11 YA Books With Great Adaptations

Hello!

It seems as if the gods of movie/tv-shows adaptations have once again smiled upon us.

Rumour has it The Infernal Devices were optioned by the BBC, Heartstopper and Sandman have started their casting process, The Kane Chronicles are coming to Netflix and Percy Jackson is being developed by Disney (which makes him an official Disney princess). For those wondering about something closer to the release date, Netflix is also releasing the third To All The Boys I've Loved Before: Always and Forever on the 11th of February, Shadow and Bone is coming out in April and the trailer for Moxie came out this week to name just a few.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf34qI1hjKU

This post is my prayer to the gods that they join this list instead of the ranks of the adaptations we pretend were never attempted. So without further ado, here are some of the best tv shows and movies based on YA books and the reasons they are loved and criticized.

1. The Hunger Games Trilogy(*) by Suzanne Collins

TWs: yes.

Katniss Everdeen voluntarily takes her younger sister's place in the Hunger Games: a televised competition in which two teenagers from each of the twelve Districts of Panem are chosen at random to fight to the death.

Do you want to know why both book fans and people that never read them love these movies? Count how many of its actors now have Oscars. I'll give you a minute... Most importantly, those behind the scenes knew the meaning of "adaptation" and respected the source material. The movie sets? Brilliant. The wardrobe? Meticulously planned. The marketing team? Do you remember combing through every promotional image for hidden meanings? We were blessed.

And yet, as good as the movies were, they were still whitewashed (Katniss is not white in the books) and ableist (Peeta gets to keep his leg in the movie), when compared to the blinding brilliance of the books and that, is most obvious when they ignored the biggest criticisms in The Hunger Games and focused instead on the love triangle (which was exactly what the Capitol did in the books...) It's like Suzanne Collins knew her audience... (*Mockingjay was divided into two parts, the first one that was brilliant, the second one that was... )

2.Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling

An orphaned boy enrols in a school of wizardry, where he learns the truth about himself, his family, and the terrible evil that haunts the magical world.

MAKE WAY FOR THE KING!

Some movies are so good, they influence a generation. Harry Potter leaves all those movies in the dirt. By the time the last movie came out the Marketing team simply put a black background with a date on the promotional banners and collected their checks.

We've all seen them, we all loved them but are they good or did they just influence our childhoods and personalities in such a way that we are blind to its faults?

Harry Potter is much more than a story about a wizard boy. It taught children and teens about friendship, fascism, eugenics, government overreach, discrimination, censorship, media manipulation, and showed us that all of those problems both affect and can be fought by the young, which is to say, just another breezy little Middle Grade/ Young Adult series. Muahahahaha! But once again there was plenty of whitewashing and although Hermione is considered a feminist icon, the truth is the movies (and to a lesser extent the books) depiction of feminity can be problematic. Of the eight movies, only The Goblet of Fire passes the Bechdel Test and there plenty of stereotyping going around.

3.How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

TWs: a mile long.

An American girl, sent to the English countryside to stay with relatives, finds love and purpose while fighting for her survival as war envelops the world around her.

The fact that you might not know about this book and movie should be punishable by law.

Plot? Amazing. Soundtrack? Flawless. Actors? Half are Oscar-nominated, the other is Spider-Man.

Even though the movie is a lot more light-hearted than the book, it's still an incredibly heartbreaking story about the price and aftermath of a war in the day to day of regular people.

Why is it so different from any other dystopian YA movie? Because it's not dystopian and it's not about a revolution or a chosen one. It's about Daisy, a normal girl, with normal teenage hang-ups, that is not chosen to save the world or related to world leaders or part of the resistance or any other YA trope. She has no power in what happens on a national or international scale. Her only concerns are staying alive and finding her family from whom she was separated. It's one of the most realistic portraits of strife in YA that I have ever seen.

4.The 100 by Kass Morgan

Warning: watch this only if you don't value your happiness.

TWs: A lot.

