Don’t forget, the second annual 90-Second Newbery Film Festival premieres at Symphony Space in New York City on Sunday, December 2! Full details of the event from Symphony Space here. I’m co-hosting it with children’s literature legend Jon Scieszka, with special guests kidlit superstars Kate DiCamillo, Rita Williams-Garcia, Margi Preus, Dan Yaccarino, and Brian Floca. Whatta lineup!

There’s no getting around it: The Giver is one of the most commonly-adapted books for the 90-Second Newbery. Both last year and this year, loads of folks can’t resist doing this book. (Other perennially popular choices for the 90-Second Newbery? A Bridge to Terabithia, Holes, When You Reach Me, and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.)

I’ve become a seasoned connoisseur of movies of The Giver (and noted with amusement how filmmakers tend to linger on the infamous “releasing” scene). So I know my way around a good The Giver.

Here are two standouts! First of all, scroll back up and check out that first one. Top-notch! It was submitted by 13-year-old Ian of “The Reddler Films” of Westmont, Illinois. Technically assured, it looks professional and abbreviates the story quite effectively. Smart framing device to have it begin and end with Jonas talking to Gabe. Deft use of royalty-free music, good cinematography for every scene—shaky and jittery when Jonas is in a hurry, emphasizing his smallness in relation to authority figures, riding along with Jonas on the bicycle—and the rapid-fire montage of good/bad memories transmitted by the Giver to Jonas is a masterstroke! I also appreciated the subtle, gradual way color bleeds back into the world at the end. The tight focus on Jonas’ face to the exclusion of almost everyone else’s makes us really feel like we’re with him in his journey. A winner!

But that isn’t the only adaptation of The Giver I’ve received. This next one is an all-girl The Giver from Metuchen, New Jersey, made by Julia, Sophie, Molly, Alanna, Chloe, and Ada of the Write Stuff Writers Program—a bit cheekier and more light-hearted that the first one:

Quite funny, especially with the Giver’s rap-song in the middle—visually, that scene is like Eminem being Gandalf for Halloween, or the other way around. In a good way! I also enjoyed “Asher’s” frantic spasticism. It was pretty amusing that Jonas’ bike has training wheels, and that he shushes a crying Gabe with a gruff “quiet, I’m trying to have a moment here.” And of course Don’t Stop Receiving sung to the tune of Don’t Stop Believing was the cherry on top. Well done!

I’ll see these filmmakers in New York, and I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to seeing you, too!

Remember, the New York screening of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival is coming up December 2! Co-hosted by me and Jon Scieszka, with special guests Newbery winners Kate DiCamillo, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Margi Preus. And picture-book world stars Dan Yaccarino and Brian Floca. Complete details here. Get your tickets now!

Rochester Community Television and Writers and Books in Rochester, NY have a summer camp that teaches media literacy through video production. A perfect match for the 90-Second Newbery! Today we’ll look at two videos produced by that camp.

The first one is from the older kids’ camp, ages 12-14. It’s called “A Journey Through Newbery,” and instead about being about just one Newbery award winning book, it is (allegedly) about four. Can you guess which four Newbery books are being referenced?

But wait! There is an egregious error in it. Scroll back up, watch the video, and see if you can’t spot it.

That’s right, the first book referenced is 1988 Honor book Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet, the second is Louis Sachar’s 1999 Medal winner Holes, the third is C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and the fourth is Lois Lowry’s 1994 Medal winner The Giver—yes, that comical sound of a record needle scratching in your brain is the cognitive dissonance of seeing C.S. Lewis on that list. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe never won a Newbery, nor could it, as only United States citizens or residents are eligible for the award (that “and residents” clause is how the perfidious Neil Gaiman squeaked through).

Never mind though, this video is great! I love it when a movie has a gripping start that throw you right into the action. The kids accomplish that and then some with this special-effects-heavy crash scene from Hatchet! The kid who plays the hero has natural comic timing and demeanor. The segue from that to Holes is quite amusing, especially the offhanded way they react to the digger’s death, and the sudden appearance of the lizard was great. And even though the Narnia book isn’t a Newbery winner, I can’t deny the power of the line “Mmm, suspicious Turkish Delight! My favorite!” Another favorite detail: that in the “perfect society” of The Giver, babies are just laying in the street for anyone to pick up. Splendid work!

