June 2020 - A book that’s been adapted into a movie or television series
ADULT
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
After a staged terrorist attack kills the President and most of Congress, the government is deposed and taken over by the oppressive and all controlling Republic of Gilead. Offred, now a Handmaid serving in the household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife, can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost even her own name.
Despite the danger, Offred learns to navigate the intimate secrets of those who control her every move, risking her life in breaking the rules in hopes of ending this oppression.
Hulu original series starring Elisabeth Moss, Amanda Brugel, and Madeline Brewer.
I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt
The first words Jimmy Hoffa ever spoke to Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran were, "I heard you paint houses." In the course of nearly five years of recorded interviews Frank Sheeran confessed to Charles Brandt that he handled more than twenty-five hits for the mob, and for his friend Hoffa.
Sheeran learned to kill in the U.S. Army, where he saw an astonishing 411 days of active combat duty in Italy during World War II. After returning home he became a hustler and hit man, working for legendary crime boss Russell Bufalino. When Bufalino ordered Sheeran to kill Hoffa, he did the deed, knowing that if he had refused he would have been killed himself.
Adapted into Netflix original movie The Irishman starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
In 1945, Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon. Their blissful reunion is shattered when she touches a boulder in one of the ancient stone ruins and is instantly transported to a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in 1743.
Will Claire find her way back to her own time, or is her destiny forever linked with Clan MacKenzie and the gallant James Fraser? This first book in the series will launch listeners into an exhilarating world of heroism, pulse-pounding adventure, and breathtaking romance as one woman is torn between past and present, passion and love.
STARZ television series starring Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan, Duncan Lacroix.
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman
People have been predicting the end of the world almost from its very beginning, so it’s only natural to be sceptical when a new date is set for Judgement Day. But what if, for once, the predictions are right, and the apocalypse really is due to arrive next Saturday, just after tea?
It’s a predicament that Aziraphale, a somewhat fussy angel, and Crowley, a fast-living demon now finds themselves in. They’ve been living amongst Earth’s mortals since The Beginning and, truth be told, have grown rather fond of the lifestyle and, in all honesty, are not actually looking forward to the coming Apocalypse. And then there’s the small matter that someone appears to have misplaced the Antichrist…
Amazon Prime original series starring David Tennant, Michael Sheen and Frances McDormand.
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers.
Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Film starring Julia Roberts, Billy Crudup and Viola Davis.
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
Rachel White is the consummate good girl. A hard-working attorney at a large Manhattan law firm and a diligent maid of honor to her charmed best friend, Darcy. Rachel has always played by all the rules. Since grade school, she has watched Darcy shine, quietly accepting the sidekick role in their lopsided friendship. But that suddenly changes the night of her thirtieth birthday when Rachel finally confesses her feelings to Darcy's fiance, and is both horrified and thrilled to discover that he feels the same way.
As the wedding date draws near, events spiral out of control, and Rachel knows she must make a choice between her heart and conscience. In doing so, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat, and sometimes you have to risk everything to be true to yourself.
Film starring Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson, Colin Egglesfield and John Krasinski.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
As a child, Kathy–now thirty-one years old–lived at Hailsham, a private school in the scenic English countryside where the children were sheltered from the outside world, brought up to believe that they were special. Kathy describes happy scenes of boys and girls growing up together. But she describes other scenes as well: of discord and misunderstanding that hint at a dark secret behind Hailsham’s nurturing facade. With the dawning clarity of hindsight, the three friends are compelled to face the truth about their childhood–and about their lives now.
Film starring Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley.
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
When New Yorker Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home and quality time with the man she hopes to marry. But Nick has failed to give his girlfriend a few key details. One, that his childhood home looks like a palace; two, that he grew up riding in more private planes than cars; and three, that he just happens to be the country’s most eligible bachelor.
On Nick’s arm, Rachel may as well have a target on her back the second she steps off the plane, and soon, her relaxed vacation turns into an obstacle course of old money, new money, nosy relatives, and scheming social climbers.
Film starring Constance Wu, Henry Golding and Michelle Yeoh among many, many others!
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident.
Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is. Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.
What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?
Now a major motion picture starring Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin and Vanessa Kirby.
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
In Shaker Heights, everything is meticulously planned—from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.
Enter Mia Warren- an enigmatic artist and single mother- who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the alluring mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.
When the Richardsons’ friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Mrs. Richardson becomes determined to uncover the secrets in Mia’s past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs to her own family—and Mia’s.
Hulu original series starring Reese Witherspoon, Kerry Washington, Joshua Jackson, and Rosemarie DeWitt.
One Day by David Nicholls
It's 1988 and Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley have only just met. They both know that the next day, after college graduation, they must go their separate ways. But after only one day together, they cannot stop thinking about one another.
As the years go by, Dex and Em begin to lead separate lives—lives very different from the people they once dreamed they'd become. And yet, unable to let go of that special something that grabbed onto them that first night, an extraordinary relationship develops between the two.
Now a major motion picture starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess.
The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski
The Witcher, Geralt of Rivia, becomes the guardian of Ciri, surviving heiress of a bloody revolution and prophesied savior of the world, in the first novel of the New York Times bestselling series that inspired the Netflix show and the hit video games.
For over a century, humans, dwarves, gnomes, and elves have lived together in relative peace. But times have changed, the uneasy peace is over, and now the races are fighting once again. The only good elf, it seems, is a dead elf.
Geralt of Rivia, the cunning assassin known as the Witcher, has been waiting for the birth of a prophesied child. This child has the power to change the world -- for good, or for evil. As the threat of war hangs over the land and the child is hunted for her extraordinary powers, it will become Geralt's responsibility to protect them all. And the Witcher never accepts defeat.
Now a Netflix original series starring Henry Cavill.
Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect; and to 15-year-old Bee, she is her best friend and, simply, Mom.
Then Bernadette vanishes. To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, and secret correspondence -- creating a compulsively readable and surprisingly touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world.
