A book video is a stimulating visual preview or commercial about a book. The videos for grades 7-12 collected here are in the form of video booktalk, similar to an in-class booktalk, and video book trailer, like a movie trailer but about a book. They are both strategically designed to yield big results.
- First, they can get students enthused about reading. A good book video practically makes books fly off the shelf and into the hands of students who might not have chosen them otherwise.
- Second, a book video gives students a greater understanding of the range of books available to them, and sometimes children need this head start.
- Third, they make the initial connection between the student's prior knowledge and the book's content. Reading comprehension is enhanced by these real connections between reader and text.
With the Internet there are now book videos students can watch on the computer at home or at school, (or on their video iPods)! Try these quick video versions of booktalks and trailers. They're a fun, visual way to get your students excited about reading.
Absolutely, Positively Not by David LaRochelle (Grade 7-12)
Steven is certain he's not gay. He absolutely can't be gay. Can he?
Booktalk for Absolutely, Positively Not 
Airhead by Meg Cabot (Grade 9-12)
After a bizarre accident, Em wakes up to find she's no longer herself, and there's no way to fix it.
Booktalk for Airhead 
All Shook Up by Barry Denenberg (Grade 7-12)
Let Elvis, his family, and his friends tell you how he made that long and frequently difficult journey to stardom.
Booktalk for All Shook Up 
The Arrival by Shaun Tan (Grade 7-12)
New country, new home, new hopes and dreams.
Booktalk for The Arrival 
Birdwing by Rafe Martin (Grade 7-12)
Once upon a time, a girl rescued her seven brothers from a spell that had turned them into swans.
Book trailer for Birdwing 
Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle (Grade 7-10)
An elderly Ruben Hart tells the story of his 1929 adventures as a fourteen-year-old, during the rum-running trade along the Prohibition-era New England coast.
Book trailer for Black Duck 
Black Rabbit Summer by Kevin Brooks (Grade 7-12)
How could one of his closest friends from childhood be a killer?
Booktalk for Black Rabbit Summer 
Bluford High: Blood Is Thicker by Paul Langan (Grade 9-12)
Sixteen-year-old Hakeem's life is turned upside down after his father is diagnosed with cancer and his family must move to Detroit.
Book trailer for Bluford High: Blood Is Thicker 
Box Out by John Coy (Grade 7-12)
Is a place on the high school varsity basketball team worth the price he'll have to pay to keep it?
Booktalk for Box Out 
Click by Various authors (Grade 6-8)
A box of shells and a stack of signed portraits. Why did Grandpa Gee leave them to Maggie and Jason? What to they mean?
Booktalk for Click 
Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah (Grade 9-12)
When she decides to wear the hijab full time, Amal's life changes in ways she never expected.
Booktalk for Does My Head Look Big in This? 
Flush by Carl Hiaasen (Grade 7-11)
You know it's going to be a rough summer when you spend Father's Day visiting your dad in the local lockup.
Book trailer for Flush 
The Good Neighbors: Book One: Kin by Holly Black (Grade 9-12)
The worlds of human and faerie have always existed side by side, peacefully. But that is about to change.
Booktalk for The Good Neighbors: Book One: Kin 
Harlem Summer by Walter Dean Myers (Grade 7-9)
In 1925, the summer he was 16, Mark Purvis learned who he was and where he fit into his world.
Booktalk for Harlem Summer 
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Grade 7-12)
The Hunger Games-ritual, punishment, death. Only one can survive.
Booktalk for The Hunger Games 
Kendra by Coe Booth (Grade 7-12)
When the "wrong" thing feels so right, it's hard to know what's the right decision.
Booktalk for Kendra 
The Last Book in the Universe by Rodman Philbrick (Grade 7-9)
I can’t use the mindprobes, so I can remember things. That’s the beginning. What’s the end? Read me and find out.
Booktalk for The Last Book in the Universe 
Moon and Sun #1: The Ruby Key by Holly Lisle (Grade 9-12)
Jealousy, greed, betrayal, danger-all these and more await those foolish enough to enter the land of the nightlings, and leave the human world behind.
Booktalk for Moon and Sun #1: The Ruby Key 
Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi (Grade 5-12)
When Balsa saw the prince fall from the bridge, her destiny took an unexpected turn.
Booktalk for Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit 
The Murder of Bindi MacKenzie by Jaclyn Moriarty (Grade 9-12)
Everyone in school knows how irritating Bindy Mackenzie is-but is that any reason to kill her?
Booktalk for The Murder of Bindi MacKenzie 
Notes from the Midnight Driver by Jordan Sonnenblick (Grade 7-12)
This is a story of Alex Gregory, his jazz guitar, his best friend Laurie, an angry judge, and a feisty old man dying of emphysema, and how the combination changes all of them.
Booktalk for Notes from the Midnight Driver 
Peak by Roland Smith (Grade 7-12)
After Peak Marcello is arrested for scaling a New York City skyscraper, he's left with two choices: wither away in Juvenile Detention or go live with his long-lost father, who runs a climbing company in Thailand.
Book trailer for Peak 
Pemba’s Song: A Ghost Story by Tonya Hegamin (Grade 7-12)
There was something strange in the old house-or was it someone strange?
Booktalk for Pemba’s Song: A Ghost Story 
Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson (Grade 7-12)
The Hopewell Hotel and its owners finally found something to hope for when Mrs. A moved into the Empire Suite.
Booktalk for Suite Scarlett 
Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers (Grade 9-12)
Vietnam. Iraq. Different generations. Different wars. But the experiences of the soldiers who fought in them are all too similar.
Booktalk for Sunrise Over Fallujah 
Talent by Zoey Dean (Grade 7-12)
It’s all about talent in LA: who has it, who doesn’t, who wants it, and who can find it first!
Book trailer for Talent 
Top 8 by Katie Finn (Grade 7-12)
I returned from spring break to find my Friendverse profile hacked. Someone clearly out to ruin me had spilled the most damaging secrets - AND posted the worst photos of me ever taken - online.
Booktalk for Top 8 
Tyrell by Coe Booth (Grade 7-12)
Tyrell is 14. Broke, homeless, with a mom who refuses to take care of his little brother and acts like the world owes her a living, Tyrell is under so much pressure, sometimes he feels like he's gonna break for sure.
Booktalk for Tyrell 
The Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce (Grade 9-12)
Sandry, Daja, Tris, and Briar are together again, but it’s been years since they’ve seen each other, and their experiences and secrets keep them from reforging their magical circle.
Booktalk for The Will of the Empress 
The Year My Sister Got Lucky by Aimee Friedman (Grade 7-12)
Can two New York City ballerinas survive a move to a tiny farming town named Fir Lake?
Booktalk for The Year My Sister Got Lucky 
