Review of "I Know What You Do When I Go to School Book Trailer" by Story Monsters, Based on the Book by Siona Talekar

Score: 92/100 (9.2 out of 10)

Siona Talekar is a young prodigy who has made tremendous waves in our contests with her charming, self-illustrated book, I Know What You Do When I Go to School--a category champion in our 2025 Spring Contest!

It even has its own theme song produced by Studio Story Monster with cheerful music and lyrics by Zachary Simpson and lovely, uplifting vocals by Erin Rementer. That's expected to place highly in this ongoing contest!

Talekar is a star in the making with a ton of love, support, and momentum behind her!

This cute, lovely little trailer, produced by Story Monsters, is a testament to all of that.

The trailer does an excellent job at introducing us to Siona Talekar and her heartwarming book. It covers her inspiration to write the book, the story behind crafting (and eventually publishing) it, and even more insights!

In fact, this trailer could just as accurately be titled "Q&A with Siona" as much of this plays out like a Q&A interview.

You know what's often even more interesting than a work of fiction itself? The behind-the-scenes stuff surrounding it. And that's what this trailer provides us!

What's more? The trailer is actually appealing and entertaining to watch. It has a bright and playful aesthetic. The colorful paw prints, paint splashes, hearts, clouds, stars, and whimsical fonts make it visually appealing to kids and parents. Those were nice touches!

Oh, and we loved the colorful thought/speech bubbles that indicate the question or the topic being covered. It provides a comic-book-ish feel and makes the trailer seem more conversational, interactive, and engaging. It's as if Siona and the trailer are talking to us and conversing with us, welcoming and inviting us.

Neon fonts also work well against dark backgrounds like this. It kinda evokes thoughts of a fun, night-life city like Las Vegas or Tokyo. It screams: fun and exciting! It also helps to not distract from Siona herself, who is central to this video and could've been washed out with an overly-bright background paired with overly bright graphics and fonts.

The music is also perfect for this kind of trailer. It's a cheerful whistling tune that, thankfully, isn't so loud that it drowns out speaking parts (which sometimes happens in videos). It was a great music and volume choice.

But there are really two superstars of this trailer:

1. Siona herself

2. Siona's illustrations

In fact, our favorite part of this whole trailer was when Siona talked about rediscovering the illustrations and early draft of the book that she had created when she was in 1st grade. We get to see what that art looked like and even the spiral notebook that it was originally drawn on! We even get to see the original wording of the story, and it's not too dissimilar from what was ultimately published over a half-decade later.

It's incredible to see how much Siona's art talent developed and improved in that time!

Siona also gives encouraging words to other young authors, telling them to never give up on their dreams.

A lot of credit needs to go to Siona for being courageous enough to speak out, advocate for, and talk about her work publicly. That might seem small, but public speaking and marketing are both humongous challenges even for adults. Can you imagine being a middle schooler doing that? Wow!

Siona is doing things that adult authors struggle to do. She's a role-model and inspiration to people of all ages!

She's also very well-spoken and provides clear, concise answers and input without any um's and uh's. Great work, Siona!

Check it out the book on Amazon!