My Dog May Be A Genius (My First Book Talk Video)

So, as part of my Children's Lit class, I was given an assignment to choose one or more books of children's poetry and promote them by giving a book talk, writing a script, making a book trailer, or any other format approved by my professor. I chose to do a book talk, using myself as narrator, and my three dogs as actors. It's not excellent quality, and my inexperience with creating and editing videos and doing voiceovers is apparent. However, I think it turned out well enough, and I was happy with the end product. So I thought I would share it here (especially since I haven't written another post since my very first one)!

Here's a link to the video just in case there are playback issues:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neVQJfxI6_k

This is a brief description and explanation of my video that I submitted as part of the assignment:

I chose Jack Prelutsky’s book My Dog May be a Genius: poems, based, first and foremost, on the fact that Prelutsky was the first ever Children’s Poet Laureate, which is an esteemed honor and great achievement. I chose this particular set of poems primarily because of the title poem, My Dog May be a Genius. It’s one of my favorite poems because it described the idea that our pets, more specifically a dog, may actually be much smarter than they lead us to believe.¹ I love dogs, I have three of my own, so this is an idea I’ve pondered many times. I suppose that’s why I chose to use both myself, as narrator, and my dogs, as the actors, in my book talk.

I would recommend this book of poetry to kids ages 6 to 10. The poems are funny and whimsical, and cover a wide array of subjects.  I think the sense of humor Prelutsky uses in his poetry is universal, and can be appreciated by people of all ages, especially children. I think the characters he creates in his poems, such as Crumbo Crumme², the Blue-Bean Bonking Bupple³, and Winterwood the wizard⁴, are clever, creative, and memorable. 

¹ Prelutsky, Jack, and James Stevenson. My Dog May be a Genius: poems. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books, 2008. Print.

² Prelutsky, 21.

³ Prelutsky, 124-125.

⁴ Prelutsky, 66-67.