Video of the Week

Normally, I leave the weekly video picks to Mr. Schu at Watch.Connect.Read but recently, I discovered a video that I needed to share.  While I was at the Scholastic Book Fairs, Principals' Advisory Board Meeting in Florida, one of the Scholastic staff shared a video with us called THE READER produced in South Africa.  He did not warn us though that we should have tissues on-hand.

Our discussions, during the meeting, were around creating independent readers.  As we watched, there were so many little things communicated about learning to read in this video.

Motivation.  Determination. Application.

Take two minutes to watch this video, and if you are like me, have the tissues handy.



Note: If you didn't know that Bell's is a Whiskey, you will have no idea about the actual focus of the commercial until the very last scene.  If you stop around 1 minute and 50 seconds, you will miss the commercial focus altogether.  I did have to hunt for a version though that did not have a warning label about drinking responsibly. Thank you to ADWeek for the write up and video.

If you are like me and watch this video multiple times, you will also note some fun details: 

* I love the scene where he is reading a graphic novel called Laugh.

* In another scene, he uses Campbell's Alphabet Soup to write out a short message to his wife.  She in turn uses magnetic alphabet letters on the refrigerator to return a message.

* I also enjoyed when he wrote the word WASH on the dirty window of the car.

To watch the behind the scenes making of the commercial, click here.

This also reminded me of the question, what is your book story?  What is the book that changed your life? Was it a gift? Did you find it in a library? At a bookstore? Did it come from a parent, relative, teacher, or friend? When did you know that you were a reader?