Have you ever watched a video and been like, “WHOA. Must. Watch. Again.”? And I don’t mean because it’s a train wreck that you can’t believe exists, like Rebecca Black’s music video for “Friday.” I mean because it’s AMAZING.

Well, recently I came across a few book trailer videos so awesome that I replayed them immediately, and then sent the links off to friends right away. No joke. They’re that good. At least, I think so. But you can judge for yourself:

Sidekicks by Dan Santat

The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens

The Search for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi

 
And I couldn’t resist including this incredible video for Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. I seriously LOLed when I saw this. At my desk at the office. And then everyone turned around to look at me. Yeah, embarrassing…

— Karen

Karen was never a big fan of Much Ado About Nothing, but who can resist a rapping Shakespeare? Not she.

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Our current theme on Kidsmomo is Superheroes (Kinda), meaning unconventional crime-fighters who aren’t quite at the Superman level — okay, they’re not nearly at the Superman level. But they kick baddie butt nonetheless, and they deserve to be honored.

But after announcing our Superheroes (Kinda) theme, I realized that it’s sort of hard to get the full picture of what these guys accomplish without seeing them in action. Hence… video time! Here are the best trailers to go along with our booklist for this theme:

My personal favorite video is for Nancy’s pick, Powerless by Matthew Cody:

Although, this video for the Lunch Lady series by Jarrett J. Krosoczka definitely gets my vote for best superhero theme song:

Then again, you don’t need fancy music or even animation to make a good book trailer. I give major props to the guy in this video for my pick, the Magic Pickle series by Scott Morse — he got me interested in the books just by talking! (Btw, this video was produced by Scholastic, the publishers of the Magic Pickle series. I also work at Scholastic, but I wasn’t involved in the creation of the books or the making of this video. Unfortunately, because I looooooooove pickles. Yum.)

And as a final treat, I’ll leave you with these two videos for NERDS: National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society by Michael Buckley. The first one provides the scoop on the series direct from the source itself — the author. But the second video is even better! It’s an introduction to all the same characters, but in German! Trust me; even though you won’t understand a word, you will still love it. I guarantee.

So first, meet the author:

And now, NERDS… in German!

Man, I wish I knew German! Apparently, hypnotized squirrels are funny in any language.

— Karen

Karen just CANNOT get the Lunch Lady song out of her head. Darn you, liver and onions!

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Have you heard of a not-so-little feature on our site called the Mystery Book Theater? Hopefully, yes. Because we make a couple of them a month.

Well, Karen recently showed me to some book trailers made by kids — and whoa, they’re really good! I’m totes jealous*… especially since I’ve been slaving away, drawing all of these Mystery Book Theaters for every Kidsmomo theme!

Check out these book trailers:

Amazing, huh? Inspired by these book trailers, I think Kidsmomo will be taking a stab at this video style! First up: our upcoming Mystery Book Theater for mythology-inspired books. So make sure to check back next Tuesday for our super-duper-fancy-schmancy awesome book trailer.

— Nancy

Nancy seems to be complaining about illustrating MBTs in this post, but where else does she get the glorious opportunity to draw someone drowning in puke?

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*I don’t usually say the phrase “totes jealous.” Forgive me. It just exited my brain, spilled out onto the keyboard, entered this blog post, and now there’s no turning back.

This book trailer for The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle was originally the Mystery Book Theater video for our Globe-Trotting Adventures theme. For more on The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, check out our “Adventure Is Out There!” podcast.

You’ve probably heard the saying, “Getting there is half the fun.” Well, for the heroine in Avi’s The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, the journey is not so much fun as… a terrifying, near-deadly experience!

This book trailer for Aquamarine was originally the Mystery Book Theater video for our Beach Reads theme. For more on Aquamarine, check out our “Just Beachy” podcast.

It’s a bummer summer for BFFs Hailey and Claire because at the end of the season, Claire has to move away. But at least they have one last summer together, to hang out at the beach club, crush on older cutie Raymond, and… meet a strange creature from the deep? Yep, there’s summertime magic in Aquamarine by Alice Hoffman!

This book trailer for Time Cat was originally the Mystery Book Theater video for our Books About Cats theme. For more on Time Cat, check out our “Cat’s Meow” podcast.

In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Hermione’s got her Time-Turner to travel into the past. In Lloyd Alexander’s Time Cat, the main character’s got his… cat? Watch our video to get the scoop on this feline feat!

This book trailer for the 39 Clues series was originally the Mystery Book Theater video for our Summer Series theme. For more on The 39 Clues, check out our “Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer” podcast.

Summer vacation is the perfect time to make your way through a good series — unless you’re one of the kids in the 39 Clues book series. For these two, it doesn’t matter what the season is because instead of sitting at desks in a classroom, they spend their time traveling the world on a high-pressure hunt. Watch our video to get the lowdown on their whereabouts…

Thanks to our friend Agent M. for his assistance on this video!

This book trailer for Number the Stars was originally the Mystery Book Theater video for our War Stories theme. For more on Number the Stars, check out our “Lock and Load” podcast.

You’re probably familiar with the story of Anne Frank, who lived in a secret attic for years to escape the Nazis. But did you know lots of Jewish children hid in plain sight during WWII, pretending to be parts of other families? In Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars, the police investigate a family in Denmark when one “daughter” doesn’t look like the others. Watch our video to see what happens.

This book trailer for The Tale of Despereaux was originally the Mystery Book Theater video for our Books About Royalty theme. For more on The Tale of Despereaux, check out our “Royal Flush” podcast.

What happens when a rodent crashes a royal banquet? Trouble, that’s what. Just see for yourself in our video for The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo!

This book trailer for Rascal was originally the Mystery Book Theater video for our Author Memoirs theme. For more on Rascal, check out our “Author! Author!” podcast.

Dog may be man’s best friend, but one beloved author spent his childhood with a very different animal companion: a raccoon! In Rascal by Sterling North, the two pals go fishing, celebrate Christmas, and even compete in a pie-eating contest together. Don’t believe it? Just watch our video!