The BEST-OF-THE-BEST 2022 90-Second Newbery Film Festival: Online Screening!
Hello, fans of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival! Usually, we do our screenings live at libraries and theaters around the country. However, due to Covid, we couldn’t do most of our screenings live this year.
So instead, we are doing ONLINE screenings! In the video above, join film festival founder James Kennedy (author of the YA fantasy The Order of Odd-Fish and the new adult speculative thriller Dare To Know) and author Keir Graff (author of The Tiny Mansion and many other books for kids and adults) as we watch THE BEST OF THE BEST 90-Second Newbery movies that we received for the 2022 season!
This is also a special occasion, because 2022 marks the HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY of the Newbery award. And so Keir and I open the show with a brief skit in which we learn about the HORRIFYING PROPHECY that comes true on the centenary anniversary of the Newbery award. Will John Newbery rise from the dead? Will we once again sing our way bravely through an opening musical number? Yes and yes! Thanks to Javier Ramirez and the Exile in Bookville bookstore in Chicago for helping us out with that. (Go buy a book from them! They ship!) And thanks to Chris, Alice, Heather, Domingo, Lucy, and Ingrid for helping sing the opening song.
Want to learn more about the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival? Check out our official website at www.90secondnewbery.com. And remember, it’s never too early to start making movies for the 2023 90-Second Newbery Film Festival!
Thank you to all the young filmmakers for their fantastic movies, and the families, teachers, and librarians who assisted them! So sit back, relax, and enjoy the video above.
Here’s the running order of the movies, with links to their reviews on the 90-Second Newbery website:
1. Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut (Derrick Barnes, 2018 Honor Book) by Juarez E. of the Advanced Learning Academy in San Antonio, TX
2. Doctor Desoto (William Steig, 1983 Honor Book) by Mr. Johnson’s 5th Grade Film Club at the Grant Center for Expressive Arts in Tacoma, WA
3. Doctor Desoto (William Steig, 1983 Honor Book) by Luana, Satvik, Tavleen, Tyler, and Yosef of Frances M. Rhodes Elementary in San Antonio, TX
4. Bridge to Terabithia (Katherine Paterson, 1978 Medal Winner) by Aurelia C. of Novi, MI
5. New Kid (Jerry Craft, 2020 Medal Winner) by Maya of Green Bay, WI
6. The War That Saved My Life (Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, 2016 Newbery Honor Book) by Jack Wright & Co. of Lookout Mountain, GA
7. Doll Bones (Holly Black, 2014 Honor Book) by the Leland Street Players of Chicago, IL
8. 26 Fairmount Avenue (Tomie dePaola, 2000 Honor Book) by Mr. Johnson’s 4th Grade Class of the Grant Center for the Expressive Arts in Tacoma, WA
9. The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (Hugh Lofting, 1923 Newbery Medal Winner) by Eian-Gabriel Sinclair of Rochester, NY
10. When You Reach Me (Rebecca Stead, 2010 Medal Winner) by Andrew, Davis, Duncan, Jackson, Lilly, Linley, Payton, and Micah of the Compass Homeschool Initiative in Tulsa, OK
11. Cedric the Forester (Bernard Marshall, 1922 Honor Book) by Max Peck of Brandon, VT
12. Holes (Louis Sachar, 1999 Medal Winner) by Rivers and Roads ALC and Nature School of Oklahoma City, OK
13. Onion John (Joseph Krumgold, 1960 Newbery Medal Winner ) by Laurel, Frances, and Thuan of Chicago, IL
14. The Giver (Lois Lowry, 1994 Medal Winner) by NetNav Productions of San Antonio, TX
15. Along Came A Dog (Meindert Dejong, 1959 Honor Book) by Lily Manning of Chicago, IL
16. A Visit To William Blake’s Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers (Nancy Willard, 1982 Newbery Medal Winner) by Nigel, Simone, Fletcher, Otto, and Hansel of Tacoma, WA
James Kennedy is the author of the YA fantasy The Order of Odd-Fish and the adult speculative thriller Dare To Know. He is the founder and curator of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two daughters. You can find him on the web at http://www.jameskennedy.com and on Twitter at @iamjameskennedy.
Keir Graff is the author of funny and fantastical middle-grade adventure novels including The Tiny Mansion, The Phantom Tower (named a Best Children’s Book by the Chicago Tribune), and The Matchstick Castle (an official Illinois Reads selection). He also writes books for grown-ups—some of them under fake names! He lives in Chicago with his wife Marya, sons Felix and Cosmo, and cats Toothless and Totoro. Follow him on Twitter at @KeirGraff and find out more at www.keirgraff.com.
Do you want to support the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival, so we can keep this crazy show going every year, coast to coast? Please make a tax-deductible donation to the 90-Second Newbery here. The 90-Second Newbery is under the nonprofit fiscal sponsorship of Fractured Atlas.