Since 2011, our family has been creating short fan films based on our favorite Newbery Award winning books. All six kids play along, from our oldest (now 21) to our youngest (now 9). Instead of straightforward re-tellings, we often try to put a fun spin on the material. For instance, in our most recent movie, we re-imagine an Abraham Lincoln biography into an homage/parody of the Broadway hit “Hamilton.” Over the years we’ve also built a shadow puppet theater, painted a giant wall mural, and re-imagined “Charlotte’s Web” as a 1960’s superhero television show. The process of making these films together will forever stand as some of my very favorite family memories.

All these movies were created for the amazing 90-Second Newbery Film Festival. Now in its 9th year, the festival is an annual invitation for kid filmmakers around the globe to create videos telling the entire story from a Newbery Award-winning book in an intentionally brief amount of time, which elicits entertaining results. The founder and host of the festival, James Kennedy (author, “The Order of Odd-Fish”), then tours the United States, showing the year’s best submissions in sold-out screenings at libraries and actual movie theaters where kid creators can see their work on a big screen with hundreds of people in a live audience. It is an amazing experience! THOUSANDS of wonderful submissions have been received over the years, and all of them are accessible and searchable on the festival’s website along with resources and tour dates: www.90secondnewbery.com

More info: youtube.com

“Abrahamilton” as a musical parody (2020)

In our most recent movie, we mashed together Lin-Manuel Miranda’s award winning Broadway musical “Hamilton” with Russell Freedman’s 1988 Newbery Award winning book “Lincoln: A Photobiography.” And of course, we had to call it “Abrahamilton” ! All six kids sing and dance, wear beards and hats, and have a whole lot of fun.

“Frog and Toad Together” with puppets (2012)

We used stuffed animals as puppets to tell the “Dragons and Giants” chapter from Arnold Lobel’s 1973 Newbery Honor book “Frog and Toad Together.” Our oldest son (14 at the time) designed all the mechanics, built the indoor sets, and performed the music, while all the kids operated the puppets and performed the voices.

“The Sign of the Beaver” as an illustrated conversation (2017)

For a book called “The Sign of the Beaver,” there are actually not many beavers in the story. In this video, 10-year-old Elijah tries explaining that fact to Dad, with some humorous results. We recorded this completely candid, unscripted conversation about Elizabeth George Speare’s 1984 Newbery Honor book, and then Elijah drew his own illustrations to accompany the recording.

“Charlotte’s Web” as a 1960’s television superhero show (2014)

We took the 1953 Newbery Honor book “Charlotte’s Web” by E.B. White and mashed it together with the Spider-Man theme song to create the opening credits for a mock 1970’s superhero television show. The kids designed their own costumes and choreographed their own fights and moves.

“Where the Mountain Meets the Moon” with shadow puppets (2011)

For our first film, we wanted to pay tribute to a book we had fallen in love with, Grace Lin’s 2010 Newbery Honor book “Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.” We built shadow puppets and shadow stage to reflect the black and white chapter headers in the book. The kids wrote the whole script and designed all the characters. Our oldest son Isaac (13 at the time) took those designs and built all the puppets himself, and the whole family performed them.

“The Black Cauldron” as an illustrated summary (2011)

Our family was reading through Lloyd Alexander’s wonderful Prydain Chronicles for our bedtime storytimes. Without telling her why, I asked Lily (age 8) to tell me about “The Black Cauldron,” which had received the 1966 Newbery Honor. The recording you hear is her honest-to-goodness response. I later had Lily draw illustrations to accompany the recording, and I assembled the pieces together for this video.

“William Blake’s Inn” as a doodled wall mural (2018)

My two youngest kids wanted to make a film about Nancy Willard’s 1982 Newbery Award winner “A Visit to William Blake’s Inn.” We threw around a variety of ideas of how to tell the story. Then out of the blue, they asked me if the two of them could paint a mural on the wall of my studio. After a long pause, I figured, why not? I love the results, and I think they’ll remember the experience forever.

Behind-the-Scenes of our “Frog and Toad Together” Fan Film (2012)

And here’s a behind the scenes look at the making of our “Frog and Toad Together” fan film…

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