Now a major motion picture starring Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Emma Nelson, and Kristen Wiig.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Theo Decker, a 13-year-old, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, he clings to the one thing that reminds him of his mother: a mysteriously captivating painting.
As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love -- and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.
Now a major motion picture starring Nicole Kidman, Ansel Elgort, Sarah Paulson, Finn Wolfhard, Luke Wilson, and Jeffrey Wright.
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant.
When sober, Jeannette’s brilliant and charismatic father captured his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn’t want the responsibility of raising a family.The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York.
The Glass Castle is truly astonishing—a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar but loyal family.
Now a major motion picture starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, and Naomi Watts.
YA
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
This is the funniest book you’ll ever read about death.
It is a universally acknowledged truth that high school sucks. But on the first day of his senior year, Greg Gaines thinks he’s figured it out. The answer to the basic existential question: How is it possible to exist in a place that sucks so bad? His strategy: remain at the periphery at all times. Keep an insanely low profile. Make mediocre films with the one person who is even sort of his friend, Earl.
This plan works for exactly eight hours. Then Greg’s mom forces him to become friends with a girl who has cancer. This brings about the destruction of Greg’s entire life.
Now a film that critics are calling "a touchstone for its generation" and "an instant classic."
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Read the cult-favorite coming of age story that takes a sometimes heartbreaking, often hysterical, and always honest look at high school in all its glory.
The critically acclaimed debut novel from Stephen Chbosky follows observant “wallflower” Charlie as he charts a course through the strange world between adolescence and adulthood. First dates, family drama, and new friends. Sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Devastating loss, young love, and life on the fringes. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.
A #1 New York Times best seller for more than a year, an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults (2000) and Best Book for Reluctant Readers (2000), and with millions of copies in print, this novel for teen readers (or “wallflowers” of more-advanced age) will make you laugh, cry, and perhaps feel nostalgic for those moments when you, too, tiptoed onto the dance floor of life.
Also a major motion picture starring Logan Lerman and Emma Watson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a funny, touching, and haunting modern classic.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines--puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.
But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win--and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read, this worldwide bestseller is also a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg.
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
William Goldman's modern fantasy classic is a simple, exceptional story about quests—for riches, revenge, power, and, of course, true love—that's thrilling and timeless.
Anyone who lived through the 1980s may find it impossible—inconceivable, even—to equate The Princess Bride with anything other than the sweet, celluloid romance of Westley and Buttercup, but the film is only a fraction of the ingenious storytelling you'll find in these pages. Rich in character and satire, the novel is set in 1941 and framed cleverly as an “abridged” retelling of a centuries-old tale set in the fabled country of Florin that's home to “Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passions.”
Looking for Alaska by John Green
First drink. First prank. First friend. First love.
Last words.
Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words—and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet François Rabelais called “The Great Perhaps.” Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young, who will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.
Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A modern classic, this stunning debut marked #1 bestselling author John Green’s arrival as a groundbreaking new voice in contemporary fiction.
Looking for Alaska is now a Hulu 8-episode limited series.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them…all at once?
Sixteen-year-old Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is now a major motion picture streaming on Netflix!
A Monster Calls: Inspired by an Idea from Siobhan Dowd by Patrick Ness
An unflinching, darkly funny, and deeply moving story of a boy, his seriously ill mother, and an unexpected monstrous visitor.
At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting – he’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It’s ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth. From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd – whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself – Patrick Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel of mischief, loss, and monsters both real and imagined.
Ness wrote the screenplay for the major motion picture starring Sigourney Weaver and Felicity Jones.
The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman
Philip Pullman takes readers to a world where humans have animal familiars and where parallel universes are within reach.
A war is brewing in Lyra’s world—a battle between those who would keep people in ignorance and those who are willing to fight for true freedom. Lyra is thrust into the middle of the conflict when her uncle Asriel comes to Oxford, fomenting rebellion, and when her best friend, Roger, suddenly disappears.
Lyra learns that Roger was kidnapped by a shadowy organization that steals children and, it is rumored, experiments on them. To find him, she will travel to the cold, far North, where armored bears and witch clans rule…and where her uncle Asriel is attempting to build a bridge to a parallel world.
What Lyra doesn’t know, mustn’t know, is that her actions will have consequences not just in her world, but in all the worlds beyond.
The extraordinary #1 New York Times bestseller, hailed as one of the best books of all time, became a major motion picture in 2007, and is now the basis for an HBO original series, starring Dafne Keen, Ruth Wilson, James McAvoy, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
Risk everything…for love.
What if you couldn’t touch anything in the outside world? Never breathe in the fresh air, feel the sun warm your face…or kiss the boy next door? In Everything, Everything, Maddy is a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world, and Olly is the boy who moves in next door…and becomes the greatest risk she’s ever taken.
Everything, Everything will make you laugh, cry, and feel everything in between. It’s an innovative, inspiring, and heartbreakingly romantic debut novel that unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, illustrations, and more.
The instant #1 New York Times bestseller is now a major motion picture starring Amandla Stenberg as Maddy and Nick Robinson as Olly.
MIDDLE GRADE
The Last Kids on Earth by Max Brallier
Ever since the monster apocalypse hit town, average thirteen year old Jack Sullivan has been living in his tree house, which he’s armed to the teeth with catapults and a moat, not to mention video games and an endless supply of Oreos and Mountain Dew scavenged from abandoned stores. But Jack alone is no match for the hoards of Zombies and Winged Wretches and Vine Thingies, and especially not for the eerily intelligent monster known only as Blarg.
So Jack builds a team: his dorky best friend, Quint; the reformed middle school bully, Dirk; Jack’s loyal pet monster, Rover; and Jack’s crush, June. With their help, Jack is going to slay Blarg, achieve the ultimate Feat of Apocalyptic Success, and be average no longer! Can he do it?
