90-Second Newbery: Sheboygan-Bound!
October 11, 2012
« 90-Second Newbery from the Foote School: 2012! 90-Second Newbery Update: Claymation Mr. Popper’s Penguins »
This weekend I’ll be appearing at the 3rd Annual Sheboygan Children’s Book Festival in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Part of what I’m doing is hosting a 90-Second Newbery Film Festival mini-screening at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan from 6-7 pm. I always luck out with co-hosts for the 90-Second Newbery, and this time it’s no exception: the great children’s book illustrator Dan Yaccarino! (We have several of his books on our shelves at home.)
Today I’d like to feature three 90-Second Newbery videos I received from the Sheboygan area. The first one, above, is of Ellen Raskin’s classic The Westing Game by 8th graders Brianna, Kaylyn, Sam, Hannah, McKenzie, and Jeremy on Port Catholic School. They did a really good job boiling down the super-complex plot and vast cast of characters (and so many elaborate explosions)! I liked the ominous lightning effects and dramatic musical cues!
But wait, that’s not the only Westing Game I got from Port Catholic! Here’s another, by Jon, Grace, Ryann, Alma, and Adrian:
This one’s well done, too! My favorite part is the guy running through in a Batman costume and rasping, “I’m Batman.”
We have one more video from Sheboygan. This one is by Lily Winslow, and it’s of Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata:
I’m always a sucker for a good vomiting scene (wait, was that blue vomit?). “Kira-Kira” is Japanese for “sparkling,” and Lily’s movie got the tone of the book quite well! The music Lily used was a good choice—by strange coincidence, the same Debussy piece was also used for this 90-Second Newbery Claymation version of Island of the Blue Dolphins.
We’ll be screening all three of these Sheboygan videos, plus the best 90-Second Newbery movies I received in the past year, on Friday. See you there!
Here’s a weird coincidence: in our interviews for the Sheboygan Book Festival, both Dan Yaccarino and I name-check the amazing but relatively obscure kid’s book The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron (Here’s where I mention it, and here’s where Dan mentions it). This partnership was meant to be!