The Tacoma, WA 2022 90-Second Newbery Film Festival: Online Screening!
Hello, Tacoma-area fans of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival! Usually, we do our screenings live at libraries and theaters around the country, including at events sponsored by the Tacoma Public Library. However, due to Covid, we can’t do our Tacoma screening 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 kid-made 90-Second Newbery movies of 2022! Thanks to everyone at the Tacoma Public Library for making this possible, especially Sara Sunshine Holloway and John Hargis.
This is 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 to 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. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White, 1953 Honor Book) by Jack, Tyler, Braden, & Roderick of Summit Trail Middle School, Maple Valley, WA
2. When You Trap A Tiger (Tae Keller, 2021 Medal Winner) by Clara Watson of Seabury School, Tacoma, WA
3. Doctor DeSoto (William Steig, 1983 Honor Book) by Mr. Johnson’s 5th Grade Film Club of The Grant Center for the Expressive Arts, Tacoma, WA
4. The Story of Mankind (Hendrik Willem van Loon, 1922 Medal Winner) by Seb, Shoki, Calvin, and Emmett of Summit Trail Middle School, Maple Valley, WA
5. Ramona and Her Father (Beverly Cleary, 1978 Honor Book) by Asher of Gig Harbor Academy and Violett, Kwali, and Rebecca of Port Orchard, WA
6. A Visit to William Blake’s Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by Nigel, Simone, Fletcher, Otto, and Hansel, Tacoma, WA
7. Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Sam G. of Summit Trail Middle School, Maple Valley, WA
8. 26 Fairmount Avenue (Tomie dePaola, 2000 Honor Book) by Mr. Johnson’s 4th Grade Class of The Grant Center for the Expressive Arts, Tacoma, WA
9. The Giver (Lois Lowry, 1994 Medal Winner) by Seabury School, Tacoma, WA
10. 26 Fairmount Avenue (Tomie dePaola, 2000 Honor Book) by Mr. Johnson’s 4th Grade Class of The Grant Center for the Expressive Arts, Tacoma, WA
11. Last Stop on Market Street (Matthew de la Peña, 2016 Medal Winner) by Aurora, Emmett, Gideon, Gabrielle, Sarina, & Mirabel of Seabury School, Tacoma, WA
12. Frog and Toad Together (Arnold Lobel, 1973 Honor) by Fletcher and Otto, 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.