What YA Book Movies Are You Looking Forward To?

Jordan Dane
@JordanDane

In no particular order, I am looking forward to THREE movies that originated as YA series books. From everything I have seen, the casting looks really good and I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that the screen adaptation is as solid as the Hunger Games screenplay that Suzanne Collins had a hand in writing. Can you imagine what a thrill it was or will be for these authors to see their books on the big screen? For readers to see it? Woot!

Hunger Games #2 – Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins)
Casting Jennifer Lawrence really made this movie perfect for me. I saw her in Winter’s Bone and loved her acting chops. As an actress, she has made some really amazing choices in movie scripts. Silver Linings Playbook was a great film too.

In the continuation of the series, more key secondary characters will be added and I look forward to seeing how closely this next movie sticks to the books. Here is the IMDB link to the movie and the release date is November 22, 2013. In my opinion, I was a little disappointed that Catching Fire was so similar to the first book. It felt as if Collins wanted to get #1 right and took another stab at it, like another Rocky movie. she played up the love triangle more in book #2, to set up book #3 – Mockingjay. I find it interesting that Suzanne Collins did not write the script on book #2. My speculation is that this film will diverge from the books to set up the final conflict.

Sam Claflin looks like a good choice, physically for Finnick Odair, a key player in the series. He’s gorgeous. And hopefully we will see more of Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson as Gale and Peeta.

Sam Claflin (Finnick)

Mortal Instruments – City of Bones (Cassandra Clare)
Cassandra Clare is listed as a writer on the screenplay. I’m excited about that. The strength of her books is her characterizations and her amazing story arcs for all the characters, even secondary ones. Her world building is amazing too, but as a writer I loved how she kept every character growing over the series.

From what I’ve seen of the cast, there will be some extreme eye candy for everyone. Lily Collins is perfect as Clary and I love Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace, even though I know he wasn’t people’s first choice. I think moviegoers will fall in love with this guy once they see him in the part. Here is the IMDB link. The movie will be released August 21, 2013. I can smell the popcorn now. My niece and her mom, my spectacular sister, go together to see movies made from YA books. I gave this series to them as a Christmas present and we’ve had this movie on our radar for a long time. Can’t wait.

Lily Collins (Clary)  & Jamie Campbell Bower (Jace)

Divergent (Veronica Roth)
I saw an interview with the lead actress today, who will play Tris. Seeing Shailene Woodley on Jon Stewart The Daily Show inspired this post. She did a great interview and was very entertaining and well-spoken. I don't see her as the image of Tris in my mind, but actors can bring so much to the table that I would love to see her in this role.

So I looked into the movie. OMG, Theo James will play Four. He is PERFECT for this role! Here is the IMDB link. The movie will be released March 21, 2014. Veronica Roth is only listed with a credit for her novel, so she didn’t contribute to the screenplay as a writer with credits there. The strength of these books is Roth’s world building and the way she ramped up the stakes in these novels, especially with her endings that foreshadow things to come that make you want to grab the next book, but the plot structure within each book wasn’t as strong (screenplay-wise) as Suzanne Collins or Cassandra Clare’s books.

I’m sure Roth had input to the screenplay treatment (the preliminary adaptation summary of the plot structure that the script will attempt to follow) and with popular books like this, filmmakers will want to stay true to the world they are trying to build into a movie franchise. Hollywood had a lot to work with in Roth’s books, so fingers crossed on this one too. Can’t wait to see it.

Theo James (Four) & Shailene Woodley (Tris)

So let’s take a quick poll in comments. Which of these movies are you most anxious to see? If there are other movies coming up that were adapted from YA books, please share them in your comments. I’d love to hear about them.

On the side bar to our YA blog, I have a poll set up for these three movies. Vote for one. Polling ends Aug 4th at NOON. Let your voice be heard here!

The Great Reveal

by Michelle Gagnon

Lately, there's been a lot of "reveals" in Young Adult fiction. One of my favorites was what they did for bestselling author Cassandra Clare's next release, CLOCKWORK PRINCESS. They let fans control the cover reveal; initially the cover was hidden behind a "veil" that only tweeting readers could remove.
And it was a huge success. Within two hours, over 30,000 tweets resulted in a full display of the cover. But it didn't end there: #ClockworkPrincess trended worldwide that day, and the tweet tally rapidly approached and passed the 150,000 mark.
Which was astonishing, and definitely eye-opening for a lot of publishers. There's always a question as to how social networks can be used to promote a book, and this was a clear success story.


My publisher has decided to try to do something similar with my YA debut DON'T TURN AROUND. Starting today, clicking on this link will reveal book chapters on Facebook: the more "Likes" the page gets, the more of the book will be "unlocked." By the end, if all goes as planned, the first five chapters of the book will have been made available (which is a fairly significant chunk of it!) I think it's a cool idea, and an interesting way to get people engaged with the story early.

We'll also be debuting the book trailer on Entertainment Weekly's "Books" page in a few weeks - I haven't seen it yet myself, and am excited to check it out!


So what do you all think? Is this too gimmicky for you, or do you like the idea of fan participation being part of a reveal?

SHADOWS, Revealed! . . . uhm . . . almost

I am cursed, and here's why.

