Need inspiration for your own 90-Second Newbery videos? Curious about standout entries from years past? You’re in the right place.

The video that kicked off the film festival was this relatively straightforward adaptation that I made of Madeleine L'Engle’s 1963 Medal winner, A Wrinkle in Time:

Fun! But a really amazing 90-Second Newbery should be more than a mere summary. Think of a strong cinematic spin that will transform the story. For instance, children’s book author Aaron Zenz and his family adapted E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web in the style of the opening credits of a 1970s superhero TV show, sung to the tune of “Spider-Man”:

Make it weird! Retell the story with an unexpected genre twist! Adapt it in an intriguing format!

For instance, Matt de la Pena’s 2016 Medal Winner Last Stop on Market Street is set in modern-day San Francisco, but Eva and Cali of the Treehouse Museum’s of Ogden, Utah reimagined the story in the Old West, using all the stylistic choices and tropes of an old Sergio Leone spaghetti western, complete with old-west slang, cowboy hats, and Western-style music:

Notice how in both this movie and Charlotte’s Web, the filmmakers took the time to find great costumes and settings. Don’t shoot the movie in your ordinary clothes, in the blah corner of your classroom. Make goofy costumes! Scout out cool, fun-to-look-at locations for your movie! (Hint: outdoor locations are usually better.)

So far we’ve seen movies that retell the original story in a surprising or original style. But how about retelling the story in a different medium? For instance, here’s Jennings Mergenthal and Max Lau’s very funny adaptation of the very first Newbery medal winner, Hendrik Willem van Loon’s The Story of Mankind (1922), done in stop-motion Claymation:

(Jennings specializes in adapting nonfiction historical Newbery winners. Check out his other stop-motion masterpieces: a Claymation version of Jim Murphy’s 2004 Honor Book An American Plague and most recently a Claymation version of Steve Sheinkin’s 2013 Honor Book Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon.)

Here’s another amazing stop-motion movie, this time of Miska Miles’ 1973 Honor Book Annie and the Old One. It’s by Alinne and Brenda of the Young Women’s Leadership Academy in San Antonio, Texas:

Elaborate and impressive! I also liked how this is an older, more obscure book that ordinarily never gets featured in the 90-Second Newberys. Choose an obscure book, you’ll stand out!

How about adapting your book into the style of a black-and-white silent movie? Advantages: you don’t have to worry about audio on the set or flubbed lines, you can speed up the film to get that old-fashioned look (making it easier to squeak in under 90 seconds) and use intertitles to move the plot forward. The Aurora Public Library in Illinois ingeniously filmed Avi’s 2003 Medal winning Crispin: The Cross of Lead in the style of a black and white silent movie:

Let’s say you don’t have time to build sets. Or you’re stuck doing all your filming inside a school. What do you do? Use green screen! Facets Cinematheque’s Chicago International Children’s Film Festival adapted Neil Gaiman’s 2009 Newbery Medal winner The Graveyard Book (in the style of a horror movie, appropriately) using green screens, a homemade puppet monster operated with hidden strings, voiceover, sped-up footage, sound effects, creepy soundtrack music and even turning the lights on and off rapidly to get the horror movie feel:

Different “spins” on the same book can yield fascinatingly different results. For instance, how about Kate DiCamillo’s 2004 Newbery Medal Winner The Tale of Despereaux, but in the style of the musical Les Miserables, rewriting the lyrics of the songs so that they reflect the plot of the book?

Here is another example of a musical, this time based on Russell Freedman’s 1988 Medal Winner Lincoln: A Photobiography, which is all about the life and career of the sixteenth President of the United States. The Zenz family tells the story in the style of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton, rewriting the lyrics of the songs to make them about Lincoln:

Hilarious and resourceful! The Zenz family fulfilled all the pro tips you should consider if you’re going to do your movie as a musical: first, get the song lyrics super tight, making every line either push the story forward, express an emotion, or be funny (preferably all three!). If you’re doing a takeoff of a known song, you can find the karaoke version online. Spend A LOT of time recording the song in Audacity or iMovie or wherever, and then when it’s time to film, lip-synch the songs that you play on-set, but when you’re editing, replace the on-set audio with the pre-recorded audio. Don’t attempt to use the song audio that you recorded on set, it won’t sound good! And always definitely put the lyrics in the subtitles, so the audience can understand everything.

If you don’t want to deal with live actors, or if you want more control over your sets: use puppets, like the Zenz family did for their adaptation of the “Dragons and Giants” vignette from Arnold Lobel’s 1973 Honor Book Frog and Toad Together:

Again, it’s fun to see how different filmmakers handle the same material. Here’s another take on the same vignette from Frog and Toad Together, but this time Frog is a marine and Toad is a ninja, trying to out-do each other. It’s by Porter & Alec at the Hinsdale Community House 90-Second Newbery Workshop, and it’s done in the style of an over-the-top action movie:

I especially liked how the ending of this movie is totally different from the ending of the original story (ten years later, prizefighting in Tokyo?!). It’s okay to do this … only as long as it’s amazing! Also, notice how Porter and Alec totally committed to their acting. In a 90-Second Newbery, it’s better to overact than underact! These movies are supposed to be funny!

