In the short Be Strong, Steve Syarto (The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage) directs the adaptation of Pat Zietlow Miller’s children’s book Be Strong, which is illustrated by Jen Hill. Be Strong tells the story of Tanisha who feels discouraged when she must climb up her school’s rock-climbing wall and cannot reach the top like some of her other peers.
She feels weak, but she starts to wonder whether strength is more than just muscles. Through talking with her family, Tanisha learns that by showing up, speaking up, and not giving up, she can be strong as well. People are strong when they work together and trust one another.
This short is less of an adaptation and more of a retelling of the original book Be Strong by Pat Zietlow Miller (who is also the author of the New York Times bestseller children’s book Be Kind). The short takes the static shots from the book and overlays them with music, adding narration and sound effects to each image drawn from the pages of Be Kind (narration performed by Grace Capeless, music by Ernest Troost).
The music, sound effects, and seamless transitions from page to page give this short added depth that might be missing for some children. The original illustrations still have the same artistry preserved in Jen Hill’s design, and both the proportions of characters and the colors used throughout add a sense of realism and childlike whimsy to the short.
However, this short is a straight retelling of Miller’s book Be Strong, which might make purchasers reconsider the usefulness of the short. The short is overall 10 minutes, so purchasing the short on its own does not provide very much content for the cost of the purchase and would be a more appropriate purchase for a library or school.
In addition, there is no “animation” of characters—the short simply uses pans across the images of the novel and puts them in progression. This still, static quality may cause young viewers to “tune out” from watching the short, even with the additional music and sound effects.
This video would serve well as an addition to the book in two specific instances: anyone uncomfortable with reading aloud to children would welcome this video, and this would help children read along with the book on their own without one-to-one adult assistance.
What type of library programming could use this title?
This would be a good addition to a children’s library collection.
What public library shelves would this title be on?
This would fit into the children’s section of a public library and would be paired with its companion book Be Strong.
What schools or colleges is this short film appropriate for?
This film would be appropriate for elementary school students ages K-1st.