book trailers


Detail of "Knowledge in Depth" (2013) by Brian Dettmer book sculpture artist                                                                             

What is a book trailer?

     The book may have a new rival on the scene, the interactive screen, however books remains a multi-layered texts that invite complex examination of story and ideas.  How might book trailers promote deeper exploration into books' themes and content? Described as a "video advertisement" for books by some (Wikipedia) and “a convergence of story and the arts” by others (Gunter & Kenny), the book trailer bases its form on the popular culture genre of the movie trailer. The short video or image collages touch on key elements of a text’s plot, themes, conflicts and questions. Similar to “book talks” in which teachers or librarians discuss books for purposes of generating interest and matching readers with books, book trailers  create space to browse book possibilities. Distinct from a book talk, however, book trailers do not summarize books. Instead, they attempt to mimic movie trailers by strategically combining various multimodal resources such as images, video, music and short phrases to “hook” audiences without revealing the entire plot.

 

Book Trailers in the Classroom

A growing number of teachers and librarians have begun to incorporate this media-based genre into their reading initiatives with students. 

Presentation by 8th grade teacher, Tess Bademan, at 2010 Minnesota Writing Project Invitational Summer Institute. Offers examples of how to use book trailers as "multimodal book talks" as a way to build community among writers.

 

 

Professional Book Trailers

Many book trailers have been made by professional media producers, commissioned by authors or publishing companies with the specific goal to advertising and promote sales of the book. 


Reader/Fan-made Examples

There exist 1000's of reader or fan-made examples of book trailers.  These examples tend to emphasize the book's content, including quotations as well as phrases and questions that highlight the books' themes. 

 

Student-made examples:   

 

Teacher & Librarian-made Models:

 

Book Trailers of Select Americas Award Book Recipients:

The Americas Award selects books that portray Latin American, the Caribbean, and Latinos living in the United States in authentic, culturally rich ways. The following is a sampling of reader-made book trailers that illustrate these books and their themes. Trailers are listed in order of the year the book was released. 

 

 

Additional Resources

Some additional resources for getting started or going deeper.