you have studied.
04

Explore it

Every work is an intersection. Follow an idea across the whole library — the part no summary site has.

Connections Discover related works Finish a work and follow the shared themes to the next, plus more from the author. Every page is a gateway, not a dead end. Theme Explorer Explore an idea What ambition, guilt or revenge mean in literature, why writers use them, and every work that explores each. Quote Explorer Understand famous lines The original, plain English, what it means, who said it, and where else the idea appears. Compare Works Compare two works Side by side — shared themes, key differences, a line from each, and which to read first. Reading Paths Follow a reading path Guided journeys through a big idea, weaving StoryBites works with the film, history and science beyond the shelf. Big Books · Collections · Authors Browse the whole library Every novel, play and author, organized by movement, era, nation, genre and 140+ themes.
Also inside

Prep & cite

For when an essay — or an exam — is due.

AP Lit & Lang Ace AP English A complete free AP prep station: the scoring rubrics decoded in plain English, every FRQ and skill, practice prompts and flashcards. MLA · APA · Chicago Cite in one click One-click citations on every analysis. Copy straight into your bibliography. Discussion prompts Get essay & seminar prompts Ready-made questions and essay topics on every analysis, drawn from its themes, symbols and conflicts. Quote cards Share a quote card Turn any classic line into a beautiful, branded image to download or share. Search Find anything Any work, author, theme, character, quote or term as you type — one clean result per work.
Also inside

The Memorial Archive

We preserve what we inherit.

Karen Bernardo Preserved, and part of the Edition The complete literary analyses of Karen Bernardo, recovered after her site went dark and kept in full — now part of the Edition of each work she wrote about.

In the works

Growing from real usage — a few things being explored next:

Symbol ExplorerCharacter networksReading mapsOptional account sync