Last Friday, we put on a screening the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival at Tacoma, Washington’s Grant Center for the Expressive Arts! This was the final screening of our 2025 season, and it was a doozy. Big thanks to filmmaker and Grant Center teacher Bryan Johnson, who has been a big supporter of the 90-Second Newbery for years. And thanks to my co-host, Tacoma’s own Doug Mackey—in the video above, see him and me sing a Newbery-modified version of “The Phantom of the Opera” to open the show!

And thanks most of all to the kids who made these incredible movies! We called them all up onstage after the show for a picture:

The first video I’d like to feature is based on Dave Eggers’ 2024 Newbery Medal Winner The Eyes and the Impossible, and it’s adapted by Mr. Johnson’s 5th Grade Class from the Grant Center. They did it as remake of the video of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, with the lyrics rewritten to tell the plot of the book, and they nailed it! Dave Eggers even sent them a letter congratulating them on such a great movie. Check it out:

As the judges wrote in part in their review on the 90-Second Newbery website (full review here), “This movie has it all: cleverly rewritten lyrics that recount the story wittily and clearly enough so that the audience can understand what’s going on even if they hadn’t read the book, elaborate costumes for the dog, ducks, bison, and other animals in the cast, and winning performances from all the young actors! I particularly liked how the goofy-faced ducks always acted ridiculously whenever they came on the scene.”

Not to be outdone, Mr. Johnson’s K-2 Beyond the Bell filmmaking class at Grant Center made this cute and charming retelling of Wanda Gag’s 1929 Newbery Honor Book Millions of Cats:

As the judges wrote in part in their review on the 90-Second Newbery website (full review here), “A supremely entertaining and adorable adaptation! The various narrators did a compelling job of telling the story in cooperation with the actors’ physical performances and line readings. The energetic, gesticulating way the old woman delivered many of her lines, particularly ‘They must have all ate each other!’ was very fun, as well as the way the actor playing the old man pretended be ‘old’ so vigorously that he nearly toppled over at the beginning! It was an effective and authentic-feeling idea to use backgrounds drawn by the young filmmakers themselves.”

This year, Gig Harbor’s Actorcraft Page Stage and Screen, in partnership with 13 Shot Films, made two standout 90-Second Newbery movies. Check out this beautifully-produced, impressively-acted movie of Neil Gaiman’s 2009 Newbery Medal Winner The Graveyard Book:

As the judges wrote in part in their review on the 90-Second Newbery website (full review here), “This was an exceptional movie—with a clever and snappy script, charismatic performances, and professional-level cinematography and editing . . . I really liked the plummily unflappable narrator (especially how he appears at the end with his pipe and smoking jacket with a ruminating, thoughtful expression).”

Actorcraft and 13 Shot Films also made this similarly brilliant movie of Kelly Barnhill’s 2017 Newbery Medal Winner The Girl Who Drank The Moon:

As the judges wrote in part in their review on the 90-Second Newbery website (full review here), “What a beautiful, ingenious, astonishing movie . . . I liked how most of the movie was shot outside, with sets in the forest such as Xan’s hut. This movie had everything going for it: a tight script, great locations and props, resourceful special effects, and superior cinematography and editing . . . but most of all, brilliant and compelling performances from all the actors!”

Every year, I look forward to the movies made by Tacoma homeschoolers Nigel, Simone, Fletcher, Otto, and Hansel. This year they submitted two of them! This first one is based on Marguerite Henry’s 1946 Newbery Honor Book Justin Morgan Had a Horse:

As the judges wrote in part in their review on the 90-Second Newbery website (full review here), ” I love that this movie adapts an older, lesser-known Newbery book—right away, that makes the entry stand out. And this underdog story of a horse that became one of the greatest breeding stallions of all time, serving as the foundation of the Morgan breed, is particularly exciting to watch because it uses real horses, along with actors who know how to ride . . . Splendid performances from all the young actors . . . and the horses were pretty great actors too! Entertaining, resourceful, and impressive.”

