In high school, most of us dreaded the idea of reading a classic novel for English class. Whether it was To Kill A Mockingbird, Romeo and Juliet, or Pride and Prejudice, most of us dreaded the idea of reading a book whose language was difficult to grasp, or it was way too long, or we just simply didn't like reading.

Luckily, someone decided to take that hatred of classic literature and turned it loose upon the internet. The idea is simple: Take a classic novel, whether that be Pride and Prejudice or Frankenstein or even Peter Pan, and make it new. Put it in our own, modern culture. Tell the story in a new way. The result is hopefully to get people to love the story again. To forget the old language of the book and hope that it inspires readers to love the literature again. Literary web series have taken Youtube by storm in recent years, and I have gathered a few that I think really drives the home the main goal of this form of storytelling: make classics interesting for a modern audience.

1. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

To my knowledge, this is the first example of a literary web series, and one of my personal favorites. Created by Hank Green and the Pemberley Digital media company, "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries" invites viewers on a new journey through Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, this time in the form of vlogs. Elizabeth Bennet takes on the form of Lizzie Bennet, a grad student who starts a video blog project to tell stories about her family. The story of Pride and Prejudice is told exclusively through Lizzie's videos, with various characters from the story popping in and out of her videos as well as making appearances in her "costume theatre" bits that give a (somewhat biased) view of the events that occurred off camera.

"The Lizzie Bennet Diaries" has several spin-offs, including "Emma Approved", a take on Austen's novel Emma, "Welcome to Sanditon", another novel of Austen's that was never finished before her untimely death, and a series of videos starring Lizzie's sister Lydia, which coincided with the narrative timeline of "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries". The web series took one step further and introduced a new form of digital storytelling. The Pemberly Digital Youtube channel didn't switch over until after the series had already finished. Originally, the Youtube channel was "operated" by Lizzie herself, and the characters had their own twitter accounts with tweets that fell in line with the story. One arc involves Lizzie being invited to Vidcon, a popular Youtube convention created by Hank and his brother, best selling author John Green. As an introduction to literary web series, you cannot go wrong by "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries".

2. Classic Alice

This one is a bit of a different premise than LBD, specifically in that it doesn't fall in line with any classic novels. On the contrary, it is many classic novels. Kate Hackett's brain child follows Alice Rackham, a college student who upon receiving an unfavorable grade on a writing assignment, decides to live her life in the way of characters in classic novels. From Henry David Thoraeu's Walden to Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Alice always tried to live her life the way the main character would. Almost always, those actions had consequences. And, almost always, the situation around Alice would often reflect the situations that would occur in the novels she was trying to enact into her life. What makes Classic Alice so interesting is that it has no one novel to follow throughout the series, and the characters introduced are all original concepts. It's almost like the series takes the opportunity of about a dozen or so novels and turns them all into their own individual web series arcs.

3. Frankenstein, M.D.

This is another Pemberley Digital creation, partnering with PBS Digital Studios. Frankenstein, M.D. finds us in another vlog-style platform, this time with Dr. Frankenstein as the pivotal character. However, Frankenstein takes on a new form: Victor Frankenstein becomes Victoria Frankenstein, a doctor-in-training who hopes to follow in her mother's footsteps of being a great doctor despite the doubts others might have of her. True to Mary Shelley's classic, Victoria finds a way to reanimate dead tissue, trying to prove that a woman can be in the medical science and still be successful while simultaneously holding the desire to bring a dead friend back to life. She hopes that this breakthrough will kickstart her into the professional medical field. And of course, things go awry. Dr. Frankenstein's change in gender provides an interesting take on the narrative, making it about more than just a monster. It is a commentary on the idea of women in the medical field, about women in professional fields as a whole. Victoria constantly struggles with being an exceptionally bright woman in her field and trying to become a doctor while others hold her back.

4. Edgar Allan Poe’s Murder Mystery Invite Only, Casual Dinner Party / Gala For Friends Potluck

Referred to as Poe Party, this Shipwrecked Comedy series once more brings an interesting take to the otherwise straightforward format of literary web series. A murder mystery dinner party brings together some of history's greatest literary masterminds: Charlotte Bronte, Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemmingway, HG Wells, and Edgar Allen Poe himself. Like Classic Alice, this doesn't follow one particular novel, but rather the cast of characters almost go through a murder-mystery novel of their own design. They are all trapped in a house with a murder on the loose, and one of them is the killer. Shipwrecked has had experience in the literary web series game before, pinning Edgar Allen Poe as the host of "A Tell-Tale Vlog". Poe Part is a delightful "what if" scenario that is making waves in the literary web series world.

5. Green Gables Fables

I'll admit, I haven't seen this one, so I can't give you much about it. But it is another on this list that is a direct re-telling of a classic novel, so that's why it is on this list. Green Gables Fables is told in a similar fashion to LBD; vlogs, tweets, and tumblr posts guide the narrative of the adaptation of the Anne of Green Gables series. The series lasted for two years, from 2014 to 2016, and the youtube channel, "AnnewithAnE", has over 10,000 subscribers.

6. The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy

The last web series on this list is another different take on a classic story. The New Adventures of Peter and Wendytakes our beloved J.M. Barrie characters and casts them into the 21st century, where Wendy, John, and Michael work for their family's newspaper, "The Kensington Chronicle", while Peter is a slacker in his twenties who just barely scrapes by by writing cartoons for the Chronicle. Currently in its third season, Peter and Wendy does derail from the original classic, but in a way that is refreshing, giving each character their own worries while still struggling to figure out how to grow up.

Not everyone hates the classics, but even if you do, these web series are an interesting and refreshing way to look at our favorite novels, and new series are being created all the time. And these are just a few of the series being released, there's one out there for everyone.