Breaking Dawn: Top 15 Favorite YA-Books-Turned-Movies

We feel like there's been a YA fiction renaissance, lately, with so many kick-ass titles being released and totally dominating the book charts for teens and adults alike. We may have the images of Dan Radcliffe as Harry, Kristen Stewart as Bella, and Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss imprinted into our brains for all of eternity (whether or not we want them there), but have any other YA titles successfully made the leap to the big screen and captured our attention in the same way?

Below are 15 trailers from some of personal favorite YA-books-turned-mainstream-movies. Which ones do you think lived up to the texts? And, more importantly, which ones completely desecrated our childhood memories? Sound off in the comments below.

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Comments

[David Lubar]

09:47 PM on 12/15/2011

What s stunning waste of time. Half the books listed aren't YA, and many of the best YA-sourced movies (Speak, The Outsiders, as previously mentioned, for example) aren't listed. It would be nice if even 10% of the articles that pretend to speak about YA lit actually showed even a pasisng familiarity with the field.

[Anne Lapour]

05:01 PM on 12/02/2011

Yes, these are great movies (with the exception of Breaking Dawn), but most listed are not adaptations of YA novels. Middle grade or children's lit, but not YA.

[LadyMellM]

11:30 AM on 11/27/2011

Wait, is A Little Princess there?


While I am fine with some of the books/movies on the list, it's unfortunate that publishers don't publish stories with non-white characters (not as sidekicks/token best friends, but lead protagonists).

Anyway.

[FiredUpRTG]

02:11 PM on 11/28/2011

The most interesting actor in the Percy Jackson movie was the sidekick fawn, played by an African American.

[sabelmouse]

08:12 AM on 11/26/2011

so all children 's books are called ya now ? meanwhile i'm truly thank ful that some of my favourite ya books have not been made into books.the mortal engines quartet and the bartimaeus trilogy .
i'm also bracing myself for a lit of pain when my daughter finally watches the hunger games. i know she's given up on the film the moment she saw the cast list but she will watch it eventually and it won't be fun for anybody.

[TheNextVoiceofYouth]

09:25 PM on 11/24/2011

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton and Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson should be in this list as well. The latter book turned movie stars Kristen Stewart, who plays the main character Melinda. I haven't seen it, but from what I've read about it, the book is better than the movie.

[MJinCanada]

02:49 AM on 11/22/2011

One that the film adaptation destroyed was Steven Gould's "Jumper." We couldn't take more than a few minutes of the movie.

Kenneth Oppel's "Airborn" is supposed to be being made into a movie. I hope whoever does it, does a decent adaptation.

[sabelmouse]

08:14 AM on 11/26/2011

airborn ? really ? you keep on hoping. what are the odds.

[poeticjustice4all]

01:14 AM on 11/22/2011

Who is missing from these films? Who is not here?

[Janetgv]

11:29 PM on 11/21/2011

What about Howl's moving castle? The book was good but the movie was amazing.

[MJinCanada]

02:41 AM on 11/22/2011

I haven't read the book yet -- it's on my to-do list. The movie is beautiful and haunting.

[lefty81]

08:08 PM on 11/21/2011

At least "Matilda" and "Neverending Story" got in there.....

[Michael Ehling]

07:34 PM on 11/21/2011

I honestly don't think the HUNGER GAMES trilogy is "feminist" at all. Katniss is wa-a-a-ay to reactive, not at all proactive, and she's wa-a-a-ay too codependent on the two boys. I much prefer Patrick Ness's CHAOS WALKING trilogy for the very strong character of Viola (though in fairness I've seen Todd described as TSTL). I don't know just how well CHAOS WALKING would convert to film, though, because of the "noise" (about which I don't want to say more to avoid spoiler).

My favorite scene in all fantasy literature is in THE AMBER SPYGLASS, with Lyra and Pan on the dock. I say no more to avoid spoiler, but if you've read the trilogy you know what I mean. The only problem with a sequel to THE GOLDEN COMPASS movie, though, is that Dakota Blue Richards is by now probably too old to play Lyra, and I just loved her so much in that role that I'd hate to see anyone else take it over.

One great book and movie that hasn't been mentioned yet (as far as I can see) is BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA.

I've never seen either the 1934 movie or the 1980s miniseries of ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, but I do have the miniseries on DVD and have to get around to watching it. It seems to be quite highly rated, and ANNE OF GREEN GABLES is one of the greatest YA series ever.

[Michael Ehling]

07:42 PM on 11/21/2011

Oh, and one other thing. I absolutely refuse to watch PERCY JACKSON (not mentioned by anyone so far) because the movie deleted my favorite character, Clarisse LaRue!

[Michael Ehling]

07:46 PM on 11/21/2011

Oh, yeah, and for classics, don't forget POLLYANNA. I really don't care that much for the book (I thought the characters were awfully flat), but the ensemble cast made the movie great. Not just Hayley Mills but the whole cast, especially Karl Malden as Reverend Ford and above anyone else Jane Wyman as Polly Harrington.

[bmora]

01:21 PM on 11/21/2011

I would love to see the sequel to The Golden Compass. That movie was fantastic.

[Emily Mcgeary]

01:01 PM on 11/21/2011

A Series of Unfortunate Events is my favorite ever book adaptation! It did all of those characters justice. Wish they had made more than one. I also loved Holes an City of Ember.

[lefty81]

08:11 PM on 11/21/2011

Lemony Snickets: Oh, they made that movie so beautiful artistically. I loved the cinematography and design..........

[Frostfly]

12:02 PM on 11/21/2011

Neverending story was in FANTASIA! not "fantastica"

[NathanDalzell]

01:19 AM on 11/24/2011

If you read the book you'll know that the movie changed it from Fantastica to Fantasia

[sabelmouse]

08:15 AM on 11/26/2011

not in german.

[BAisBA]

11:44 AM on 11/21/2011

What about the Mortal Instruments? If it isn't done horribly it should have the potential to be better than all these series.....

[kbella]

11:27 PM on 11/21/2011

Agreed. I love that series!

[d1johnson]

09:28 AM on 11/21/2011

I cannot believe The Golden Compass is in this list. That movie was beyond horrible! One of the best books ever written turned in to complete trash by a screenwriter who must never have read Pullman's work. I would have substituted something like Coraline or Holes.

[Nick2]

11:20 AM on 11/21/2011

I agree with you. The Golden Compass was so bad they'll never make another. Coraline and Holes are great books and made great movies!

[bhyman]

01:21 PM on 11/21/2011

Loved Coraline and Holes! Great books and great movies. I'm hoping for similar results with he upcoming Hunger Games movie. The Hunger Games books are startlingly good and better than most anything I have read in recent years.

[LadyMellM]

11:32 AM on 11/27/2011

The Golden Compass is a not a children's book. They tried to pass if off as such and it failed. With the movies, they tried to appease the Catholic church but ended up upsetting the fans. There was supposed to be a sequel, but the recession killed it.

[lefty81]

08:13 PM on 11/21/2011

Coraline was really good. I'm drawn to artistic animation, and it was so nice............