Ferndale Library Lists: Ashley's Adaptation Assessment (Movies Made From Books)

Ashley Lehman is a Librarian working in the Kids Corner - so she specializes in reading material for your young ones (as well as the "tweens"). But, today, for her participation in our weekly round up of Staff Recommendations (here on The Patch), she's talking-movies! Well... movies based on books! The fitting film adaptation of a treasured novel can be tricky to pull off... Far too often we find ourselves saying after viewings: "...the book was better..."

Let's see what Ashley thinks

Ashley's Adaptation Assessment 

Can you judge a book by its movie?  A movie by its book? 2014 seems to be the year of book to movie.  With that being said, here are my picks for favorite kid book movie adaptations.  Most adults will find themselves enjoying these movies as much as their younger counterparts.

Babe (Dick King-Smith)
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBh0WTokJms

The three mice who tell the story are my absolute favorite, especially their songs!  Babe is a pig, who things he is a herding dog, and does a pretty good job pretending to be one.  Babe uses charm and kindness to do his job, and the movie captures how cute and kind the sheep pig really is.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory  (Roald 
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyB4s9eox2o

I think I might be the only person I know that likes this version better than the Gene Wilder one, but I just do!  The colors, the scenery, the modern take on old time clothes, Depp’s weird portal; all these things come together to make this version my favorite.

Jumanji  (Chris Van Allsburg)
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLyXEQPuLJo

I did not like this when it first came out years ago, but after a 4 year old friend of mine made me watch the movie and read the book a bunch of times, I realized how cool this adaptation was.  Robin Williams is great, as always.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (Roald Dahl) 
Whackbat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTHll8hULao

The movie is so different than the book the viewer and reader really needs to learn to appreciate how people can have different interpretations of the same thing.  Also, its stop motion animation, and that’s just cool, plain and simple.

Because of Winn – Dixie (Kate DiCamillo)
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avWH7T4F2RU

This heartwarming story shows the positive effect dogs can have on human emotion and relationships.  The movie captures all these emotions as well as the book. I love dogs, so I was hooked the minute Opal and Winn-Dixie first met! And surprise, Dave Matthews did a fine job, too, as Otis.

Hugo (Brian Selznick)
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR-kP-olcpM

It is pretty cool to see how someone puts dialog to a book that is mostly pictures.  This movie is as good as the book because of its cinematography, much like the book is awesome because of its illustrations.  I do wish I caught this in 3D, though!