Long before ChatGPT, it was an open secret that students did not always read the books they were assigned in their English Language Arts (ELA) classes, relying instead on online study guides like SparkNotes. Via a retrospective survey, our exploratory study examined (1) the rate of SparkNotes use among high-school ELA students; (2) why students used SparkNotes, and what type of support they received; and (3) what feelings and attitudes informed these decisions--e.g., did students consider SparkNotes a form of cheating? Our 209 participants were mostly "Ideal Readers," motivated and engaged, but two-thirds reported having used SparkNotes to avoid assigned reading. We interpret this finding through the lens of New Literacy Studies, raising questions about the underlying goals of reading and literary analysis in ELA and alluding to a hidden curriculum focused on transmitting domain-specific values. We observe parallels between discussions about SparkNotes and the current conversation around ChatGPT.