Kids can be a tough sell when it comes to convincing them to check out a book. So an effective booktalk is an amazing thing. Booktalks are slightly more formal than just telling one kid how much you loved a book.  Giving booktalks isn’t something you can snooze through. If you are passionate about the book you’re selling, there can be unexpected and even exciting benefits for everyone.

Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum, Sept. 15, 2003.

There might be other reasons that you choose to booktalk a particular book. Maybe you’ve been assigned to sell it, or you feel like you have to align your booktalks with the Common Core standards. Doesn’t matter. You have to find a way to get kids to want to pick it up.

I just reviewed Witches! The Absolutely True Story of the Disaster in Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer (check out the review here). This is a fascinating look at the Salem Witch Trials, which becomes even more powerful due to its fantastic design and Schanzer’s amazing black, white, and red scratchboard illustrations. It feels like you are really opening the pages directly into history. I would totally add this to my list of books I love to booktalk, which also include The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker, The Devil’s Arithmetic, and Jeremy Visick (it’s been awhile since I actually had to get up in front of a classroom full of kids, though). I understand it’s intimidating to do it, and I think it’s even more so when you have to booktalk  into a camera as a classroom assignment, so it’s not that I really want to pick on Heather Prince. But this is not how you get kids to pick up a book. You’ve got to give it some pizzazz.

Admittedly, it’s hard to project your charisma on YouTube (note how I’m not booktalking on video here– there are reasons for that). But this is the joy of book trailers. They’re not as simple to put together as a booktalk, but when done right… wow.  And Destiny, here, has done it right. If you like horror movies, she will have you hooked, but there’s more than flash going on here too. I think she liked the book, don’t you?

I LOVE this trailer, though. This is one that the author and illustrator of the book did, and it showcases the kind of craft that she put into the book. You can see one of her illustrations literally take on a life of its own.

Obviously she has the advantage of being the author and illustrator, but who better to hook you into finding out what comes next? Too bad it’s not possible to always get the author in to share the magic, but the glory of the Internet is that you still can find some pretty wonderful stuff.

But, even with great resources like this available, you’ve still gotta show them you, yourself, love it.  And that is why you should read Witches! yourself, and if you are as impressed with it as much as I am, tell everyone about it. And you will get them to check it out.