The camp for ages 10-12 chose a rather obscure title for their video, 1949 Honor book My Father’s Dragon by Ruth S. Gannett. I always like it when folks make movies for Newbery winners that are off the beaten path:

Wonderful! The story is well told, the production values high. Another plus: many 90-Second Newbery movies don’t make any sense if you haven’t read the book . . . but this one totally makes sense! (In fact, it inspired me to go read the book, which apparently you can download for free, and I’m glad I did. It’s a quick read, maybe a half an hour). The boy playing Elmer is hilarious, and so is the “yeah! get out of here!” mom popping up. “Bag of seemingly useless items” was a funny line. The puppets were charming and I love the way they interacted with Elmer. The transitions and the music give everything a snappy feel. A TRIUMPH!

Remember, just a few more short weeks until the New York screening of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival, December 2! Details on the screening here.

Just two-and-a-half weeks to the New York screening of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival on December 2! Complete details here. It’s co-hosted by me and National Ambassador for Children’s Literature Emeritus Jon Scieszka, Newbery winners Kate DiCamillo, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Margi Preus, and illustrators Dan Yaccarino and Brian Floca! Come one, come all!

One-man shows. One-lady shows. Sometimes they have to happen. Sometimes you want to make a 90-Second Newbery but you can’t find anyone to help out. And sometimes it feels like the best way to make something exactly the way you want it, is to do it solo. That’s what we’ve got here today!

Check out the first one above. It’s of Lois Lowry’s 1994 Newbery Medal winner The Giver, and this adaptation is by Leo Lion, a Brooklyn 12-year-old wunderkind who has a snappy website full of his other videos, animations, and writing.

This is quite well-acted and cleverly conceived! I smiled at his portentous “movie-trailer” voice for the narrator. The way Jonas interacts with the off-camera narrator was a good device to move the story forward quickly. (I also liked how the “baby” Gabe was just casually laying on a table, ready to fall off at any moment. Makes the father in me cringe.) The part where Leo is acting like a chicken is strangely compelling and terrifying to watch, and would probably make a hypnotic animated GIF. All around, an absolute pleasure! An extremely resourceful and ingenious 90-Second Newbery! Thanks, Leo!

Speaking of resourceful, how about getting your 90-Second Newbery shot and edited right on the cusp on the approaching Hurricane Sandy? Those are the circumstance under which Emily from Chatham, NJ made this excellent one-woman-show adaptation of E.L. Konigburg’s 1968 Newbery Medal Winner From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Emily was one of the filmmakers behind a superior When You Reach Me adaptation from last year. That was with a whole cast, but this time around, Emily plays all the parts:

Amazing! Emily so convincingly inhabited all three parts (Claudia, Jamie, and Frankweiler) that the first time I watched it, having only quickly read her email, I thought there were THREE DIFFERENT ACTORS. In the words of Jamie: “Make it complicated. I like complications.” Complications achieved: as I mentioned, Emily’s parents and sister filmed the video on a day off from school, just as Hurricane Sandy was beginning and before they lost power in their house. Great job and well done under pressure!

And that leads us to our last one-man show, this one from Harry Kay from Sidwell Friends School of Washington, DC (and fan of The Order of Odd-Fish, I was pleased to learn!). It’s of the most recent Newbery Medal winner, Jack Gantos’ Dead End in Norvelt:

Harry ably nails most of the beats of the story—pretty tough to do in less than 3 minutes! I like how it took a ridiculously short amount of time to cut down the corn and to write the obituary. There is something terrifying and yet satisfyingly silly about the way Harry announces the names of all the book’s murder victims while flipping through pieces of cardboard with their names on them with a serious-but-slightly-amused expression on his face. Cherry on top: the nefarious “mwa ha ha” for Spizz at the end, while in a getaway car that, er, isn’t moving. I enjoyed the whole thing very much. Well done, Harry!

Actually, I got many great videos from the students in Becky Farnum’s class at Sidwell Friends School—too many to include in one post! So I have collected them all on their own special page here. Enjoy!

Thanks for all your 90-Second Newbery videos. December 2 is rapidly closing in!