The Contribution Of Book-trailers To Reading – Being Parents

The  book-trailers  are a new form of presentation of the books in multimedia format. In general,  they include a brief summary of the plot as well as the highlights of the work,  in broad outline, to arouse the curiosity and interest of the readers.

From the year 2000, book-trailers began to be used more and more, outside the editorial world, as a strategy to promote reading, and more specifically in the primary and secondary school sector. But what are book-trailers really ?

What are book-trailers ?

The word book-trailer  is an Anglicism which denotes multimedia content, that is to say presented in the form of video and based on a literary work. In other words,  this is a visual synopsis and also a first reference. They can also be seen as glimpses of the story the book deals with and with which we seek to capture readers.

The book-trailers are much like film trailers. In fact, they inspired them. The most notable features are as follows:

• They start with the presentation of the publishing house.
• They include quotes and short segments of the text (written or narrated).
• The  book-trailers  also contain images (still or animated) linked to the text.
• They have a short duration which, in general, does not exceed five minutes.

Taking into account the characteristics mentioned previously,  the parts of the book-trailers are:

• Entrance.
• Mention of the publishing house.
• Presentation of quotes or extracts from the book (narrated or written).
• Image Presentation: Cover illustrations and internal images (if any).

• Information about the author.
• Release date.
• Selling location.

The book-trailers  in the school context

The good use of technology and social networks is a very rewarding dynamic in the classrooms. But how ?

It’s simple: in class, we set up an activity that consists of selecting a work, reading it, assimilating it, analyzing it and, then, working on its summary to  present it to his classmates, d ‘a short but effective way.

By going beyond a simple oral presentation,  students connect in a much more lively way to the work and are able to have fun with it. In addition, the emotion they feel while developing various strategies of suspense and surprise allows them to develop their creativity.

The presentation of the book-trailer  in class is therefore very refreshing and very positive. It motivates to read and to be more interested in different types of reading. In addition, it makes it possible to sympathize with other points of view which, in short, develop a healthy critical attitude.

The group dynamic during the realization of the project  allows the students to deepen the work but also to develop their decision-making process  and their capacity for teamwork. They can also practice values ​​like patience, responsibility, tolerance, among others.

This is neither a movie, nor a short film

The objective of the book-trailers  is not to reveal the complete contents of the book but to play with the intrigue generated by certain facts which they contain  to motivate others to read the complete work. Obviously, it is not a question of making a short film or a film.

As the first stimulus for the reading of a particular work,  the book-trailers  are a wonderful tool. It is however essential that the teacher guides the activity in class to maintain the interdisciplinary nature of the activity and not to waste its potential.

An award-winning activity

Outside of classrooms, the production of book-trailers,  by students as well as by passionate readers or publishing houses, is  an activity which already benefits from price reductions. We mainly recognize the efforts made and the quality of the result.

Currently, one of the most prestigious prizes is the Booktrailer Film Festival, a competition whose aim is to develop reading skills  and in which a large number of teenagers from the 27 countries of the European Union participate each year.

The idea is to innovate in terms of bringing closer to reading and, of course, to reduce the number of students with reading disabilities.

It is for this reason that it is good to promote this type of activity in the classroom but also at home because, in this way, children and young people will be able to see that reading is not a boring activity. , quite the contrary.