What Would Katniss Read?

So I was catching up on my blog reading (yeah, I'm still back in December somewhere, so what?) and I ran across the new Hunger Games ALA READ poster over at Waking Brain Cells. And I went, "Oh! The pretty! The leather! The tough faces!" and enjoyed my fangirlish little self.

Then I thought, "Why don't any of them have a book in their hands? The poster says READ. What are they supposed to read? The word READ?" Honestly, I think they missed a prime opportunity to have the shiny hardbacks of each book in the series, prominent in their hands.

Okay, I realize they're on the poster as characters from a book, and I should be happy with that. When am I ever happy? (Don't answer.) Probably District 12 doesn't have any books, except a precious few that survived. And Katniss and Gale, at least, are probably too tough and practical to do anything so unproductive as reading.

But Peeta, at least, strikes me as a reader. I picture him cleaning off the flour and sugar at the end of the day and reading, like, the complete works of Charles Dickens. He'd identify with the hardscrabble life of Oliver Twist or Nicholas Nickleby, and also the luscious descriptions of food in The Pickwick Papers.

Then I started to speculate on which book exactly each of these characters would read, if books were available in sufficient numbers. Yes, these are the kind of thoughts that occupy my mind. Join me in speculation. If you were the District 12 librarian, what would you have hidden under the desk, waiting for Katniss, Gale, or Peeta to come in?

Hunger Games Teaser is a Teaser

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Wooohoo! Yes, it's short and teasing. Cuz it's a TEASER, y'all. But you know what I love best? There's nothing about the big luuuuuurve triangle. It's all about our badass Katniss. Which was the focus of the books.

Oh, man, I can't wait.

Hogwarts: A History (in Movie Posters)

Betsy Bird of Fuse #8 pointed me at this fascinating blog post from Empire Magazine's website: Harry Potter movie posters through the years. It's a neat little encapsulation of the changes from the first book/movie to the last, in character and tone.

I particularly like how Ron went from being the silly sidekick to (finally!) more dark and interesting in the posters for the last two movies. That's always annoyed me about the movies, that Ron, who is a goofball but brave and smart in his own unique way in the books, got relegated to comic relief while Harry and Hermione got to do all the good stuff. Naturally, the Ron bits were my favorite part of the most recent movie, because he got a lot of good stuff. Huzzah!

Yessssssssss! / Noooooooooooo!

Fuse #8 pointed me at these two little tidbits of kidlit movie news:

1. They're making a movie of Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life! I love Wendy Mass's every sterling word, and it's a mystery to me why she doesn't get more critical love. Whatevs, I'll get to see this movie and if they don't completely turd it up, hopefully it will drive more kids to the M sections of my library. Yessssssssssss!

2. Remember the Mr. Popper's Penguins movie? Jim Carrey is going to be Mr. Popper. You heard that. Jim Carrey = Mr. Popper. Say it with me, kiddies: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

One of these days, I will make a book display called, "The Book is Always Better, or Yes I Know the Movie Sucked, That Was Not the Book's Fault." Today, however, I will tenderly cradle poor Mr. Popper and his penguins in my arms.

Dooooooooooom . . . or not

So I hear that the TV show "Glee" is going to be releasing prequel novels in August, just to whip us all into a musical-theatre frenzy before the show's return in the fall. And normally, I would put my Cynical Hat on at the news of another cheap TV tie-in. (AHEM Hannah Montana AHEM.) 

But I'm going to confess that I love Glee. And my Cynical Hat is appalled to learn that I actually think the events and characters in this show would translate to reasonably decent YA novels, in the hands of the right writers. I mean, we're probably not going to get the singing and dancing. But Rachel, Finn, Quinn, Kurt, Mercedes, Artie, and Tina, with all their drama, dreams, and identity struggles, would not be out of place in my YA section.

What do you think? Is your Cynical Hat on? And what does it look like? Mine is a large black stovepipe with foghorns, by the way.

Fantastic Mr Fox Featurette

I got this one from 100 Scope Notes--a featurette on the upcoming "Fantastic Mr. Fox" movie. It's done in that incredible stop-motion animation, and while it does appear to be set in the US, if you go by the accents, everything else about it looks made of awesome.

The Vampire's Assistant Trailer

EarlyWord showed me this one: a trailer for October's "The Vampire's Assistant," based on the first three Cirque Du Freak novels. Wonder why they did that? Didn't work out so well for the Lemony "Another Excuse for Jim Carrey to Monopolize an Entire Movie" Snicket adaptation. Ahem.