Told in a mixture of text and black-and-white illustration, this is the perfect book for any kid who’s ever dreamed of starring in his or her own comic book or video game. Now a Netflix animated series featuring the voices of Nick Wolfhard, Mark Hamill and Catherine O’Hara.
The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
Mia is just a New York City girl living with her artist mom, until…
News flash: Dad is prince of Genovia. (So that’s why a limo always meets her at the airport!)
Downer: Dad can’t have any more kids. (So no heir to the throne.)
Shock of the century: Like it or not, Mia is prime princess material.
The Worst Part: Princess lessons from her dreaded grandmére, the dowager princess of Genovia, who thinks Mia has a thing or two to learn before she steps up to the throne.
Well, her father can lecture her until he’s royal-blue in the face about her princessly duty, no way is she moving to Genovia and leaving Manhattan behind. But what’s a girl to do when her name is PRINCESS AMELIA MIGNONETTE GRIMALDI THERMOPOLIS RENALDO?
The Disney movie adaptation was directed by Garry Marshall and stars Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews.
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
When Coraline explores her new home, she steps through a door and into another house just like her own . . . except that it's different. It's a marvelous adventure until Coraline discovers that there's also another mother and another father in the house. They want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to keep her forever!
Coraline must use all of her wits and every ounce of courage in order to save herself and return home.
Now an animated feature film starring Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman.
The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
Convinced they’d be better off raising themselves, the Willoughby children hatch a sneaky plan to send their selfish parents on vacation. The siblings then embark on their own high-flying adventure to find the true meaning of family.
The Willoughbys is a turn to the hilarious from the award-winning author of The Giver and Number the Stars that will have children and parents laughing.
Now a Netflix animated film starring Will Forte, Maya Rudolph, Alessia Cara, Terry Crews, Martin Short, Jane Krakowski, Séan Cullen, and Ricky Gervais.
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
If you like stories with happy endings, you’d be better off reading some other book. Not only is The Bad Beginning an unhappy tale, it’s only the first in a whole slew of gloomy books in the New York Times bestselling Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.
The Bad Beginning is the uproariously depressing account of the charming Baudelaire orphans that began this horrifying phenomenon in the first place. In fact, if you can’t stomach a destructive fire, pasta puttanseca, a hook-handed-man, and horrifyingly amateur theater, then please, do as I say and ignore this irreverent, deftly crafted, and exquisitely dark comedy completely.
The wretched story that started all the trouble is now a hit Netflix show starring Neil Patrick Harris. Look away!
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
Some Pig. Humble. Radiant.
These are the words in Charlotte’s web, high in the barn. Her spiderweb tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, who simply wants a friend. They also express the love of a little girl named Fern, who saved Wilbur’s life when he was born the runt of his litter.
With an unforgettable cast of characters around the barn, the story of the friends has enchanted readers ever since it was first published more than 60 years ago. E. B. White’s Newbery Honor Book is a tender novel of friendship, love, life, and death that will continue to be enjoyed by generations to come.
Check out both the 1973 animated film starring Debbie Reynolds and the 2006 film starring Dakota Fanning, Julia Roberts and Oprah Winfrey.
PICTURE BOOKS
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
The tiny town of Chewandswallow was very much like any other tiny town except for its weather which came three times a day, at breakfast lunch and dinner.
But it never rained rain and it never snowed snow and it never blew just wind. It rained things like soup and juice. It snowed things like mashed potatoes. And sometimes the wind blew in storms of hamburgers.
Life for the townspeople was delicious until the weather took a turn for the worse. The food got larger and larger and so did the portions. Chewandswallow was plagued by damaging floods and storms of huge food. the town was a mess and the people feared for their lives.
Something had to be done, and in a hurry.
The picture book that inspired the animated films featuring Anna Faris and Bill Hader.l
Madeleine by Ludwig Bemelmans (EC)
“In an old house in Paris
that was covered with vines
lived twelve little girls
in two straight lines
the smallest one was Madeline.”
Nothing frightens Madeline—not tigers, not even mice. With its endearing, courageous heroine, cheerful humor, and wonderful, whimsical drawings of Paris, the Madeline stories are true classics that continue to charm readers, even after 75 years!
The film adaptation stars Frances McDormand, Nigel Hawthorne and Hatty Jones.
A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond (EC)
Paddington Bear had just traveled all the way from Peru when the Brown family first met him at Paddington Station. Since then, their lives have never been quite the same...for ordinary things become extraordinary when Paddington is involved.
First published in 1958, A Bear Called Paddington has charmed readers for generations with the heartwarming mishaps of the bear from Peru.
The most recent film adaptations star Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, and Colin Firth.
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
The witch and her cat are happily flying through the sky on a broomstick when the wind picks up and blows away the witch’s hat, then her bow, and then her wand! Luckily, three helpful animals find the missing items, and all they want in return is a ride on the broom.
But is there room on the broom for so many friends? And when disaster strikes, will they be able to save the witch from a hungry dragon?
The adaptation, nominated for an Academy Award for best short animated film, is narrated by Simon Pegg and starring the voices of Martin Clunes, Rob Brydon, Sally Hawkins, David Walliams, Gillian Anderson, and Timothy Spall.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
The original story in the Peter Rabbit stories features a young rebellious rabbit who, despite his mother’s wishes, enters the dangerous garden of Mr. McGregor to feast on its endless bounty. From there on out, he gets himself into all kinds of trouble.
The basis for countless television shows and the hit 2018 film voiced by James Corden, Rose Bryne, and Margot Robbie, Peter Rabbit has been hailed as one of the bestselling stories of all time.
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
This story of only 338 words focuses on a young boy named Max who, after dressing in his wolf costume, wreaks such havoc through his household that he is sent to bed without his supper. Max's bedroom undergoes a mysterious transformation into a jungle environment, and he winds up sailing to an island inhabited by malicious beasts known as the "Wild Things."
