Engaging readers through book trailers in the classroom and library

Have you ever considered that difficulty finding books to read is one of the greatest reasons children may not be reading. Even for some of our avid readers, choosing books is hard.  Hey, it is for me sometimes, too! So, it just makes sense that for some of these readers, teachers and teacher-librarians should actively promote books and hear students say "Hey, I want to read that!"

Book trailers are one way to help our students access books.  Here is one trailer that my fellow student, Crystal, and I created for our summer course, EDES 501, through U of A. 

A few tips... think about the big ideas or themes when selecting images.  Find music (creative commons license, of course) that works with that theme.  Then...don't forget that  you don't want to give away the ending! This trailer was created on Movie Maker but I think next time, I'll be trying out Animoto.com

FYI, all photos were courtesy of Flickr and the music, Akili by Peppa Ska, was courtesy of Jamendo.com.

Finally, don't forget students can learn to create their own trailers, too!