Capture That Story (Choose a Book and Plan Your Book Trailer)

Today's post is geared for innovative teachers and librarians, home schoolers, scout troop leaders and readers interested in books and technology! I'll continue with parts three and four of my lesson plan for a hands-on, self-guided Book Trailer Project that you can incorporate into your own learning environment.

As I noted in my last post, I'm embarking on a quest to capture video footage of story time experiences  involving books in my Story Time with Signs and Rhymes series and/or book trailers for titles in my series. For a limited time, I will provide a complimentary Skype/Facetime or Email Author visit with any group that shares a video of this nature that is suitable and available for upload to YouTube.

This week's focus is on Choosing a Book and Planning Your Book Trailer. (NOTE: The Voki video below may not be viewable with iPads or other devices that do not use Flash)

Part Three: Choose A Book

Now that you know what book trailers are, and you’ve seen some samples, I hope you will decide to make a book trailer. To get started, choose a book you’d like to feature in your book trailer.  

You can choose whatever book you like, but I HOPE you will consider one of my books from the Story Time with Signs & Rhymes series (Set One or Set Two) because I would LOVE to feature your trailers on my website, blog, and YouTube channel! If you choose one of my books, they are easy to find in libraries around the world using Worldcat. You can find eBook previews here.

Part Four: Plan Your Book Trailer

You can find an excellent resource for planning your book trailer here, (on the website of Michelle Harclerode, an innovative Teacher Librarian in Florida).

Some special things to consider if you are using a book from the Story Time with Signs & Rhymes Series:

*Learning and demonstrating a little bit of American Sign Language (ASL) will enhance your book trailer. You can find online sign language dictionaries here.  

*You can find downloadable glossaries and sign language activity ideas here (scroll down past the “Star Wars” info).

*Some of the books can be “sung” to the tune of familiar children’s songs. Read this blog post for a list of the songs that match up with some of my books.

*The books in this series are geared for three to eight year olds. Consider involving kids in this age group (siblings, neighbors, younger kids from your school) in your project.  Kids in this age group usually LOVE to sing and sign. (You will need to obtain appropriate releases to show other people on film.  Your teacher should have the appropriate release forms that will need to be signed by parents, but if not, feel free to contact me and I will send you a sample release form). 

*There are ASL Fun Facts and Activity Ideas in the back of each book. You can also find out more information by reading some recent interviews with me (scroll down past the Mike Thaler and Stan Lee interviews). 

In my next post I'll discuss filming and publishing your book trailer. In the meantime, please feel free to message me directly or via the comment section if you have questions or requests for additional information.