Here’s one last Frog and Toad Together movie, again made in a completely different style. This time, it’s of the vignette called “The List,” and it’s by Sara Truscott of Tacoma, Washington. This one brilliantly transforms Frog and Toad into a love story like a Wes Anderson movie or French ye-ye pop music video:

If you’ve read Sid Fleischman’s 1987 Newbery Medal winner The Whipping Boy, you know that it’s a funny adventure about a poor boy who is hired by the royal family to be whipped in the prince’s place when the bratty prince misbehaves (it’s against the law to hit a prince). The Schaumburg District Township Library retold the story in the style of Star Wars, complete with lightsabers, spaceship chase scenes, and lasers!

If you’re going to do an adaptation that pivots off a particular well-known movie genre, like Star Wars, make sure you fulfill all the “promises” of the genre. For instance, a Star Wars movie will always have the iconic music, the opening “crawl” in which the yellow-lettered narration floats off into the stars, droids being funny, aliens speaking in weird languages, light saber battles (often where someone gets an arm or a hand lopped off), cheeky references that quote the movies … you get it.

Those last few movies had big casts, but you can also do a 90-Second Newbery all by yourself, as a one-person show. Like this fantastic one-man version of Lois Lowry’s 1994 Medal winner The Giver, by Brooklyn up-and-comer Leo Lion:

This paper-puppet version adaptation of Joyce Sidman’s 2011 Honor book of poetry, Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night, covers all 12 poems in the book, each about a different night animal. Many Newbery winners are books of poetry, which actually makes for a natural fit for a 90-Second Newbery, since those books are short and invite interpretation. This one is by kids from the Lozano Branch Library in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago:

Speaking of puppets, here’s another creative way to adapt your book: as a shadow-puppet show! The Zenz family made this incredible adaptation of Grace Lin’s 2010 Honor book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, done entirely with shadow puppets (which went on to win a “Trailee Award” in 2011 from the School Library Journal):

Here’s another Claymation 90-Second Newbery movie, this one by Anya Schooler of Portland, OR. It’s of Mary and Conrad Buff’s 1952 Honor Book, The Apple and the Arrow. These clay figures are better actors than most people! And the Claymation is so fluid and beautiful!

Anya also did a similarly incredible version of My Father’s Dragon that you should really check out.

These movies are amazing, but don’t be too intimidated! Special effects and arty styles can be a lot of hard work, but it takes nothing but ingenuity, resourcefulness, and careful editing for your movie to be hilarious. Check out this very funny adaptation of Megan Whalen Turner’s 1997 Honor Book The Thief, by kids from St. Andrews Episcopal School in Saratoga, California. Best use of a riding mower in a movie ever:

Have you read Margi Preus’ terrific 2011 Honor Book Heart of a Samurai? The kids of Chicago’s Burley Elementary School filmed it in the style of an Akira Kurosawa-style samurai movie—and all in Japanese! (Don’t worry, there are subtitles.) How about teaming up with the language teacher at your school to do The Giver in Spanish? Or Flora and Ulysses in Mandarin? Go for it!

Did you notice the great music in that movie of Heart of a Samurai? And the great soundtrack? It’s details like that which make a movie fun to watch! You might not be able to get hold of beautiful kimono like those filmmakers did, but you should definitely wear something more interesting than your normal clothes when making a movie. Take the time to put together cool costumes—it’s fun, and it will make your movie so much better! And there are tons of royalty-free music available online that you can use in your movies for free, at websites like Filmmusic.io. (Pssst, I encourage you NOT to use the music that comes packaged with iMovie … I’ve heard those same five or six songs a million times!)

This next movie, of My Father’s Dragon, might push the time limit by being five minutes long, which would usually be disqualifying, but I wanted to spotlight it to demonstrate how using compelling outdoors locations (no boring classroom interiors or school hallways here), elaborate costumes and facepaint, and fun soundtrack music can really pull a movie together and make it entertaining. Do the extra work and make something special. Props, costumes, locations, soundtrack, and editing all matter!

Laurelhurst Elementary School of Portland, Oregon filmed this hard-to-beat Witch of Blackbird Pond as a class project, and it’s fantastic (I love how all the romantic subplots are resolved in 10 seconds):

Do you have some talent that can be used in your movie, like singing or songwriting or playing an musical instrument? Elephant and Worm Theater Company of Chicago did this FULL-SCALE MUSICAL of William Pene du Bois’ 1948 Medal winner, The 21 Balloons. Are you a school librarian who wants to do the 90-Second Newbery, but you’re unsure how to proceed? Consider teaming up with your school’s music department (to make music) or art department (for set design) or drama department (for acting) for a truly cross-disciplinary project!

