Book Trailers for K-12

"Creating a community of avid readers, one video at a time"

How do you select books to read? Do you use the jacket cover? Word of mouth? Reading lists? Which comes first, reading a book or watching a movie made from it?

We believe it does not have to be an 'either-or' choice. Similar to movie trailers, video book trailers are short, minute and a half to two-minute videos that introduce the basic storyline. They differ from book reports captured on video in that in these productions the story is re-enacted with artistic and creative decisions made by the director as to what parts of the story are presented.

Digital Booktalk, a 2005 UCF Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence (SURE) Grand Prize Winner, is the result of collaborative efforts between UCF's Educational Technology Program in the College of Education, the Department of Digital Media in the College of Arts and Humanities, and Orange County Public Schools in Orlando, Florida. The conceptual design is based on research into what motivates reluctant and striving readers to select, read, and complete books.

On this site we present you with video book trailers created by UCF students to encourage reluctant and striving readers to find books to read, trailers produced by K-12 students, and a series of curricula and plans to help you implement the project in your classrooms.

There are three ways to view the book trailers on this site. First, if you know the exact title, just enter it into the search box provided at the top right of this page. Alternatively, you may either click here or on the Browse Books link in the Navigation Bar.

TEACHERS: Are you interested in creating your own book trailers? UB the Director is a curriculum model that answers the inevitable question from your students: "Why do I have to read the book if I can watch the movie about it instead?" Our curriculum teaches you and your students how to visualize the books being read and how to utilize the story invention process to create your own video book trailers. By registering, you will be provided guidance on how to create video book trailers and how to add them to our site.

Click here for more details on how to register to receive lesson plans, instructions on how to integrate this activity into your reading programs, and how to attend our one and two day workshops.