Set ninety-seven years after a nuclear war has destroyed civilization, a spaceship housing humanity's lone survivors send one hundred juvenile delinquents back to Earth, in hopes of possibly re-populating the planet.

The 100 was optioned for a tv series even before the book was released to the public and it's immediately clear why.

This is one of the few cases where the adaptation is largely considered to be better than the books, (Stop screaming alright? I'm just reporting what I heard) because instead of ignoring the book, the writers chose instead to use it as a stepping stone and created one of the most original and meaningful shows on tv.

Other than the CW not knowing what a teenager looks like even if it fell on top of them, an initial complete absence of LGBTQ characters and then the subsequent disrespect they suffered by being killed off, there is not much bad to say about this series.

All the characters have an important storyline with strengths and qualities, grudges and flaws that often put them in conflict with others. The show has its faults but they know (because the fans demanded it) the true meaning of diversity and representation.

The storyline, the sets, the dialogue, the cultural diversity,...this is a show where details matter, where plotlines are intricate and where you have a reason to fear by your favourites. Don't get attached, is what I'm saying.

But what makes this show different from any other YA story (for me) is that instead of ignoring the parents and making this all about the teens, The 100 focus instead on giving story arcs, political affiliations, and romances to both these groups and show its viewers why they clash and how age and upbringing influence their characters' decisions and stances.

5.Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (seasons 1-6*)

(*I prefer to live in a world in which the other two don't exist, thank you very much).

Trigger Warnings: all of them.

Nine noble families fight for control over the lands of Westeros, while an ancient enemy returns after being dormant for millennia.

Although technically, not YA, a lot of us have read it, half the chapters are told through the POV of teens and it has influenced YA and YA authors for years so it belongs here.

The plot, the mythology, the setting, the cultures, the languages, the fashion, the history,... everything was meticulously planned in the books and well enough in the show but what truly makes this universe amazing are the characters. The characters are everything!

When you take away the dragons, the White Walkers, the magic and all the Fantasy aspects, what is left, what Game of Thrones is at its core, is an examination of what's power and what it costs to pursue and keep it.

GoT is different from most of the Fantasy written by old white men. This is a truly diverse world, where other cultures are portrayed as rich, noble and civilized not when compared to Westeros, the "European" country but on their own with different ways of seeing gender, sexuality, government, time, religion... everything.

6.The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis

Four kids travel through a wardrobe to the land of Narnia and learn of their destiny to free it with the guidance of a mystical lion.

Aslan right? After all these years, the CGI still holds...

According to rumours, Netflix is either rebooting it or adapting the next book (three of the seven books have been adapted into movies).

The books are the very definition of a true classic, being passed down from parents to children so this is a good bet for the entire family.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is not only a movie with a great plot and great actors (practically every one of them is immediately recognizable as an Oscar winner or nominee) but the CGI effects are truly magnificent not only for the time but today's audiences.

Visually this is an unpassable movie: everything from the cameras to the colours and don't you ever forget about the wardrobe... (pun intended and I'm not sorry) is absolutely jaw-dropping.

7.Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol

Nineteen-year-old Alice returns to the magical world from her childhood adventure, where she reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny: to end the Red Queen's reign of terror.

A childhood heroine returning to a fantasy world in her teens? The crack-cocaine of the YA fandom...

Although I DNFed the book quicker than it takes the Queen of Hearts to scream "Off with her head!!" I absolutely loved this adaptation.

This movie is the brainchild of no other than Tim Burton and you can see his brand of delightful and scary weird in every frame. Visually and conceptually this movie is brilliant and pulled every heartstring at the right moment.

Not only that, but the movie also took advantage of the era in which it was set and Alice's age to create a believable plot with believable hurdles, mainly when it came to Alice's gender and society's view on mental health at the time which was what made me really like it. That and the supporting cast.

8.The Vampire Diaries by L. J. Smith

The lives, loves, dangers, and disasters in the town, Mystic Falls, Virginia. Creatures of unspeakable horror lurk beneath this town as a teenage girl is suddenly torn between two vampire brothers.