Every year this same group submits a movie based on a vignette from one of the Frog and Toad books by Newbery Honor winner Arnold Lobel. This year was no different, and their movie is based on “Shivers,” in which Frog tells a nervous Toad a ghost story about the Old Dark Frog who eats children for dinner, and freaks Toad out with the spooky story about the Old Dark Frog. But this version has a twist: Frog and Toad learn that the Old Dark Frog isn’t that scary after all, and he turns out to be a kind teacher who teaches them how to make fire! (And indeed, that teacher is played by their longtime homeschool teacher.)

So here is “Shivers,” as adapted by Nigel, Simone, Fletcher, Otto, Hansel, and Mr. Mathew:

I had dinner with the whole family after the show, and they were just as delightful in real life as they are onscreen!

The final locally-produced movie I’d like to feature is made by Rainier Elementary School at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord. It’s based on Eleanor Estes’ 1952 Newbery Medal Winner Ginger Pye:

As the judges wrote in part in their review on the 90-Second Newbery website (full review here), “An inventive and surprising retelling of the story! Here, there are not one but two animals: the dog Ginger Pye, and also Curious George! Just as in the original book, the animal(s) go missing . . . I was particularly impressed by Elphaba’s elaborate witchy black costume and amazingly green skin! I also loved the big, detailed circus poster. This was a complete transformation of the original story in a fun and creative way, with engaging performances, resourceful props and costumes, and even a goofy ‘trapeze’ performance at the end!”

And that was the Tacoma 2025 90-Second Newbery Film Festival! Thanks to Bryan Johnson, Doug Mackey, Grant Center for the Expressive Arts, and of course all the young filmmakers, and the teachers, librarians, and family who helped them. I’m already looking forward to next year!

Oh and one last thing: the 90-Second Newbery relies entirely on private donations and grants to keep going. It’s only through your generosity that we can continue bringing our free public screenings and book-to-movie workshops to libraries and schools nationwide. You can make your (tax-deductible!) donation here. Donations are handled through our fiscal sponsor Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization.

A few weeks ago I was on “Who’s There? A Podcast About Horror Fans”! Hosted by horror fan Allison, it’s “a podcast to talk to horror fans and see exactly why they love this genre the way they do.” I really enjoyed doing this interview! It’s embedded above, or you can listen to it here.

Among other things, I talk about how I was such a wimp about horror as a kid that I was frightened by even the trailer for the Stephen King-directed horror movie Maximum Overdrive. I love the demented way Stephen King casually throws Brian DePalma and Stanley Kubrick under the bus (“A lot of people have directed Stephen King novels and stories. And I finally decided if you want something done right, you oughta do it yourself”) and how he points at the viewer and snarls “I’M GONNA SCARE THE HELL OUT OF YOU!”

I also talk about ruining a double date with David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers, how horror is like Malört (on my mind because that Malört review I recently wrote), and how companies like Google/Apple/Facebook and Charles Manson’s cult have telling similarities.

I also get to talk about some horror-adjacent favorite movies like Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Upstream Color, Rosemary’s Baby, and It Follows (directed by someone who went to my high school!) as well as my love of Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” (a big influence on my small-town horror novel Bride of the Tornado).

I also refer to the picture below. It’s of one of the first audiences of the 1979 movie Alien, seeing the infamous “chestbuster” scene for the first time. I want to be best friends with the bearded man in the upper left corner.

Anyway, I feel good about this interview. Give it a listen when you have a chance!

This past Saturday, at long last, we brought the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival back to Minneapolis! We hadn’t done a screening there since 2019, when Covid disrupted our 2020 show. As a hastily-conceived substitute, we had instead streamed a an online screening from my basement with just my daughters and their stuffed animals as an audience, and my co-host Kelly Barnhill was represented by a balloon with a face on it. (We tried our best. It was a pandemic.)

But thanks to the relentless efforts of Jackie Hjelden, a resourceful teacher and ally from Minnetonka, we were able to bring back the 90-Second Newbery to Minneapolis! And even though we hadn’t had a screening in years, we managed to fill up the auditorium with a rowdy and enthusiastic crowd of young filmmakers and their friends and families.

