Hollywood often looks to the world of literature for inspiration for film. How often are we disappointed by the movies that they create?
When the first Harry Potter movie was set to come out in 2001, I decided I would hold a voluntary book club for the kids to inspire them to read it before they saw the movie. I had a small crew for that first club, basically all the girls in my homeroom, so about 10 of them. We had lunch together one day a week and discussed a chunk of the book. (You're probably wondering why kids would do this book club even if it wasn't required. What you need to understand the "thrill" that is eating in the classroom with the teacher. To quote Ron Burgundy, "I'm kind of a big deal.") I continued these clubs for a couple years, sticking mostly with Harry Potter. In 2004, while reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkhaban with my fourth graders, I thought, "why can't we go to the movie too." Since then, after we have our book club I put out an invitation to families to meet at the movie and view it together. Over the years, I have conned my fellow teammates into also doing these clubs, and then we fill up the movie theater. ( I was so excited one time when I heard the theater employees remarking that the movie was sold out because there was "some Reading (the town where I teach) book club here".)
The latest book club centered around "The Tale of Despereaux" by Kate DiCamillo. I'm sure many of you aren't familiar with the wonderful world of children's literature, but Kate DiCamillo is an AMAZING author. Despereaux actually won the highest award in Children's Lit, the Newberry Award and DiCamillo was a previous honoree for another awesome book you may have heard of called "Because of Winn Dixie". As I tell the kids, what makes DiCamillo such a gifted author is her ability to write very, VERY deep books, with meaningful themes, for kids that aren't necessarily difficult for kids to read.
Today my fifth grade teammates and myself, and about 25 fifth graders and their parents attended the movie. When the lights came up this afternoon, I turned to my students and said, "well, that wasn't the book that we read." It's really disappointing to see such an amazing book as this one, turned in to a pretty lame story. The movie was completely different. The character names, and the setting remained the same, but so much was different. I couldn't help but wonder what an author feels when they see their blood, sweat, and tears hit the big screen, totally different than what they slaved over?
I've been pretty satisfied with the Harry Potter movies, the Chronicles of Narnia movies, Jurassic Park (which scares the beejezus out of me every time I watch it), the new Charlotte's Web, and others. Then there are those of which I love both the book and the screen adaptations, for different reasons. (like Gone With the Wind) I was personally happy with the Tim Burton "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", as opposed to the 70's musical "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory".
I am currently riding the tween wave and reading "Twilight" and I've heard mixed things about this movie adaptation. Any favorite books, made into terrible movies, or great ones?
3 comments:
How neat that you do that with your students - you're such a cool teacher! I'm going to read the book and skip the movie (love children's books and don't read enough of them so thanks for the recommendation).
You should add a "what am I reading" function to your blog (like Ask Moxie) that way you can let us know good kid lit. Also, you are totally "a big deal".
only Nana Krink left saying, "since I didn't read the book I enjoyed the movie." I was terrifically disappointed by what could've been done, should've been done and wasn't. The computer animation continues to astound me. The fur on now, good guy, Roscuro, was pettable. I hope Ann will forgive me for chosing the Pats time slot for this dismal show. but I loved seeing the Cone, and really do miss our daily antics when I'm on vacation. xoxo.
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