After successfully intimidating the creatures, Max is hailed as the king of the Wild Things and enjoys a playful romp with his subjects. However, he starts to feel lonely and decides to return home, to the Wild Things' dismay.
Upon returning to his bedroom, Max discovers a hot supper waiting for him.
The live-action film version of the book is directed by Spike Jonze and stars Max Records, Catherine Keener, Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper, Paul Dano, James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara, and Forest Whitaker. The screenplay was adapted by Jonze and best-selling author Dave Eggers.
Shrek! By William Steig
Shrek is a repugnant, green-skinned, fire-breathing, seemingly indestructible monster who enjoys causing misery with his repulsiveness. After his parents decide that he has come of age, he is (literally) kicked out of their swamp. Shrek soon encounters a witch, who, in exchange for his rare specimens of lice, reads his fortune: using the magic words "Apple Strudel", he will meet a donkey who will take him to a castle, where he will battle a knight and marry a princess who is even uglier than him.
This humorous picture book served as the inspiration for the animated Shrek films.
Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
While their parents are out for the evening, Judy and Peter Shepherd, after playing with some toys, become bored and decide to go to the park. There they find a jungle adventure game called Jumanji. Taking the game home, they find a warning message; "Do not begin unless you intend to finish". Ignoring the warning, they start to play.
The pair soon discovers that any dangers encountered in the game spring to life somewhere in the house. Still they continue to play, hoping that if they finish the game everything will go back to normal.
The 1995 film adaptation based on the picture book story stars Robin Williams, Kirsten Dunst, David Alan Grier, Bonnie Hunt, Bradley Pierce, Jonathan Hyde, and Bebe Neuwirth.
Dr. Seuss: Cat in the Hat, The Grinch, The Lorax, Horton Hears a Who
Characters who have been turned into series: Pete the Cat, Llama Llama, Fancy Nancy, Pinkalicious, Clifford, Curious George
BONUS READ BEFORE THEY HIT THE SCREEN SECTION
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
Ivan is an easy-going gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all. Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he’s seen, and about his friends Stella, an elderly elephant, and Bob, a stray dog. But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango or the sound of leaves with color and a well-placed line.
Then he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family, and she makes Ivan see their home—and his own art—through new eyes. When Ruby arrives, change comes with her, and it’s up to Ivan to make it a change for the better.
In this Newbery Medal-winning novel, Katherine Applegate blends humor and poignancy to create Ivan’s unforgettable first-person narration in a story of friendship, art, and hope.
Everyone’s favorite silverback gorilla is coming to the silver screen this summer! Currently slated for release on August 14,2020, starring Angelina Jolie, Sam Rockwell and Bryan Cranston.
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.
Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life--a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.
Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.
Currently being adapted into a new streaming series that will bring together the stories and characters of two overlapping series that take place in Bardugo’s Grishaverse. Season one of the series will serve as an adaptation of the novel Shadow and Bone and act as a prequel to the events of the novel Six of Crows. No official release date set yet, so you have plenty of time to read the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology!
The Witches by Roald Dahl
This is not a fairy tale. This is a story about real witches. Grandmamma loves to tell about witches. Real witches are the most dangerous of all living creatures on earth. There's nothing they hate so much as children, and they work all kinds of terrifying spells to get rid of them.
Her grandson listens closely to Grandmamma's stories--but nothing can prepare him for the day he comes face-to-face with The Grand High Witch herself!
Check out the movie adaptation starring Anjelica Huston while you wait for the new version coming this October and starring Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer and Stanley Tucci.
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”
So begins one of the most revered and beloved modern novels, Daphne du Maurier’s haunting and suspenseful tale of love and deception, devotion and evil. In an isolated gray stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast, the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter—the naive young bride of a man she barely knows—begins a new life. But her happiness is soon overshadowed by phantoms of a time long dead.
In every corner of every room of the immense and forbidding estate are mementos to a past devotedly preserved by Manderley’s sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danverse. Struggling against an eerie presentiment of evil that threatens to engulf her, the second Mrs. de Winter walks in the shadow of her mysterious predecessor determined to uncover the darkest secrets and shattering truths about Maxim’s first wife—the hauntingly beautiful Rebecca.
First adapted for film by Alfred Hitchcock in the 40’s, starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine, a new version featuring Lily James and Armie Hammer is expected in 2020!
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom--a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.
In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. When a German captain requisitions Vianne's home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Vianne's sister, Isabelle, meets Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.
Currently being adapted as a major motion picture starring Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning, and Mélanie Laurent and expected to release in 2021.
Dune by Frank Herbert
Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the “spice” melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize worth killing for….
The 1984 film adaptation starring Kyle MacLachlan, Virginia Madsen and Francesca Annis inspired pretty strong feelings on both sides (love and hate). Check it out in advance of the highly anticipated new release expected this December and starring Timothée Chalamet, Josh Brolin, Jason Momoa, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Javier Bardem, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgård, and Charlotte Rampling.
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young white girl rescued from captivity back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel that was a finalist for the National Book Award.
Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, drifts through northern Texas, performing live readings from newspapers to paying audiences hungry for news of the world—of the Irish pouring into New York City, of the railroad driving into the new state of Nebraska. An elderly widower who has lived through three wars and fought in two of them, the captain once made his living as a printer, until the War Between the States took his press and everything with it. Now, at seventy-one, he enjoys the freedom of the road.
At a stop in Wichita Falls, Captain Kidd is offered an astonishing $50 gold piece to deliver a young orphan to her relatives near San Antonio. The captain’s sense of duty and compassion propels him to accept, though he knows the journey will be difficult. Winding through unsettled territory and unforgiving terrain, the 400-mile odyssey south proves dangerous. Yet as the miles pass, the wary Johanna slowly draws closer to the man she calls Kep-dun, and the two lonely survivors forge a tender bond that marks the difference between life and death in this treacherous land.
The film adaptation stars Tom Hanks and is currently slated for release this December.
