Book Drum

I have discovered a really neat website.

It is Book Drum  

They say of themselves:

Book Drum is the perfect companion to the books we love, bringing them to life with immersive pictures, videos, maps and music.

Book Drum is the perfect companion to the books we love, bringing them to life with immersive pictures, videos, maps and music.

Whether it’s video of the Rockettes in The Catcher in the Rye, the Italian opera tracks that accompany Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, the historical context and maps of The Odyssey, stunning South American photography for In Patagonia, or video of Kabul kite fighting for The Kite Runner, we take readers beyond the page to enjoy interactive content alongside their favourite books.

It is an intriging site that takes a book and expands it with the use of pictures, reviews, a glossary, videos, maps, voice samples, music and everything else you can imagine by way of the Internet.
Imagine for a moment -
You are reading Vampire Academy.
You want to know where Portland is, or what a honda looks like or what a duster actually is.
Voila`!  You pull up Book Drum and then pull up Vampire Diaries. On the first book mark you find pictures of each item. You can find clips of Russian speakers so you can actually hear a Russian accent.

Book Drum is having a tournament.
According to their website:

Welcome to the 2011 Book Drum Tournament, in which book lovers from Australia to Zambia can delve deep into a favourite book and, by building an illustrated profile, share their enthusiasm for it with the rest of the world.


The 2010 Book Drum Tournament saw seven Contributors share £2,000 of prizes, and led to eight talented writers being commissioned to write and edit new profiles on the strength of their entries. Hundreds of people took part, creating many of the excellent Profiles now freely available for everyone to enjoy.

To enter the 2011 Tournament, choose a published book and create a Profile of it, consisting of a Summary, a Review, a Glossary, an illustrated Setting page, a biography of the Author, and a comprehensive set of illustrated Bookmarks. Book Drum's interactive system makes it easy to do, and the chance to research a book in detail is richly rewarding.

The awards this year,2011, are
 First Prize: £1,000 Second Prize: £500 Third Prize: £250 5 Runner-Up Prizes: £100

About the Tournament:

A list of Recommended Books is provided, but you can choose a different book if you prefer. It should be published by a mainstream publisher, and must be widely available. Please check your choice with us in case there’s some reason why it might not be suitable: editor@bookdrum.com.

Only one person may profile any given book. Where a profile already exists, or is under construction, the book may not be chosen. Check your choice here: Profiles under construction or already published. Please note that to ensure popular titles are not reserved and left untouched, we may reclaim titles if no significant progress has been made within three weeks.
Profiles of your own books are not eligible in the Tournament. Authors may however create and publish profiles of their own titles as normal while the Tournament is running.
The Tournament is open to anyone over 18 other than the winners of the 2010 Tournament first and second prizes. The five runners-up in the 2010 Tournament are free to enter. People under 18 can ask a parent, teacher or other trusted adult to register for them (Book Drum is not able to store minors' contact details at this stage).
Groups may enter under a single registration. Book clubs or literature classes may like to divide up the sections of a profile between their members. Teachers can set up a profile of a study text for their students. Prize money will be paid to a bank account designated by the registered email address holder; Book Drum will not be responsible for ensuring fair division of any prize won by a group.
The prizes will be awarded by three distinguished and independent authors. Results will be announced on 31 May 2011.

I am entering a profile of Gulliver's Travels.    
The profile in under construction at present. Since it is under construction, it doesn't seem that you can find it. At least I couldn't find it when I was looking as though a visitor. But hopefully, when I win, you will be able to find it and enjoy how I expanded a delightful satirical book.