Recent postings on the Forum have warned college teachers against making it easy for their students to read plot summaries of Mark Twain's works. For this reason, it has been suggested that a book such as _Mark Twain A to Z_ (which is loaded to the gills with the offensive beasts) should be kept at arm's length from students. As the author of _MTAZ_, I won't pretend I'm indifferent to the prospect of losing potential sales. However, the question of whether it is necessarily a bad thing for students to read plot summaries did truly trouble me while I was writing _MTAZ_. I've never much liked plot summaries myself, but I eventually concluded that _MTAZ_ should have them--especially since J. R. LeMaster's and James Wilson's excellent _Mark Twain Encyclopedia_ didn't have them. Indeed, the plot summaries ultimately proved to be the roadmaps that pulled _MTAZ_'s literary material together. I also knew, of course, that anyone determined to read plot summaries instead of Mark Twain's own writings could easily find them in the widely available Cliff's and Monarch Notes. Since the synopses in those editions seemed to be uniformly unreliable, I felt I had a responsibility to offer something better. I figured that if I couldn't help addicts stop shooting up, I could at least provide them with cleaner needles. What all this comes down to is this: Does reading plot summaries discourage students from reading actual literary works? And if so, why? Perhaps a few anecdotes will help answer this question. Many years ago a college buddy told me how he had aced a high school English test on _Romeo and Juliet_, even though his only preparation had been an hour with a Classics Illustrated comic version of Shakespeare's play the morning of his exam. From that depressing story one might conclude that students armed with good plot summaries (and those in the old Classic Illustrateds were often terrific) needn't bother reading real books. On the other hand, isn't it more likely that my friend's high school teacher simply didn't write much of an examination? After all, other high school teachers have certainly done better. Shelley Fisher Fishkin proved that. In _Lighting Out for the Territory_, she recalls her introduction to _Huckleberry Finn_ in high school: Her eleventh grade teacher shocked the freckles off her with this assignment: "Write a paper on how Mark Twain used irony to attack racism in _Huckleberry Finn_." Ouch! Try getting an A on an assignment like that without reading the real book. Having a good synopsis of _Huckleberry Finn_ at hand might have helped Shelley and her classmates write fuller and more coherent essays, but how far could they have gone if they didn't also read Mark Twain's own words carefully? Now, let me ask those of you who teach college courses on Mark Twain a question: What kinds of assignments do you give your students that would let them gain an unfair advantage if they were to read something like _MTAZ_? If test questions or essay assignments are so unchallenging that students can pass without reading Mark Twain's own words, then why should they read the real books? So far as plot summaries go, those in _MTAZ_ are pretty good; however, they're only the palest of pale substitutes for the real thing. Isn't it just possible that if, in addition to reading Mark Twain's books, students were to use reference materials like _MTAZ_ and _The Mark Twain Encyclopedia_, their teachers could challenge them more deeply? Having reliable plot summaries to refer to should, after all, make it easier for them to master story lines and details, leaving them freer to focus on more important matters, such as Mark Twain's language, writing techniques, characterizations, and ideas. Well, I'm not a college teacher, so I can't offer empirical evidence in this debate. But, please: If _MTAZ_ really poses a threat to college students, I'd like to know why. On a more personal note, I'd also like to hear from anyone who cares to comment on _MTAZ_'s plot summaries themselves. I found them surprisingly difficult to write and wish to know if readers find they serve a worthwhile purpose.