ADULT
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
After a staged terrorist attack kills the President and most of Congress, the government is deposed and taken over by the oppressive and all controlling Republic of Gilead. Offred, now a Handmaid serving in the household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife, can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost even her own name.
Despite the danger, Offred learns to navigate the intimate secrets of those who control her every move, risking her life in breaking the rules in hopes of ending this oppression.
Hulu original series starring Elisabeth Moss, Amanda Brugel, and Madeline Brewer.
I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt
The first words Jimmy Hoffa ever spoke to Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran were, "I heard you paint houses." In the course of nearly five years of recorded interviews Frank Sheeran confessed to Charles Brandt that he handled more than twenty-five hits for the mob, and for his friend Hoffa.
Sheeran learned to kill in the U.S. Army, where he saw an astonishing 411 days of active combat duty in Italy during World War II. After returning home he became a hustler and hit man, working for legendary crime boss Russell Bufalino. When Bufalino ordered Sheeran to kill Hoffa, he did the deed, knowing that if he had refused he would have been killed himself.
Adapted into Netflix original movie The Irishman starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
In 1945, Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon. Their blissful reunion is shattered when she touches a boulder in one of the ancient stone ruins and is instantly transported to a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in 1743.
Will Claire find her way back to her own time, or is her destiny forever linked with Clan MacKenzie and the gallant James Fraser? This first book in the series will launch listeners into an exhilarating world of heroism, pulse-pounding adventure, and breathtaking romance as one woman is torn between past and present, passion and love.
STARZ television series starring Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan, Duncan Lacroix.
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman
People have been predicting the end of the world almost from its very beginning, so it’s only natural to be sceptical when a new date is set for Judgement Day. But what if, for once, the predictions are right, and the apocalypse really is due to arrive next Saturday, just after tea?
It’s a predicament that Aziraphale, a somewhat fussy angel, and Crowley, a fast-living demon now finds themselves in. They’ve been living amongst Earth’s mortals since The Beginning and, truth be told, have grown rather fond of the lifestyle and, in all honesty, are not actually looking forward to the coming Apocalypse. And then there’s the small matter that someone appears to have misplaced the Antichrist…
Amazon Prime original series starring David Tennant, Michael Sheen and Frances McDormand.
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers.
Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Film starring Julia Roberts, Billy Crudup and Viola Davis.
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
Rachel White is the consummate good girl. A hard-working attorney at a large Manhattan law firm and a diligent maid of honor to her charmed best friend, Darcy. Rachel has always played by all the rules. Since grade school, she has watched Darcy shine, quietly accepting the sidekick role in their lopsided friendship. But that suddenly changes the night of her thirtieth birthday when Rachel finally confesses her feelings to Darcy's fiance, and is both horrified and thrilled to discover that he feels the same way.
As the wedding date draws near, events spiral out of control, and Rachel knows she must make a choice between her heart and conscience. In doing so, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat, and sometimes you have to risk everything to be true to yourself.
Film starring Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson, Colin Egglesfield and John Krasinski.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
As a child, Kathy–now thirty-one years old–lived at Hailsham, a private school in the scenic English countryside where the children were sheltered from the outside world, brought up to believe that they were special. Kathy describes happy scenes of boys and girls growing up together. But she describes other scenes as well: of discord and misunderstanding that hint at a dark secret behind Hailsham’s nurturing facade. With the dawning clarity of hindsight, the three friends are compelled to face the truth about their childhood–and about their lives now.
Film starring Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley.
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
When New Yorker Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home and quality time with the man she hopes to marry. But Nick has failed to give his girlfriend a few key details. One, that his childhood home looks like a palace; two, that he grew up riding in more private planes than cars; and three, that he just happens to be the country’s most eligible bachelor.
On Nick’s arm, Rachel may as well have a target on her back the second she steps off the plane, and soon, her relaxed vacation turns into an obstacle course of old money, new money, nosy relatives, and scheming social climbers.
Film starring Constance Wu, Henry Golding and Michelle Yeoh among many, many others!
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident.
Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is. Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.
What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?
Now a major motion picture starring Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin and Vanessa Kirby.
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
In Shaker Heights, everything is meticulously planned—from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.
Enter Mia Warren- an enigmatic artist and single mother- who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the alluring mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.
When the Richardsons’ friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Mrs. Richardson becomes determined to uncover the secrets in Mia’s past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs to her own family—and Mia’s.
Hulu original series starring Reese Witherspoon, Kerry Washington, Joshua Jackson, and Rosemarie DeWitt.
One Day by David Nicholls
It's 1988 and Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley have only just met. They both know that the next day, after college graduation, they must go their separate ways. But after only one day together, they cannot stop thinking about one another.
As the years go by, Dex and Em begin to lead separate lives—lives very different from the people they once dreamed they'd become. And yet, unable to let go of that special something that grabbed onto them that first night, an extraordinary relationship develops between the two.
Now a major motion picture starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess.
The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski
The Witcher, Geralt of Rivia, becomes the guardian of Ciri, surviving heiress of a bloody revolution and prophesied savior of the world, in the first novel of the New York Times bestselling series that inspired the Netflix show and the hit video games.
For over a century, humans, dwarves, gnomes, and elves have lived together in relative peace. But times have changed, the uneasy peace is over, and now the races are fighting once again. The only good elf, it seems, is a dead elf.
Geralt of Rivia, the cunning assassin known as the Witcher, has been waiting for the birth of a prophesied child. This child has the power to change the world -- for good, or for evil. As the threat of war hangs over the land and the child is hunted for her extraordinary powers, it will become Geralt's responsibility to protect them all. And the Witcher never accepts defeat.
Now a Netflix original series starring Henry Cavill.
Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect; and to 15-year-old Bee, she is her best friend and, simply, Mom.
Then Bernadette vanishes. To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, and secret correspondence -- creating a compulsively readable and surprisingly touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world.