(Completists should also check out Elephant and Worm’s similarly awesome adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien’s 1972 Medal winner Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, complete with rat-rap, giant cat, fourth-wall-breaking, and cute costumes.) 

Minecraft is super popular. But did you know that you can make movies in this game? What an opportunity for a 90-Second Newbery movie! After all, you can construct any elaborate or exotic set you want, because you’re just dealing in pixels. You can put the camera in all kinds of impossible places. It’s like Minecraft was made for the 90-Second Newbery! Here is the Tacoma Public Library’s take on Wanda Gag’s 1929 Honor Book Millions of Cats:

The most successful 90-Second Newberys retell the book in an unexpected filmmaking genre. For instance, the next movie is of Charlotte’s Web, but completely different, because it’s done as a horror movie! It makes sense, actually. The very first line of the book is “Where’s Papa going with that ax?”, the plot hinges around a spider using unnatural powers, at any moment our hero might get butchered and eaten, and it ends with thousands of spiders spawning all over the countryside. Warning: this movie is actually kind of scary!

CHILLS YET? Also, notice that this one was a bit longer than 90 seconds. That’s okay, as long as the quality is high. We’re unlikely to accept anything that pushes four minutes, but if your entry is super inventive and engaging, we’ll let it slide. Just remember, every second you go over the 90-second limit, the more critical the judges will be. That said, if it really and truly takes a full 3 minutes to culminate your genius vision, go for it!

Rap is well-suited for making a 90-Second Newbery, because if you’re a good enough rapper, your rapid-fire flow can get across a lot of info in a very short time. Here, Ashton T., Adrien H., Celina S., Dylan T., Keene H., and Owais A. of Lincoln Hall Middle School in Lincolnwood, IL adapted Kwame Alexander’s 2015 Newbery Medal winner The Crossover in rap style:

We’ve seen above 90-Second Newberys done in the style of well-known movies like Star Wars. You can also make your move in the style of a TV show! This works best if the book you’re adapting, and the TV show you’re referencing, are similar in some way. For instance, Natalie Babbitt’s 1971 Newbery Honor Book Knee-Knock Rise is about seemingly supernatural happenings in a small rural town, investigated by a newcomer to that town … which is broadly the plot of David Lynch’s early-nineties TV show Twin Peaks! Here, Domingo and Amalia of Chicago adapt Knee-Knock Rise in the style of Twin Peaks:

If you’re going to make your movie in the style of some other movie or TV show, make sure you fulfill the promise of the premise in every scene, just like this movie references Twin Peaks: the weirdly-talking dancing man in the Red Room, the Log Lady, the Angelo Badalamenti music, and even recreating certain scenes like Cooper talking to his recorder, or bashing his face into the bathroom mirror. Pick a specific style, commit to it one hundred percent in every scene, and you’ll have something that’s really fun to watch! (Even if the audience has never even seen the original show.)

Here’s another example of making your movie in the style of a popular TV show. Here, Mr. Johnson’s 5th Grade at the Grant Center for the Expressive Arts in Tacoma, WA adapted Marion Dane Bauer’s 1987 Newbery Honor Book On My Honor in the style of Netflix’s creepy-fun 1980s pastiche Stranger Things:

Notice how the movie cleverly uses Stranger Things' distinctive title style to split the movie into distinct chapters, and how “Eleven” is dressed just like she is on the show (and with a similar expressive glare), and how the book’s hero has the “Dustin” hair from the show. The ending of this movie also cleverly reverses the ending of the book. That’s what I love to see … a movie adaptation that doesn’t just retell the story of the book, but transforms it in a witty way.

Mr. Johnson’s class also adapted Patricia Lauber’s 1987 Newbery Honor Book Volcano: The Eruption and Healing of Mount St. Helens:

This is a masterpiece of adaptation because it chooses carefully what to omit from the book … and also what to add in order to make a fun, watchable movie. By giving the volcano a personality, and making his eruption “motivated” by a squirrel messing with his Rubik’s cube, the movie comes alive in wonderful and unexpected ways. It’s quick, it’s funny, and it puts its own unique spin on the material. Great use of green screen, costumes, and sound too!

Sometimes it’s instructive to see two different adaptations of the same book. Here’s another take on Volcano, this time by Ezra R. of Master Shot Film Club at the American Library in Paris, France. Here, Ezra adapts the book into stop-motion Legos:

I also liked how the volcano’s eruption is blamed on careless fire demons, and that there is a wildlife “party” at the end to wrap it up! Don’t be afraid to goof around with the book … as long as it still broadly fits with the book’s story, you should feel free to go nuts.

Okay, okay! That’s quite enough! Hopefully these exemplary videos are enough to spark your imagination for your own 90-Second Newbery videos. Thank you everyone who made these movies!