Kids, remember this name: Jenny Sawyer. She may soon be American education’s next “It” girl. Actually, make that its first and only “It” girl.

Only 24 and barely out of college, Sawyer has undertaken an audacious task: writing and shooting, with the help of a small band of filmmakers, more than 1,000 free, one-minute videos that help students understand and enjoy commonly assigned classic works of literature.

It’ll take two years, thousands of hours on a Boston soundstage and countless outfit changes for Sawyer, the only person appearing on camera.

Her website, 60secondrecap.com, went live this week with the first of 100 or so videos covering 10 universally loved (read: hated) works that teenagers have struggled to appreciate since English teachers first walked the Earth. Titles include: The Scarlet Letter, Of Mice and Men, Great Expectations, Hamlet and To Kill a Mockingbird.

A freelance book reviewer for The Christian Science Monitor and an “English major, tried and true,” Sawyer hopes to appeal to students looking for a way in to sometimes dense and difficult works.

In the one-minute primers, the quirky, perky Sawyer aims to be “the smartest kid in your English class,” the big sister you’re just dying to talk to before class “because you just did not get the symbols in this book.”

Each book gets an “album” of at least 10 videos laying out plot, main ideas, themes, symbols — not quite CliffsNotes but “something that’s going to help them understand what they’re getting into.”

Imagine a coming-attractions reel for Great Expectations: The Movie that gives just a taste of what’s in store. As viewers watch Sawyer pop up in different spots on an otherwise white screen, she reels off the major plot points: “Escaped convicts . . . a jilted bride . . . a mysterious benefactor . . . unrequited love . . . a funeral . . . the escaped convict is the benefactor!” And so on.

Talking by phone from Boston, Sawyer says she “was born to do this” — and watching her on-screen, it’s easy to see why: She’s frank and funny and attractive — and just a little bit over-the-top.  GREG TOPPO