Now a major motion picture starring Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Emma Nelson, and Kristen Wiig.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Theo Decker, a 13-year-old, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, he clings to the one thing that reminds him of his mother: a mysteriously captivating painting.
As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love -- and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.
Now a major motion picture starring Nicole Kidman, Ansel Elgort, Sarah Paulson, Finn Wolfhard, Luke Wilson, and Jeffrey Wright.
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant.
When sober, Jeannette’s brilliant and charismatic father captured his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn’t want the responsibility of raising a family.The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York.
The Glass Castle is truly astonishing—a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar but loyal family.
Now a major motion picture starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, and Naomi Watts.
YA
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
This is the funniest book you’ll ever read about death.
It is a universally acknowledged truth that high school sucks. But on the first day of his senior year, Greg Gaines thinks he’s figured it out. The answer to the basic existential question: How is it possible to exist in a place that sucks so bad? His strategy: remain at the periphery at all times. Keep an insanely low profile. Make mediocre films with the one person who is even sort of his friend, Earl.
This plan works for exactly eight hours. Then Greg’s mom forces him to become friends with a girl who has cancer. This brings about the destruction of Greg’s entire life.
Now a film that critics are calling "a touchstone for its generation" and "an instant classic."
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Read the cult-favorite coming of age story that takes a sometimes heartbreaking, often hysterical, and always honest look at high school in all its glory.
The critically acclaimed debut novel from Stephen Chbosky follows observant “wallflower” Charlie as he charts a course through the strange world between adolescence and adulthood. First dates, family drama, and new friends. Sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Devastating loss, young love, and life on the fringes. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.
A #1 New York Times best seller for more than a year, an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults (2000) and Best Book for Reluctant Readers (2000), and with millions of copies in print, this novel for teen readers (or “wallflowers” of more-advanced age) will make you laugh, cry, and perhaps feel nostalgic for those moments when you, too, tiptoed onto the dance floor of life.
Also a major motion picture starring Logan Lerman and Emma Watson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a funny, touching, and haunting modern classic.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines--puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.
But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win--and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read, this worldwide bestseller is also a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg.
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
William Goldman's modern fantasy classic is a simple, exceptional story about quests—for riches, revenge, power, and, of course, true love—that's thrilling and timeless.
Anyone who lived through the 1980s may find it impossible—inconceivable, even—to equate The Princess Bride with anything other than the sweet, celluloid romance of Westley and Buttercup, but the film is only a fraction of the ingenious storytelling you'll find in these pages. Rich in character and satire, the novel is set in 1941 and framed cleverly as an “abridged” retelling of a centuries-old tale set in the fabled country of Florin that's home to “Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passions.”
Looking for Alaska by John Green
First drink. First prank. First friend. First love.
Last words.
Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words—and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet François Rabelais called “The Great Perhaps.” Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young, who will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.
Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A modern classic, this stunning debut marked #1 bestselling author John Green’s arrival as a groundbreaking new voice in contemporary fiction.
Looking for Alaska is now a Hulu 8-episode limited series.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them…all at once?
Sixteen-year-old Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is now a major motion picture streaming on Netflix!
A Monster Calls: Inspired by an Idea from Siobhan Dowd by Patrick Ness
An unflinching, darkly funny, and deeply moving story of a boy, his seriously ill mother, and an unexpected monstrous visitor.
At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting – he’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It’s ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth. From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd – whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself – Patrick Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel of mischief, loss, and monsters both real and imagined.
Ness wrote the screenplay for the major motion picture starring Sigourney Weaver and Felicity Jones.
The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman
Philip Pullman takes readers to a world where humans have animal familiars and where parallel universes are within reach.
A war is brewing in Lyra’s world—a battle between those who would keep people in ignorance and those who are willing to fight for true freedom. Lyra is thrust into the middle of the conflict when her uncle Asriel comes to Oxford, fomenting rebellion, and when her best friend, Roger, suddenly disappears.
Lyra learns that Roger was kidnapped by a shadowy organization that steals children and, it is rumored, experiments on them. To find him, she will travel to the cold, far North, where armored bears and witch clans rule…and where her uncle Asriel is attempting to build a bridge to a parallel world.
What Lyra doesn’t know, mustn’t know, is that her actions will have consequences not just in her world, but in all the worlds beyond.
The extraordinary #1 New York Times bestseller, hailed as one of the best books of all time, became a major motion picture in 2007, and is now the basis for an HBO original series, starring Dafne Keen, Ruth Wilson, James McAvoy, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
Risk everything…for love.
What if you couldn’t touch anything in the outside world? Never breathe in the fresh air, feel the sun warm your face…or kiss the boy next door? In Everything, Everything, Maddy is a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world, and Olly is the boy who moves in next door…and becomes the greatest risk she’s ever taken.
Everything, Everything will make you laugh, cry, and feel everything in between. It’s an innovative, inspiring, and heartbreakingly romantic debut novel that unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, illustrations, and more.
The instant #1 New York Times bestseller is now a major motion picture starring Amandla Stenberg as Maddy and Nick Robinson as Olly.
MIDDLE GRADE
The Last Kids on Earth by Max Brallier
Ever since the monster apocalypse hit town, average thirteen year old Jack Sullivan has been living in his tree house, which he’s armed to the teeth with catapults and a moat, not to mention video games and an endless supply of Oreos and Mountain Dew scavenged from abandoned stores. But Jack alone is no match for the hoards of Zombies and Winged Wretches and Vine Thingies, and especially not for the eerily intelligent monster known only as Blarg.
So Jack builds a team: his dorky best friend, Quint; the reformed middle school bully, Dirk; Jack’s loyal pet monster, Rover; and Jack’s crush, June. With their help, Jack is going to slay Blarg, achieve the ultimate Feat of Apocalyptic Success, and be average no longer! Can he do it?