I'll admit, though, that I'm hardly the person to judge--I couldn't finish the first Cirque du Freak novel because it freaked me right out. Good job, Darren Shan. So far, the movie bids fair to fulfill that requirement, and I might even see it as long as all the lights are on.

Okay, anyone who's read the whole series and can recite large-ish chunks of dialogue. What do you think of the trailer?

Best. Adaptations. Ever.

I got this link off the Child_Lit list: Best movies adapted from children's books

Not sure I agree with all of them (I like the Johnny Depp Wonka better than the Gene Wilder one, and frankly Snow White would have improved that whole movie 1000% if she'd just jumped in the dumb wishing well) but it's something to think about. I do agree with most of the honorable mentions.

What are some of your favorite adaptations?

Wizards vs. Vampires in Wall Street Journal

Someone on the Child_Lit list pointed me at this one--an article in the Wall Street Journal comparing Harry Potter and Twilight, and examining the competing popularity of both franchises.

Mostly they focus on the movies. Both studios are very careful not to step on each others' toes while acknowledging the prominence of the other. It's all very polite.

Rather hilariously, WSJ claims that the Twilight adaptation was an overnight success when it hit theaters last November. Either someone is unclear on the exact definition of "overnight success" or they're ignoring the raging popularity of the novel that led it to be adapted in the first place. Um, right, guys.

Wisely, the article doesn't attempt a literary comparison of the two series, probably because they didn't want sixty-seven pages of comments reading, "OMG AVADA KEDAVRA!" or "I'm biting you right now."

Silver Screen News

In cleaning out my Google Reader, my Twitter favorites, and my Gmail (this blog-laziness really makes it pile up), I ran across references to a number of kidlit movie adaptions that are coming down the pike. Here they are, bundled for your convenience.

• Did you know Wes Anderson was filming Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox in animated form? Due out in November--mark your calenders! Thanks for the news to a long-ago Tweet from abbylibrarian.
• More new movie news: Jarrett J. Kros . . . Korc . . . gah. You know who I'm talking about. His "Lunch Lady" series is already being talked about for a movie, with Amy Poehler, no less. Not bad for a book whose pristine spines haven't even hit shelves. Thanks to 100 Scope Notes for the heads-up.
• Comingsoon.net, bless their little chips, got a couple of production stills from "Beastly," adapted from the Alex Flinn novel of the same name. The stills are of the main character, played by Alex Pettyfer, in before and after mode. Not bad, makeup department. Not at all bad.
  
• Speaking of casting, we know that The Hunger Games is set to be a movie. Mitali Perkins Tweet-speculates: Would you cast this girl as Katniss Everdeen? Actually, I would. There's a look about her eyes that makes me reluctant to be in a brutal reality show fighting for my life if she's there too. Who else would you like to see in that arena? (Let me emphasize--there has no announcement about casting and I know nothing. Mere speculation.)
• Ooo! Speaking of wildly popular YA novels being adapted: the lowdown from Scott Westerfeld on the progress of the possible Uglies movie.
• In news of the weird, USA Today posted a first look at the Tim Burton-led Alice in Wonderland movie. It's very . . . Burton-esque. I swear I see something slithering in that foliage.
  
• Finally, there's this very hee!-worthy post from PopWatch about the style of the new Harry Potter posters, which seem to be less about You-Know-Who and more about Gushy Stuff, Like, Ewwwwwwwww! Meg Cabot reacts hilariously here, including a not-to-be-missed discussion of brooms. Yes, really. Somewhere (I can't remember where now!), it was posited that this switch in focus is due to the popularity of the Vampires Who Must Not Be Named and their accompanying clinchy posters. You have to admit, the Potter posters are surprisingly heavy on what were, at best, some of the book's B-plots. I kinda want to poke Ron in the stomach to see if he'll deflate. I also want to take Lavender by the hand and lead her gently off a cliff. She's so busy gazing starry-eyed at Won-Won that she won't notice a thing.
  

Seriously, Boys, Just Measure Them Already

I'm sure Bella has a ruler.

ComingSoon.net presents us with the New Moon poster. Due out in November, lest ye forget.

Thanks to Tasha of Kids Lit,

A Perfectly Beastly Movie

Remember Alex Flinn's rather neato Beauty and the Beast retelling, Beastly? Turns out it's being made into a movie! Woohoo!

So far, info on the adaptation is skimpy, but we do know that Vanessa Hudgens is slated to star. Yeah, High School Musical girl. Well, okay. We'll see.

