Video Sunday: They say you can take the girl out of Michigan but you can’t take Michigan out of the girl.

While I much prefer the literal version of old classics like Total Eclipse of the Heart, Take On Me and the library-inspired Head Over Heels, I appreciate a good literal version of a movie every once in a while too.

Thanks to Lisa at Shelf-employed for the link.

Okay.  So let us say for the sake of argument that we’ve conquered the world of book trailers.  Done and done!  Now we have a set of standards in place and all is well.  If that statement is true then by extension there is only one place to go from here.  Book APP trailers.  Oh, like you didn’t see this one coming.

Speaking of trends that may catch on in the future, Patricia Polacco just came up with a smart little idea. A forty-five minute documentary about Ms. Polacco called Tricia’s Michigan has just been produced and teachers can purchase the chance to show it for $18.  Now that is an interesting concept.  It marks almost a new source of revenue for authors.

Mind you, I’m from Michigan myself, as were my ancestors, so for me the country scenes are the best part.

And now, what the heck, let’s switch gears so far in the opposite direction as to make your head spin.  I think that’s what I love the most about children’s literature.  The sheer range of the thing.  Because on the one hand you can have a nice woman with her goats talking about books, and on the other you can watch this trailer for author Michael Buckley’s newest Cartoon Network show about teenage robots.  One word: Woo-hoo!

Woah.

Speaking of “woah”, here is a video to give you hope for the future of America.  Honestly, this was the best pick-me-up I’ve found all week.  A little background.  Each year in Chicago at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools the Sutherland Awards for the best picture books of the previous year are given out.  These are kid-chosen literary awards.  As their website says, “The awards allow Lower School and Middle School students to become critics in the spirit of Ms. Zena Sutherland.”  They usually get some kind of announcement by a person working in the field.  In this particular case, Marla Frazee is reading off the winners.  Check out the audience reaction to each win. It takes a while to load, but believe me when I say it’s worth it.

Better than chocolate.  If you can quite hear, they’re cheering for Big Wolf and Little Wolf by Nadine Brun-Cosme, Waiting for Winter by Sebastian Meschenmoser, and A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis.  Thanks to Susan Fine for the link.

Finally, we’re going with this one for the off-topic video of the day even though I know it’s a commercial.  That’s okay.  This is the first time I’ve seen a faux personal YouTube video-type ad before.  It’s not hard to figure out how they did it, but for me the most intriguing element is the woman in the folding chair off to the left.  In the midst of all the madness, I just couldn’t tear my eyes away from her.  You’ll see what I mean:

Thanks to my sister Kate for the link.

Filed under: Videos