Told in a mixture of text and black-and-white illustration, this is the perfect book for any kid who’s ever dreamed of starring in his or her own comic book or video game. Now a Netflix animated series featuring the voices of Nick Wolfhard, Mark Hamill and Catherine O’Hara.
The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
Mia is just a New York City girl living with her artist mom, until…
News flash: Dad is prince of Genovia. (So that’s why a limo always meets her at the airport!)
Downer: Dad can’t have any more kids. (So no heir to the throne.)
Shock of the century: Like it or not, Mia is prime princess material.
The Worst Part: Princess lessons from her dreaded grandmére, the dowager princess of Genovia, who thinks Mia has a thing or two to learn before she steps up to the throne.
Well, her father can lecture her until he’s royal-blue in the face about her princessly duty, no way is she moving to Genovia and leaving Manhattan behind. But what’s a girl to do when her name is PRINCESS AMELIA MIGNONETTE GRIMALDI THERMOPOLIS RENALDO?
The Disney movie adaptation was directed by Garry Marshall and stars Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews.
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
When Coraline explores her new home, she steps through a door and into another house just like her own . . . except that it's different. It's a marvelous adventure until Coraline discovers that there's also another mother and another father in the house. They want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to keep her forever!
Coraline must use all of her wits and every ounce of courage in order to save herself and return home.
Now an animated feature film starring Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman.
The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
Convinced they’d be better off raising themselves, the Willoughby children hatch a sneaky plan to send their selfish parents on vacation. The siblings then embark on their own high-flying adventure to find the true meaning of family.
The Willoughbys is a turn to the hilarious from the award-winning author of The Giver and Number the Stars that will have children and parents laughing.
Now a Netflix animated film starring Will Forte, Maya Rudolph, Alessia Cara, Terry Crews, Martin Short, Jane Krakowski, Séan Cullen, and Ricky Gervais.
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
If you like stories with happy endings, you’d be better off reading some other book. Not only is The Bad Beginning an unhappy tale, it’s only the first in a whole slew of gloomy books in the New York Times bestselling Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.
The Bad Beginning is the uproariously depressing account of the charming Baudelaire orphans that began this horrifying phenomenon in the first place. In fact, if you can’t stomach a destructive fire, pasta puttanseca, a hook-handed-man, and horrifyingly amateur theater, then please, do as I say and ignore this irreverent, deftly crafted, and exquisitely dark comedy completely.
The wretched story that started all the trouble is now a hit Netflix show starring Neil Patrick Harris. Look away!
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
Some Pig. Humble. Radiant.
These are the words in Charlotte’s web, high in the barn. Her spiderweb tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, who simply wants a friend. They also express the love of a little girl named Fern, who saved Wilbur’s life when he was born the runt of his litter.
With an unforgettable cast of characters around the barn, the story of the friends has enchanted readers ever since it was first published more than 60 years ago. E. B. White’s Newbery Honor Book is a tender novel of friendship, love, life, and death that will continue to be enjoyed by generations to come.
Check out both the 1973 animated film starring Debbie Reynolds and the 2006 film starring Dakota Fanning, Julia Roberts and Oprah Winfrey.
PICTURE BOOKS
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
The tiny town of Chewandswallow was very much like any other tiny town except for its weather which came three times a day, at breakfast lunch and dinner.
But it never rained rain and it never snowed snow and it never blew just wind. It rained things like soup and juice. It snowed things like mashed potatoes. And sometimes the wind blew in storms of hamburgers.
Life for the townspeople was delicious until the weather took a turn for the worse. The food got larger and larger and so did the portions. Chewandswallow was plagued by damaging floods and storms of huge food. the town was a mess and the people feared for their lives.
Something had to be done, and in a hurry.
The picture book that inspired the animated films featuring Anna Faris and Bill Hader.l
Madeleine by Ludwig Bemelmans (EC)
“In an old house in Paris
that was covered with vines
lived twelve little girls
in two straight lines
the smallest one was Madeline.”
Nothing frightens Madeline—not tigers, not even mice. With its endearing, courageous heroine, cheerful humor, and wonderful, whimsical drawings of Paris, the Madeline stories are true classics that continue to charm readers, even after 75 years!
The film adaptation stars Frances McDormand, Nigel Hawthorne and Hatty Jones.
A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond (EC)
Paddington Bear had just traveled all the way from Peru when the Brown family first met him at Paddington Station. Since then, their lives have never been quite the same...for ordinary things become extraordinary when Paddington is involved.
First published in 1958, A Bear Called Paddington has charmed readers for generations with the heartwarming mishaps of the bear from Peru.
The most recent film adaptations star Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, and Colin Firth.
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
The witch and her cat are happily flying through the sky on a broomstick when the wind picks up and blows away the witch’s hat, then her bow, and then her wand! Luckily, three helpful animals find the missing items, and all they want in return is a ride on the broom.
But is there room on the broom for so many friends? And when disaster strikes, will they be able to save the witch from a hungry dragon?
The adaptation, nominated for an Academy Award for best short animated film, is narrated by Simon Pegg and starring the voices of Martin Clunes, Rob Brydon, Sally Hawkins, David Walliams, Gillian Anderson, and Timothy Spall.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
The original story in the Peter Rabbit stories features a young rebellious rabbit who, despite his mother’s wishes, enters the dangerous garden of Mr. McGregor to feast on its endless bounty. From there on out, he gets himself into all kinds of trouble.
The basis for countless television shows and the hit 2018 film voiced by James Corden, Rose Bryne, and Margot Robbie, Peter Rabbit has been hailed as one of the bestselling stories of all time.
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
This story of only 338 words focuses on a young boy named Max who, after dressing in his wolf costume, wreaks such havoc through his household that he is sent to bed without his supper. Max's bedroom undergoes a mysterious transformation into a jungle environment, and he winds up sailing to an island inhabited by malicious beasts known as the "Wild Things."
