What is a book trailer?
Book trailers are essentially advertisements for books in video form. They are similar to previews for movies in how they highlight major themes or plot points to grab your attention. One major difference is that movies already have film clips that can be used as visuals. Book trailers, on the other hand, need to have someone put together visual images based upon the story. In many cases, a book trailer is a succession of still images with words accompanied by music, but book trailers can take different forms. They can have videos or animation, can have scenes acted out and can have a narrator giving explanations verbally or doing voices.

How are book trailers useful?
By watching a book trailer, you might find a book that interests you that wouldn't have otherwise caught your attention. Book trailers allow people to catch a glimpse of what a book is all about just by watching a short video. They are an excellent way to catch the interest of potential readers in certain books. In addition to helping to bolster the popularity of particular books, book trailers can also sometimes help motivate those who are more reluctant to read.

Who makes book trailers?
Book trailers can be made by anyone who has the time, inclination, interest and resources to be able to put one together. Sometimes, the author themselves will make a trailer for the book they have written. Book trailers are also commonly produced by the publisher in the interest of increasing awareness about the book. Quite often, however, book trailers are made by teachers, librarians and students as well.

When were book trailers created?
Book trailers didn't become very widespread until several years ago when popular video-sharing websites came into existence where people could upload and share videos, and had only existed for a few years before this time. Book trailers have caught on so rapidly that there is now even an award for them, The Trailie Award. This award was established by the School Library Journal and is given to the best-made book trailers in three different categories including author/publisher created, adult created (such as teachers/librarians) and student created.

Where can I find book trailers?
Book trailers can be found all over the internet on countless numbers of websites, but you will not find many places that present a large number of them organized and presented in a user-friendly way. You can browse through our extensive collection of book trailers for school-age kids that are organized alphabetically. They can also be searched by lexile level. This virtual library for kids of book trailers presents information about the reading level and genre as well as a quick synopsis of each book and background information about the author. SlimeKids is also somewhat unique in that none of our book trailers come from youtube or similar websites that are often blocked in schools due to the inappropriate content they have.

Why would I want to make a book trailer?
Making a book trailer can be a rewarding experience in allowing you to reflect on a book that you have read and decide which are the most essential parts and important ideas. You get to take part in a creative process of putting together a video that you will share with others in order to pique their interest in a book that you have enjoyed. Learn more about how to make a book trailer.