Big thanks to my co-host Jacqueline West (New York Times bestselling author of Long Lost, The Books Of Elswhere, and more) who is also a trained and very skillful singer! Check out her pipes as we sing a modified version of “The Phantom of The Opera”:

All right, let’s look at some of the Minnesota movies that I featured at the screening! I visited Delano Intermediate School the Friday before the show and got to meet some of their young filmmakers personally. I was impressed by Delano’s movie of Minnesota’s own Kelly Barnhill’s 2017 Newbery Medal Winner The Girl Who Drank The Moon, as adapted by Mia, Hope, Emma, Eden, and Natalie:

As the judges said in part on the 90-Second Newbery website (full review here), “It was the energetic, impassioned performances that made this movie excel . . . The fully committed emotional performances from all the actors and the inventive filmmaking made this a great watch!”

Delano Intermediate School also turned in this entertaining and very efficient black-and-white silent movie of Neil Gaiman’s 2009 Newbery Medal Winner The Graveyard Book, adapted by Wyatt, Alice, Emma, Ava, and Ailsa:

As the judges said in part on the 90-Second Newbery website (full review here), “The spooky music at the beginning and the end helped set the mood, and I appreciated the various careful details, like the gravestone and knife props, or the mood-scrambling ‘static’ effect. The performances managed to get across a lot of the information of the story even without dialogue!”

Delano Intermediate School also submitted this movie of Amina Luqman-Dawson’s 2023 Newbery Medal Winner Freewater, adapted by Winston, Jack, Kyler, Eva, and Reagen:

As the judges said in part on the 90-Second Newbery website (full review here), “This movie was full of action and incident, which made it fun to watch—far superior to just watching folks standing around talking. There were satisfyingly forceful performances throughout, and I particularly liked the guide who kept repeating, in more and more peeved tones, ‘Be quiet and listen to me!'”

Here’s Delano’s Claymation-and-green-screen adaptation of Jack Gantos’s 2012 Newbery Medal Winner Dead End in Norvelt by Bennett, Brecken, Evan, and Addy:

As the judges said in part on the 90-Second Newbery website (full review here), “Chaotic and goofy, and sometimes a little helter-skelter, but entertaining to watch! I was impressed by the elaborate clay figures and the inventive and extensive green screen work—both the backgrounds and the way the figures were made to move.”

Although we weren’t able to feature them at the screening, Delano also submitted wonderful movies of Dave Eggers’ 2024 Newbery Medal Winner The Eyes and The Impossible (as adapted by Ray, Ben, Everret, Mariam, and Keegan) and Erin Entrada Kelly’s 2018 Newbery Medal Winner Hello, Universe. Click the links to check them out!

We also got some super movies from Orono Intermediate School in Long Lake! Here is Tae Keller’s 2021 Newbery Medal Winner When You Trap A Tiger as adapted by Anna, Avery, Evelyn, and Cora in the style of the musical Wicked:

As the judges said in part on the 90-Second Newbery website (full review here), “The choreography and dancing were fun to watch . . . There was a resourceful use of green screen, and the tiger mask was elaborate and cool! I also chuckled at the offhand casual weirdness of some of the lyrics: ‘I’m Halmoni, I have brain cancer, I have to barf!’ Committed performances, a fun concept, and inventive use of Wicked all combined to make this a super entertaining movie.”

Orono Intermediate School also submitted this worthy adaptation of Erin Entrada Kelly’s 2018 Newbery Medal Winner Hello, Universe, by Kaitlyn W., Iva J., and Millie J.:

As the judges said in part on the 90-Second Newbery website (full review here), “This movie had a lot of great ideas, particularly how Virgil, Valencia, Kaori, and Chet introduce themselves to the audience on their first appearance, giving us an idea what kind of person they are—essential when you’re doing a very quick video that has so many characters . . . I also enjoyed the clever Taylor Swift ‘Antihero’ reference: ‘It’s me, hi, I’m Valencia, it’s me.’ Fun to watch, accurate to the book, and frequently inventive!”

