In Jules Verne's The Children of Captain Grant, there's brilliant but absent-minded geographer named Paganel. He wanted to learn Spanish by reading a single book during their journey to Patagonia, I think. But he failed miserably - only because the book he had chosen was in Portuguese.

I've been thinking about this idea for a while: is it really possible to learn a foreign language just by reading a single book? This question pops up now and then on Reddit and elsewhere.

And the general consensus is: probably not. A book alone can't teach you everything you need - for example, you wouldn't be able to learn pronunciation just by reading. And the ability to speak is kind of important.

But we're talking about traditional paper books here. I'd say audiobooks definitely help with pronunciation. So let's put the question this way: if a book could include any kind of interactivity, what could you do to make it more useful for language learners?

I've only scratched the surface here, but here's what I've built so far:

Synchronized audio with karaoke-style highlighting

The book is read aloud, and each word is highlighted as it’s spoken. This makes it easier to follow along and match the words you hear with the words you see on the page. You can start or stop the reading at any point in the text. Additionally, you can hear the pronunciation of any word instantly by clicking on it.

Context-aware dictionary tooltips

I've identified words that might be difficult for beginners and resolved their appropriate meaning based on the context. A regular dictionary shows every possible meaning, but here, you just get the one that makes sense in this context. For example, when Oz takes a heart from a chest of drawers and places it into the Tin Woodman's chest, the tooltip displays the correct meaning of "chest" in each case. You don't have to scroll through a dozen definitions and guess which one applies.

Questions and Answers section

This is probably the coolest feature of all. After reading a page, you can open a video where you're presented with a set of questions about what happened on this page. After each question, there’s a pause. It gives you some time to answer it out loud. Then you will hear another answer. Two animated characters, Vilma and Simon, guide you through the process. This is an attempt to encourage you to actively use the language, since reading is normally a passive activity.

This is still a work in progress - I haven’t done everything I wanted yet. There will be a grammar component in the future, and I’m definitely open to other suggestions and ideas.

This isn’t meant to be a one-book site. If you enjoy the approach and find it helpful, I’d love to keep expanding the library.

But for now, just go ahead and try it out!

(A dramatic drumroll starts...)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – the timeless story of a girl from Kansas who gets swept away by a tornado, and goes through exciting adventures with the friends she meets on the road before she finally makes it back. Because, as you know, there’s no place like home.

Read it!