The Best Of: YA Books That Should Have Film Adaptations #2

Last time I wrote this type of post I actually really struggled to think of books I would like to see adapted. However, since then I’ve read some really immersive books that would do great with a film adaptation.

I’ve been thinking about this so much that I have enough books for a third post. I know look at me planning ahead who would have thought that would happen just a few months ago. Anyway here are three (sorry this post is short) more books I think should have film adaptations.

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

I’m a sucker for small animated/illustrated moments in films and TV shows and I know if this was every adapted it would definitely have some. I’d love to see Eliza’s drawings come to life and jump through the screen.

Goodreads synopsis: Her story is a phenomenon. Her life is a disaster.

In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, and friendless. Online, she’s LadyConstellation, the anonymous creator of the wildly popular webcomic Monstrous Sea. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves the online one, and she has no desire to try.

Then Wallace Warland, Monstrous Sea’s biggest fanfiction writer, transfers to her school. Wallace thinks Eliza is just another fan, and as he draws her out of her shell, she begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile.

But when Eliza’s secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she’s built—her story, her relationship with Wallace, and even her sanity—begins to fall apart.

Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus

I’ve not long finished watching the adaptation of One Of Us Is Lying and I really enjoyed it. I think this would also make a great adaptation, but as either a film or mini series. There isn’t enough content to fill out mutiple seasons of a show, but it would be great to see either way.

Two Can Keep a Secret is a really fun mystery that will play well to a teen audience. Well not just teens, but I don’t think older audiences would enjoy it so much.

Goodreads synopsis: Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery’s never been there, but she’s heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age seventeen. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows.

The town is picture-perfect, but it’s hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone’s declared open season on homecoming, promising to make it as dangerous as it was five years ago. Then, almost as if to prove it, another girl goes missing.

Ellery knows all about secrets. Her mother has them; her grandmother does too. And the longer she’s in Echo Ridge, the clearer it becomes that everyone there is hiding something. The thing is, secrets are dangerous–and most people aren’t good at keeping them. Which is why in Echo Ridge, it’s safest to keep your secrets to yourself.

All These Bodies by Kendare Blake

Who doesn’t love a mystery film involving brutal murders? I know that makes me sound kind of psychotic, but you know you agree.

The changes between tense in this book would work really well in a film format and the high intensity would make for epic entertainment. I really loved this book and seeing it adapted would be amazing.

Goodreads synopsis: Sixteen bloodless bodies. Two teenagers. One impossible explanation.

Summer 1958—a string of murders plagues the Midwest. The victims are found in their cars and in their homes—even in their beds—their bodies drained, but with no blood anywhere.

September 19- the Carlson family is slaughtered in their Minnesota farmhouse, and the case gets its first lead: 15-year-old Marie Catherine Hale is found at the scene. She is covered in blood from head to toe, and at first she’s mistaken for a survivor. But not a drop of the blood is hers.

Michael Jensen, son of the local sheriff, yearns to become a journalist and escape his small-town. He never imagined that the biggest story in the country would fall into his lap, or that he would be pulled into the investigation, when Marie decides that he is the only one she will confess to.

As Marie recounts her version of the story, it falls to Michael to find the truth: What really happened the night that the Carlsons were killed? And how did one girl wind up in the middle of all these bodies?