While it would be easy to select the fast-paced fantasy blockbusters as candidates for movie treatment, especially given the success of Twilight, Percy Jackson & the Olympians, and similar stories, there are other more offbeat, less obvious choices out there. Here’s a few YA books that should be made into movies - but probably won't be.
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books for Teens That Should be Movies
These fast-paced, innovative sci-fi and fantasy novels for young adults would translate well to film.
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray: This historical fantasy tells the story of 16-year-old Gemma Doyle, who is sent to boarding school after her mother’s death. The rivalry-slash-friendship that develops between Gemma and her schoolmates and the fast-paced magic-infused plotline would be eminently filmable. While Libba Bray reports that a movie version of A Great and Terrible Beauty isn’t in the cards right now, readers can hope that it will happen sometime in the future.
The Maze Runner by James Dashner: This dystopian sci-fi novel is gripping and cleverly constructed. The main character, Thomas, wakes up in a bizarre place called “The Glade,” which is surrounded by a monster-filled maze. His past is a mystery that slowly unravels over the course of the novel. It would be a complicated book to film, and potentially convoluted in the wrong hands, but with a skillful screenwriter The Maze Runner movie would be a surefire hit.
Historical and Realist YA Books That Would Make Great Movies
Historical novels can also make great movies, and these award-winning titles could become Oscar-worthy feasts for the eyes.
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly: Not to be confused with the British title for Philip Pullman’s fantasy novel The Golden Compass (which has been made into a movie). This historical fiction, set around the turn of the twentieth century in New York’s Adirondack Mountains, would be a cinematographer’s dream. Its slower pace would make it more suitable as a low-budget art house flick than a special effects-driven blockbuster à la Harry Potter or Twilight. That would only be a good thing for the teen film genre, which is in need of some variety.
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson: While an Octavian Nothing movie would not be the easiest thing to film, in the right hands it could be shaped into something Oscar-worthy. This National Book Award winning-novel follows the adventures of Octavian Nothing, a slave in a wealthy household, who becomes a soldier during the American Revolution.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: A book about books, this novel set in World War II-era Germany tells the story of a young girl who steals books while befriending an array of interesting characters against a backdrop of bombing raids and violence. As with A Northern Light, the cinematography and character studies of The Book Thief movie would take centre stage. One challenge for filmmakers would be deciding how to incorporate the story’s narrator—Death.
These are all brilliant books, worthy of cinematic treatment. If the trend of turning YA novels into movies continues, readers can reasonably hope that filmmakers will consider these stories.
For a list of movies based on YA books that will be coming soon to theatres, click here.
Heather Fawcett - Heather Fawcett is a Vancouver-based writer and editor. She holds an M.A. in English Literature and specializes in teen fiction, having ...
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