Review #125: Charlotte's Web

 
The 3rd Annual 90-Second Newbery Film Festival is coming soon!  We attended the screening in Chicago last year and it was tons of fun!  Don't know what the 90-Second Newbery is?  I'll put some links at the bottom of this post.  But in the meantime...

For our entry this year, we decided to tackle one of the most highly favored novels in Children's Literature.  Charlotte's Web won a Newbery Honor in 1952.  Ten years later, Spider-Man made his first appearance.  Hey... why not bring the two legendary spiders together?  Why not re-imagine the "Charlotte" characters as costumed heroes and villains in the opening credits of an imaginary tv show?  Okay!  Let's do it!  

We're proud to present our Charlotte's Web / Spider-Man / Mashup Video:



And for an actual 'review' of the book, here are the lyrics to our song:

­­

Charlotte’s web, Charlotte’s web

Making miracles with her thread
She spins a web that brings surprise
With her words she saves lives
Look Out!
Here comes Charlotte’s web

See that pig in the mud?
He will faint at the thought of blood
Will our Wilbur soon be dead?
Just take a look overhead
See there:
There’s hope in Charlotte’s web

From the farm to the fair

Meeting animals everywhere

He could get eaten any day

Danger’s never far away

That’s why

He needs Charlotte’s web

In the chill of night
With her own special twine
She in secret writes
To save the life of a swine

Charlotte’s web, Charlotte’s web

Friendly, generous, lots of legs
The pig gets fame
While she’s ignored
Making friends is her reward

So pigs, whenever you are shakin’
She’ll come and save your bacon
Look out for Charlotte’s web!

To see all four of our own Newbery Videos, click here...
To learn more about the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival, click here...
To see the best of the 90-Second Newbery videos, click here...

Author: E.B. White
Illustrator: Garth Williams
Published, 1952: HarperCollins
Want the book?  Here it is

 

Review #119: Frog and Toad Together

It's that time of year again... The 2nd Annual 90-Second Newbery Festival is right around the corner!  Each year kids across the land are invited to make short video versions of their favorite Newbery winners, and this year the Z-Kids were eager to have another go at it.

You might know that one of Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad books won a Caldecott Honor for illustration.  But did you know that a different one received the Newbery Honor for story?

We're excited to present our Frog and Toad Fan Film, performed by Isaac (14), Gracie (12), Lily (9), Elijah (7), and Evie (4)...





To watch it larger, you can click here...

If you'd like to see a behind-the-scenes "Making Of" video, click here...

If you'd like to hear Isaac's original free-styling harmonica score, click here...

If you'd like to watch all of our 90-Second Newbery entries, click here...

Author/Illustrator: Arnold Lobel
Published, 1979: HarperCollins
Like it?  Here it is

Review #109: The Black Cauldron

We have another video review for you today!

Earlier this year we reviewed "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander.  Afterward, our family continued reading through the rest of the Prydain Chronicles.  The second book in the series, "The Black Cauldron," was a Newbery Honor...  so we figured we'd work up another submission for the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival...

This time, the review is a solo effort by Lily!  She summarized the book all on her own and later did all the pictures.  The movie does run over 90 seconds, but I didn't have the heart to cut a single precious second from it.

Here's Lily's take on "The Black Cauldron" -- enjoy!  And feel free to share :)





Author: Lloyd Alexander
Published, 1965: Henry Holt
Like them?  Here they are

Review #96: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

We have a special review for you today!  The kids and I started working on this post 3 months ago.  Yes, three months!  After lots of fun planning and hard work, we are proud to present our first video review!  Below you'll find our retelling of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon...  with shadow puppets...  in 92 seconds!






Author/Illustrator: Grace Lin
Published, 2009: Little Brown
Like it?  Here it is
90-Second Newbery: brainchild of James Kennedy
Original Music: composed by Victor Lams
Want to know what went into making this video??? Visit: Fuzzy Pizza