Bridge to Terabithia
Last year, Katherine Paterson, author of Bridge to Terabithia (and also The Great Gilly Hopkins, one of my favorite books ever), won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Literature. Terabithia was also awarded the Newberry Book award. So, it was only a matter of time that the book would be made into a movie. The movie opened last month to mixed reviews and is still in theatres today. It has grossed nearly $75 million to date.
You can watch the trailer here:
A lot of the criticism of the movie stems from the argument that it is not true to the book. Quite frankly, I can’t say as I haven’t (1) read the book (though it’s on my list) nor (2) seen the movie. But it has got me to thinking… Watch for a post later in the week about books that made the leap to the movies…
Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson, The Great Gilly Hopkins, Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, Newberry Award
March 26th, 2007 at 9:05 am
Very few books that are turned in to movies make the grade. They are often better to watch if you have never read the book. The problems being you know the plot too well and can see any mistakes or parts left out. Also while reading it, you have built up your own image, of the characters, places and story, books are a personal interpretation.
March 26th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
Books almost always seem better than the movies do. I chalk it up to the fact that our imagination is more vivid than any movie can be. But with that said, there are times that a movie based on a book inspires a child to read the book…and I’m all for people learning to love reading!
March 26th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Just read the book for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Haven’t seen the movie yet, nor will I until it’s on DVD. The book is beautiful.
March 27th, 2007 at 9:37 am
Whenever I watch a movie that depicts a book I’ve read (especially if it’s a book I love), I have to rent the movie, so I can first watch it for the book, and then watch it for the movie. A movie can be perfectly fine, on it’s own merits, but if it’s different from the book, I find that distracting (at least in the first go through).