School Library Journal Trailee Winners
Tuesday, October 26th, 2010BEST Book Trailers: The Winner’s List
SLJ announced the winners of the Trailee Award this weekend. SLJ calls these a “people’s choice” award, since they were voted on by the public.
NOTE: There was some confusion about how the award was spelled. In the original announcement, it was Trailie; but SLJ says, “After the original announcement people people began to call it TRAILEE so in an interim story we said we would go with Trailee as the spelling used in logo.”
Disappointing is the failure to identify who created some of the videos. Of course, there are privacy concerns, especially in the student-created category. But at least identifying the school represented would seem to be appropriate.
Following each video are my comments.
Publisher/Author created for elementary readers (PreK-6)
Shark vs. Train, by Chris Barton, Little Brown
(1843 YouTube Views; 215 Views on Vimeo; not on TeacherTube)
*|YouTube:ra2QESKwBTw|*
BTM Comments: This video follows a strong movie trailer aesthetic. The best thing here, as in the book, is the juxtaposition of shark and train and the narrator. It does seem that strong books make for strong trailers.
Publisher/Author created for secondary readers (7-12)
Ghostgirl: Lovesick, by Tonya Hurley, Hachette
(51,311 YouTube views; 270 Views on Vimeo; not on TeacherTube)
*|YouTube:T5RIBLJb5LA|*
BTM Comments: Animation is the clear winner in this trailer. Otherwise, it’s just music with some video.
Adult (18 +) created for elementary readers (PreK-6)
14 Cows for America, by Carmen Agra Deedy, Peachtree
Book trailer created by Analine Johnson (see interview here) who is the librarian at Centeno Elementary in Laredo, Texas.
(248 Views on YouTube; 2638 Views on TeacherTube; 178 Views on Vimeo)
*|YouTube:13G0CdgV9Yo|*
BTM Comments: Johnson’s strength is in selection of music and images. This is a slide-show aesthetic trailer, but the choice of poignant and rich piano music combined with great images makes this work. For example, the transition from the young boy’s eye full of fire, to the fire cloud of the Twin Towers is quite effective. It’s another case where a strong book makes for a strong video.
Adult created for secondary readers (7-12)
Unwind, by Neal Shusterman
Created by June Henson, who is the librarian at Downing Middle School in Flower Mound, Texas.
(281 Views on YouTube; 246 on Vimeo; 458 on Teacher Tube)
*|YouTube:TUF4i3Nfj9o|*
BTM Comments: For this slide-show aesthetic trailer, Henson chose a strong red text against a black background, proving that good graphic design matters in a book trailer.
Student created for elementary readers (PreK-6)
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, by Mo Willems, Hyperion.
Creator not identifed. (272 Views on Vimeo; not on YouTube or TeacherTube.)
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus from SLJ Trailee Nominees on Vimeo.
*|*Vimeo:15311744|*
BTM Comments: The clear winner here is the narrator. Too bad she’s not identified.
Student created for secondary readers (7-12 grade)
The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier, Random House.
Creators not identified.
(105 Views on Vimeo)
The Chocolate War by Taeho Kong from SLJ Trailee Nominees on Vimeo.
*|Vimeo:15311516|*
BTM Comments: Of course, this one won. High school is a time when students learn to create Powerpoints and this is a perfect example of that sort of silent-movie aesthetic of a Powerpoint presentation.