The show barely followed the plot of the books which was actually a good thing because the books didn't exactly age gracefully (vampire joke, not sorry).

This was once again a CW production so none of the teen characters was actually played by a teen actor or sometimes even actors close to their teens but the writing was quite good if you ignore the love triangles. It was 2010...

The storyline, the sets, and the dialogues were enjoyable and some characters were even great. This was a show that knew how to write a sympathetic villain and then cast the most darkly handsome actors in their places. It was also a show that because of how long it lasted you got to see the world-changing through it: the diversity grew, the LGBTQ characters started to appear, gender was marginally discussed. But the villains...the villains were truly great.

9.Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

A tale of the bungling of Armageddon features an angel, a demon, an eleven-year-old Antichrist, and a doom-saying witch.

Again, not technically YA but it can be read at any age and it was written by two of the most talented children's writers (among other genres) ever.

This would be a perfectly acceptable Armaggedeon-comedy if not for its leads. Michael Sheen and David Tennant are national treasures and if anything happens to them England will fall. (Actually seeing as they are Welsh and Scottish respectively, they might quite enjoy that...).

Michael Sheen, in particular, is the actor we all dream of having in our geeky corners: there is no one more passionate about this show, more invested in his OTP, more in love with the source material than him. Sir, we salute you!

At first, and if you have never heard about the book or the show you might think that the poster looks amateurish but nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, visually it looks a bit strange, even more, if you are only used to big American productions but it's one of the deepest, most elaborate shows I have ever seen. Practically every scene has Easter eggs, any character could be the lead, every line of dialogue and acting choice can be analyzed to exhaustion.

But if you are looking for one reason and one reason alone to watch this show, here's what got me: its portrayal of gender. If you are familiar with your Bible (yeah, I know, technically not YA) you'll know angels don't have a gender. Well in this show they took that to heart. When a mostly male-presenting character chooses to present as female out of nowhere, it is done without the slightest hint of a joke or sexualization. Angels can "wear" any body so it doesn't matter what they look like, only who they are inside. The same with the demons. Female, male, non-binary, or else, demons are ugly. That's it. There are no ridiculous over-sexualized, exceptionally attractive seductresses in Hell.

P.S. The GO fandom is also one of the healthiest, most creative, most supportive online. Come join us. We have Michael Sheen!

10.A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Diana Bishop, historian and witch, accesses Ashmole 782 and knows she must solve its mysteries. She is offered help by the enigmatic Matthew Clairmont, but he's a vampire and witches should never trust vampires.

Described as "Twilight done right", this might be a "forbidden romance" with a vampire but Diana is no innocent, easily led teenage girl, in fact, her being a grown career woman are what made me love her initially and if she is "The Chosen One", there are handfuls of interesting characters to keep an eye on.

This show has it all: witches, vampires, demons, secret societies, centuries-old grudges and wars but I was spellbound (get it? ;) by the intro. The moment you hear it, it's impossible not to binge the show.

If you like your Fantasy romance heavy and filled with the usual angsty tropes, this might be the show for you.

11.The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way (Writer) and Gabriel Bá (Illustrator)

A family of former child heroes, now grown apart, must reunite to continue to protect the world.

Yes, the Gerard Way.

One of the craziest, gayest, most violent, most original, most confusing superhero shows I have ever seen and that is saying a lot with Marvel and DC's multiverses.

This might appeal particularly to fans of "Carry On" by Rainbow Rowell or "Chosen Ones" by Veronica Roth": stories about what happens to those chosen ones after they defeat evil and what happened or was done to them to make sure they were up to the task.

Fighting evil from a young age doesn't make for healthy, well adjusted human beings. And if on top of that those young heroes were raised by an autocrat in an abusive, dysfunctional family? Well, I'm sure they turned out alright. Oh, they didn't!? Well, at least we get an amazing soundtrack out of their pain.

Are you a fan of any of these? What book would you like to see adapted?

Let me know in the comments :)