Our middle grade book spotlight this week is on books that have been made into movies!! Let’s be real for a second--there are a ton of books that have been made into movies and the majority of them are not nearly as good as the source material. The titles we are featuring this week are examples (at least in my opinion) of books that are better than the movie and I encourage you to read them and prove me otherwise! These books and more can be found by searching the catalog using the search tag #youthbooktomovie as well as on Libby and Hoopla. Check back next week for a new middle grade book spotlight and if you have any book suggestions, please let us know!!
Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen--The first time she saw him, she flipped. The first time he saw her, he ran. That was the second grade, but not much has changed by the seventh. She says: “My Bryce. Still walking around with my first kiss.” He says: “It’s been six years of strategic avoidance and social discomfort.” But in the eighth grade everything gets turned upside down. And just as he’s thinking there’s more to her than meets the eye, she’s thinking that he’s not quite all he seemed.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick--Twelve-year-old orphan Hugo lives secretly in the walls of a Paris train station in the 1930s. After his father died, Hugo became obsessed with fixing up an old automaton (human-like figure sitting at a desk with a pen in hand) believing it will write a message from his father that could save his life. While stealing repair parts, Hugo has a run-in with an elderly shop owner and his goddaughter, Isabelle, who joins Hugo on his mission to solve the mysteries of the automaton.
The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis--The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson--The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm.
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein--12-year-old Kyle Keeley, whose winning essay lands him a spot at an overnight lock-in at Alexandriaville's new library. The library has been designed by Kyle's hero, the famous gamemaker, Luigi Lemoncello, and contains an assortment of technological gadgets that is bound to enthrall Kyle, who loves all kinds of games. Kyle and the other winners enjoy a night of game-centered fun, but in the morning the library's doors do not open. He and his new friends are presented one last challenge: They must find their "way out of the library using only what's in the library."
The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani--Beautiful Sophie and ugly Agatha, best friends, are taken by the School Master to the School for Good and Evil where children are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. But when Sophie is sent to the School for evil, and Agatha to princess classes, the shocked girls think it's a mistake and try to switch; but unseen forces work to reveal their true identities.