I have this habit of falling in love with shows that last only one season or, sometimes, two. We're talking series like My Own Worst Enemy in which a deliciously diabolical Christian Slater took Jekyll and Hyde to new levels;






that last episode of Stargate Universe when everyone, except Eli, goes into hibernation for a three-year voyage which we all know will never end;



or the series finale for Stargate Atlantis which, while getting our heroes back to Earth after a five-year jaunt in the Pegasus galaxy, left them marooned and cloaked in San Francisco Bay;





or, most recently, The River, which, last time I looked, is likely headed to the cancellation graveyard with one mystery solved but the Magus's crew forever trapped in a no-exit jungle whose landscape has changed around them. (And was it just me, or did that show finally find its legs when Bruce Greenwood showed up?)



I could go on, but you get the picture. There I am, invested in a show. I care about these people. The show's dug in its claws the way all good stories do--and then it--and I--get pushed to the edge of that cliff where we're left, dangling, forever.

And ever . . .


And ever . . .


The same could be said for books that leave you gasping, hanging on by your fingernails, screaming--just like Buzz:



REM got it right. The premature end of a great show feels kinda the same (for me, anyway):




Well, ASHES fans, I'm happy to report that no such dastardly fate awaits you. Your wait is half over. SHADOWS is set to hit shelves on 9/25/12 and, to celebrate, the wonderful folks at Mundie Moms (home base for Cassandra Clare fans everywhere) are hosting a fantabulous cover reveal party on APRIL 1 (no foolin'). You’ll be treated to the FIRST EVER glimpse at the new look for the series, including a peek at the cover for SHADOWS.

In this week's lead-up, I'll also be taking your questions and posing a few of my own on Twitter (@ilsajbick) and Facebook. Have ideas about a movie version? An actress you think would be the perfect Alex? Or maybe you've thought ahead and wondered just what the heck happens next? Always wanted to have a good rant at the way I left you in a lurch? Here's your chance, kiddo.

Oh, and did I mention prizes? Things like an ASHES survival pack? Signed copies of the novel? Your chance to win one of ONLY two SHADOWS ARCs up for grabs for this special event?

So, visit Mundie Moms on April 1, 2012, chat with other fans attending the reveal party, and join in the fun!

Coolest Book Trailers Ever

by Michelle Gagnon

So I have a few releases coming out in the next year, and I've been debating whether or not it's worth doing a book trailer for them. I've done one in the past (and one was done without my even knowing about it, for a college project, which was kind of cool). But I wonder whether or not it's really worth it. Do people watch trailers? And if they do, does it convince them to buy the book?

Here are a few truly great trailers that made me reconsider making one:

My friend Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, did this hilarious one for his latest YA release, WHY WE BROKE UP...



I also love this one for a book I recently read, Veronica Roth's DIVERGENT, even though it's a bit more standard (and considerably less funny):



And finally, one from Cassandra Clare's CITY OF BONES (which has actually been greenlit to be a film, although that doesn't mean there are any guarantees...)



The truth is, rarely does an author get the chance to produce a Hollywood film-style trailer complete with all the bells and whistles. So do you err on the side of doing something a little different, a la Daniel Handler? Or do you try to hit your main plot points to give readers a sense of the storyline?

More importantly...what are the best book trailers you've ever seen?

Your Turn to Play Casting Director...

by Michelle Gagnon

A friend and I were recently discussing the upcoming Hunger Games movie (which we're both EXTREMELY excited about). We both agreed that Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss was a stroke of genius, but my friend felt strongly that the two male leads (Josh Hutcherson as Peeta and Liam Hemsworth as Gale) were not at all what she'd pictured for those characters. I figure it's hard to say until I see the film; sometimes actors surprise you, after all. But it got me thinking about the pictures of characters we develop in our minds, and how frequently seeing a casting director's take on those roles lets us down.

For example, there's been a lot of discussion online about the possibility that Tom Cruise will play Jack Reacher, and Angelina Jolie will be Scarpetta in upcoming films for those popular series. Strong opinions both for and against, in those cases. And when One for the Money was recently released, a lot of Janet Evanovich fans doubted that Katherine Heigl had the chops to play Stephanie Plum (I haven't seen the film yet, so I can't weigh in on that).

Today let's throw on our amateur casting directors' hats and discuss who we think would best portray our favorite roles from YA fiction.

I recently finished Cassandra Clare's first few books in the Mortal Instrument series, which hasn't been greenlit yet, although they've apparently done some preliminary casting. Lily Collins will be Clary, and Jace will be played by Jamie Campbell-Bower. Once I saw their photos, they both struck me as excellent choices for those roles, at least judging by the way they look (whether or not they can act is another thing entirely, obviously). But what about Simon, and Isabella? Not to mention my personal favorite from the books, the warlock Magnus?

The funny thing is that for my most recent YA novel, DON'T TURN AROUND, the editor and I developed the characters together, which I've never done before. And he even helpfully provided photos of what he imagined the characters would look like. And no matter what, once I had those images locked in my mind, I couldn't picture them any other way (I'm posting the photos here, in case you're curious).

So: if you could choose the actors who will star in the film version of your favorite YA novel, who would they be, and why?