Orono also gave us an adaptation of Donna Barba Higuera’s 2022 Newbery Medal Winner The Last Cuentista by Rhys D., Benson B., Teddy M., and Hugo C.J.:

As the judges said in part on the 90-Second Newbery website (full review here), “This movie did an admirable job zipping through some of the most important plot points of the story, such as Petra talking to her abuela before leaving Earth, or when Javier remembers who he is (ripping off his false nametag to reveal his true nametag— good visual storytelling!), or when the bad guys try to ‘re-purge’ Petra . . . the committed performances (and wigs!) and competent script made for an entertaining movie!”

Those were the movies from Orono that we featured at the screening, but if you want to see all seven of the movies we received from Orono Intermediate School, you can find them here!

Now, what would a Minnesota screening of the 90-Second Newbery be without Minnetonka? At the screening, they were certainly the loudest and most energetic of the audience (in a good way!), cheering and hooting and encouraging their classmates. You’ve heard about how unhinged everyone gets at screening of the Minecraft movie, right? That was nothing compared to the riotous hubbub that greeted this Minecraft adaptation of Gary Paulsen’s 1988 Newbery Honor Book Hatchet, by Calvin Jack and Clare:

As the judges said in part on the 90-Second Newbery website (full review here), “I appreciated the attention to detail in how the various scenes were built: the interior of the airplane, Brian’s shelter, his raft, fire, a pond for him to fish in, and even a giant moose and a tornado . . . Fun and entertaining!”

Minnetonka also gave us Grace Lin’s 2010 Newbery Honor Book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon done entirely with papier-mache puppets:

As the judges said in part on the 90-Second Newbery website (full review here), “I was blown away by the beautiful and elaborate puppets for Minli, the Old Man in the Moon, and the various other characters . . . Resourceful puppetry, a smart script, and engaging performances all combined for an entertaining and rewarding movie!”

We also got from Minnetonka this boffo adaptation of Kate DiCamillo’s 2001 Newbery Honor Book Because of Winn-Dixie:

As the judges said in part on the 90-Second Newbery website (full review here), “This was an appealing sprint through the story, with heartfelt performances and a nimble use of green screen. I liked the resourceful mask for the dog Winn-Dixie and the props like the guitar, peanut butter, and sandwiches . . . A rewarding and absorbing romp!”

Minnetonka also turned in this surprisingly comprehensive adaptation of Cece Bell’s 2015 Newbery Honor Book El Deafo:

As the judges said in part on the 90-Second Newbery website (full review here), “The performances felt realistic and authentic . . . I liked the smart touch of how all the characters wore bunny ears, mirroring the bunny ears throughout the original graphic novel. There was a resourceful use of props, such as the hearing aid, the eyepatch, the capes, and even the dog that ‘bites’ Cece! Good performances, plus a detailed and faithful script, made for a solid and enjoyable movie.”

We also got from Minnetonka a Lego version of Kate DiCamillo’s 2014 Newbery Medal Winner Flora & Ulysses, adapted by Theo, Elliot, Clare, Luca, Calvin, Elinor, Holger, and Hugh:

As the judges said in part on the 90-Second Newbery website (full review here), “A kooky and chaotic, but ultimately entertaining, sprint through the basic plot points of the book . . . The voiceover performances were full of energy and charm, especially Ulysses’ sped-up squeaky voice. I particularly enjoyed the lightsaber battle with Star Wars music in the Giant Donut cafe!”

And finally from Minnetonka, another Lego movie, this time of Lois Lowry’s 1990 Newbery Medal Winner Number the Stars:

As the judges said in part on the 90-Second Newbery website (full review here), “I liked the inventive use of the medium (a boat made out of looseleaf papers, scary red-clad soldiers) and the frequent intertitles did help to make the plot a little clearer . . . The performances were agreeable and the story moved quickly through the complicated plot points . . . Overall a pleasing and entertaining movie!”

And that’s it for the Minneapolis screening of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival! Again, thanks to all the young filmmakers who participated and attended, as well as their friends and family and teachers. It really was a triumphant return! Here’s to next year!