Last month School Library Journal announced its second annual Trailee Award winners at the American Library Association midwinter meeting. If you haven’t had a chance to check out these funny and adorable, and sometimes creepy and suspenseful, book trailers I recommend you take a look.
Book trailers have become an increasingly popular tool for librarians and teachers to use in their booktalk sessions with students. In fact, a survey of 100 school librarians found that 34% of librarians regularly use book trailers when booktalking, and another 38% sometimes use book trailers. The survey, conducted by Naomi Bates, a Texas high school librarian, also found that 99% of the librarians surveyed think trailers are an effective way to present books to students.
Teacher-librarian John Schumacher (aka Mr. Schu) determines a book trailer’s success by his students’ response:
“I know a book trailer has done its job when:
- My students applaud at the end of the trailer.
- Students run to the catalog to place a hold on the book.
- At least two kids ask if we can watch it again.”
In addition to whetting students’ appetite, the Teach With Picture Books blog suggests book trailers are also great for teaching lessons in literary techniques, comparing and contrasting, and building critical thinking skills.
How are you using book trailers in your library or classroom? What do you think makes a great book trailer?
We’d love to hear from you. In the meantime, here are a few of our most recent book trailers:
Comments