See, I Told You Guys I Had This Article

Found this one (of course) in PW: Books for Film in Bologna. It's a little piece on the preponderance of filmy types at the recent children's book fair in Bologna. Now, besides the fact that it was, y'know, in Italy, there was good reason for their all-expenses-paid trip:

“Kids' and YA publishing have strong footholds in the top Hollywood films” these days, said Gotham Group manager and producer Eddie Gamarra. And it seems to make increasing sense for studios to pursue children's books: looking at the top 10 grossing films of 2008, Gamarra said, “all of them were family movies.”

Why would that be? Read on . . .

[K]ids' books may lend themselves more easily to the medium, said Pender-Coplan. For one thing, “they travel in a way that adult books might not.” Stumbling blocks for adult books—whether a book is '“too American,” for example—are less relevant to children's books, which tend to mine universal themes.

I always thought that the relative length of a children's book also had something to do with it, meaning less to cut. But of course, now somebody's gonna beat me with a copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and call me wrong.

Mr Popper's Penguins movie

Cheryl Rainfield tells me that the classic Mr Popper's Penguins is set to become a movie. This is about the fifty-seventeenth children's book I've heard of (classic and recent) that's in the pipeline to the theatres. Somewhere, I have a neat article about how and why this is happening so much recently. Until I find that, I'll enjoy thinking of penguinine mayhem.

It does, however, terrify me just a smidge that the writers that the studio picked were also responsible for a movie called Sex Drive. Yikes.

"Congratulations--You Pissed a Lot of People Off"

This was one reaction to "Be Still and Know," a play based on one of the few books to deal positively with both faith and homosexuality, Alex Sanchez's eye-opening The God Box. Making it even more fun, the play was adapted and performed by a group from Sacred Heart Preparatory school in the Bay Area, as part of a school-wide unit on homosexuality and faith. Pretty awesome, if you ask me.

Follow the dancing link to find out more about the book, the play, and the reaction.

The Hunger Games Movie!

After yesterday's post on books being made into movies, here's some news for you: The Hunger Games is next up for the silver screen!

It's just talkity talk at the moment, but I'm excited because a) the book kicked all forms of tail and b) I happen to think it'll translate on-screen very well. Crossing my fingers on this one!

Thanks to AbbyLibrarian for the news, via Twitter.

The Neverending Movie (Again) Plus Special Bonus Lightning Round

I've had this one marked in Google Reader for a few weeks, but something akin to the Black Death laid me low all last week. I'm crawling back towards life now, so I've decided to post about it. Apparently, The Neverending Story is on the radar of Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, for a remake, or a reboot, or some such. I have two questions:

1) Since when does Leo have a production company?
2) Really, Leo, must you?

I have fond memories of TNS, including the book itself, which I buckled down and read in grad school. I fear the Hollywood treatment. Currently, the only studio I trust to make a halfway decent movie out of a really good book is Walden Media.

The link asks pretty much the same questions, including our Special Bonus Lightning Round: what book should be made into a movie? Leave your opinions (and your opinions on the comments at EW) in the comments section.

Savvy at the Movies!

I haven't read Ingrid Law's Savvy yet, but I've heard enough to be pretty excited by the news that Walden Media is turning it into a movie due out in 2010.

I found that news in the first paragraph of a lengthy article about how Walden is working closely enough with HarperCollins to get their own imprint, Walden Pond Press. Naturally, anything that goes through WPP has the potential to become a Walden flick.

Ordinarily you'd get a lot of wailing from me about Hollywood encroaching on the publishing industry. But I like Walden's adaptations, which are generally well-written and close to the book. So I'll see how this turns out.

Vampire TV Alert

Apparently, 'tis the season to make money off vampires. They're adapting L.J. Smith's The Secret Circle into a TV series for the CW. Hmmmm.

I never read this series, but I do remember the way my classmates snatched them up at library time. Maybe that's why I never read them. At that age, I was firmly anti-crowd.

The Tripods Are Coming

. . . to the silver screen, anyway. Did that freak you out? I'll admit it, a little shiver went down my spine.

I vividly remember reading that series around the age of twelve or thirteen. For some reason, the thing that sticks in my head was that not only were people mind-controlled (by means of a mesh cap applied by the Tripods in the early teen years), but even the uncapped kids were brainwashed into believing that the cap was a rite of passage, a sign of adulthood. Talk about efficient control of the masses. Yikes.