After successfully intimidating the creatures, Max is hailed as the king of the Wild Things and enjoys a playful romp with his subjects. However, he starts to feel lonely and decides to return home, to the Wild Things' dismay.
Upon returning to his bedroom, Max discovers a hot supper waiting for him.
The live-action film version of the book is directed by Spike Jonze and stars Max Records, Catherine Keener, Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper, Paul Dano, James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara, and Forest Whitaker. The screenplay was adapted by Jonze and best-selling author Dave Eggers.
Shrek! By William Steig
Shrek is a repugnant, green-skinned, fire-breathing, seemingly indestructible monster who enjoys causing misery with his repulsiveness. After his parents decide that he has come of age, he is (literally) kicked out of their swamp. Shrek soon encounters a witch, who, in exchange for his rare specimens of lice, reads his fortune: using the magic words "Apple Strudel", he will meet a donkey who will take him to a castle, where he will battle a knight and marry a princess who is even uglier than him.
This humorous picture book served as the inspiration for the animated Shrek films.
Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
While their parents are out for the evening, Judy and Peter Shepherd, after playing with some toys, become bored and decide to go to the park. There they find a jungle adventure game called Jumanji. Taking the game home, they find a warning message; "Do not begin unless you intend to finish". Ignoring the warning, they start to play.
The pair soon discovers that any dangers encountered in the game spring to life somewhere in the house. Still they continue to play, hoping that if they finish the game everything will go back to normal.
The 1995 film adaptation based on the picture book story stars Robin Williams, Kirsten Dunst, David Alan Grier, Bonnie Hunt, Bradley Pierce, Jonathan Hyde, and Bebe Neuwirth.
Dr. Seuss: Cat in the Hat, The Grinch, The Lorax, Horton Hears a Who
Characters who have been turned into series: Pete the Cat, Llama Llama, Fancy Nancy, Pinkalicious, Clifford, Curious George
BONUS READ BEFORE THEY HIT THE SCREEN SECTION
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
Ivan is an easy-going gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all. Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he’s seen, and about his friends Stella, an elderly elephant, and Bob, a stray dog. But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango or the sound of leaves with color and a well-placed line.
Then he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family, and she makes Ivan see their home—and his own art—through new eyes. When Ruby arrives, change comes with her, and it’s up to Ivan to make it a change for the better.
In this Newbery Medal-winning novel, Katherine Applegate blends humor and poignancy to create Ivan’s unforgettable first-person narration in a story of friendship, art, and hope.
Everyone’s favorite silverback gorilla is coming to the silver screen this summer! Currently slated for release on August 14,2020, starring Angelina Jolie, Sam Rockwell and Bryan Cranston.
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.
Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life--a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.
Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.
Currently being adapted into a new streaming series that will bring together the stories and characters of two overlapping series that take place in Bardugo’s Grishaverse. Season one of the series will serve as an adaptation of the novel Shadow and Bone and act as a prequel to the events of the novel Six of Crows. No official release date set yet, so you have plenty of time to read the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology!
The Witches by Roald Dahl
This is not a fairy tale. This is a story about real witches. Grandmamma loves to tell about witches. Real witches are the most dangerous of all living creatures on earth. There's nothing they hate so much as children, and they work all kinds of terrifying spells to get rid of them.
Her grandson listens closely to Grandmamma's stories--but nothing can prepare him for the day he comes face-to-face with The Grand High Witch herself!
Check out the movie adaptation starring Anjelica Huston while you wait for the new version coming this October and starring Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer and Stanley Tucci.
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”
So begins one of the most revered and beloved modern novels, Daphne du Maurier’s haunting and suspenseful tale of love and deception, devotion and evil. In an isolated gray stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast, the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter—the naive young bride of a man she barely knows—begins a new life. But her happiness is soon overshadowed by phantoms of a time long dead.
In every corner of every room of the immense and forbidding estate are mementos to a past devotedly preserved by Manderley’s sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danverse. Struggling against an eerie presentiment of evil that threatens to engulf her, the second Mrs. de Winter walks in the shadow of her mysterious predecessor determined to uncover the darkest secrets and shattering truths about Maxim’s first wife—the hauntingly beautiful Rebecca.
First adapted for film by Alfred Hitchcock in the 40’s, starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine, a new version featuring Lily James and Armie Hammer is expected in 2020!
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom--a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.
In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. When a German captain requisitions Vianne's home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Vianne's sister, Isabelle, meets Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.
Currently being adapted as a major motion picture starring Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning, and Mélanie Laurent and expected to release in 2021.
Dune by Frank Herbert
Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the “spice” melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize worth killing for….
The 1984 film adaptation starring Kyle MacLachlan, Virginia Madsen and Francesca Annis inspired pretty strong feelings on both sides (love and hate). Check it out in advance of the highly anticipated new release expected this December and starring Timothée Chalamet, Josh Brolin, Jason Momoa, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Javier Bardem, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgård, and Charlotte Rampling.
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young white girl rescued from captivity back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel that was a finalist for the National Book Award.
Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, drifts through northern Texas, performing live readings from newspapers to paying audiences hungry for news of the world—of the Irish pouring into New York City, of the railroad driving into the new state of Nebraska. An elderly widower who has lived through three wars and fought in two of them, the captain once made his living as a printer, until the War Between the States took his press and everything with it. Now, at seventy-one, he enjoys the freedom of the road.
At a stop in Wichita Falls, Captain Kidd is offered an astonishing $50 gold piece to deliver a young orphan to her relatives near San Antonio. The captain’s sense of duty and compassion propels him to accept, though he knows the journey will be difficult. Winding through unsettled territory and unforgiving terrain, the 400-mile odyssey south proves dangerous. Yet as the miles pass, the wary Johanna slowly draws closer to the man she calls Kep-dun, and the two lonely survivors forge a tender bond that marks the difference between life and death in this treacherous land.
The film adaptation stars Tom Hanks and is currently slated for release this December.