I don't know about anyone else, but one of my favorite movies as a tween was 1984's The NeverEnding Story. Jolly pink Luckdragons. Racing snails. Cute young warriors. A geeky kid who loses himself in a book. And we can't forget that cool earworm of a theme song by Limahl and Beth Anderson, the latter of … Continue reading Page To Screen: The NeverEnding Story
Page To Screen: Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday
Who's been to Cannery Row? For those who haven't, it was a group of fish canneries, flophouses and dive bars on Ocean View Avenue in Monterey, California. It was a tough, wild, colorful place, and its king was marine biologist Ed Ricketts, best friend of John Steinbeck and collector of strange scientific samples. Of course, … Continue reading Page To Screen: Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday
Page To Screen: Anne Frank Remembered
Miep Gies was the last of the Secret Annex helpers to survive, passing away in 2010 just shy of her 101st birthday. She and Anne had a special sisterly relationship from the time Anne was four, and naturally people wanted to know more about that. In 1987, she published a book, Anne Frank Remembered, with Alison Leslie … Continue reading Page To Screen: Anne Frank Remembered
Page To Screen: The Song of Bernadette
1943's The Song Of Bernadette turned Jennifer Jones into an Oscar winner. She was twenty-five at the time and it was her first starring role. How this film came about is a story in and of itself, of course. A Czech Jew named Franz Werfel, who was fleeing the Nazis, sheltered for a time in … Continue reading Page To Screen: The Song of Bernadette
Page To Screen: Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
When looking at America's entry into the Second World War seventy-plus years on, it might be hard to believe how high the stakes really were in early 1942. The United States' armed forces were very small, we were still using cavalry horses and bayonets, and the Japanese dealt Americans heavy blows at Pearl Harbor and … Continue reading Page To Screen: Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
Page To Screen: The Little Prince
My son and I like to read aloud at bedtime, and recently we finished The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. This ethereal 1943 novella follows the title character as he crosses the universe looking for...something. We're not quite sure what at first. The Little Prince is told through the eyes of an unnamed pilot who crash … Continue reading Page To Screen: The Little Prince
Page To Screen: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Few YA books are as daring as E.L. Koningsburg's From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. It's a thinking book. It's also an unthinking book. For those who aren't familiar with the story, Claudia Kincaid is an upstate New York girl with three brothers who feels like there's nothing to set her apart from … Continue reading Page To Screen: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Page To Screen: The Black Stallion
Who else had to read The Black Stallion for school? I did. Fourth grade. I can't remember anyone complaining about it. In fact, Black Stallion books were kind of the rage in my class. For those who haven't experienced it, the novel follows New York City teenager Alec Ramsey and his friendship with a mysterious, very wild … Continue reading Page To Screen: The Black Stallion
Page To Screen: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
This month's "Page To Screen" was going to be The NeverEnding Story, but I made a last-minute decision to save it for later. As time would have it, over my break I saw a 2018 Netflix movie, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I liked it so much I bought the book it was based on … Continue reading Page To Screen: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Page to Screen: The Diary of Anne Frank
If she had lived, Anne Frank would be ninety-one this year. Her diary, technically known in English as Anne Frank: The Diary of A Young Girl, was first published in the Netherlands in 1947. The diary has been translated into sixty-five languages, sold over thirty-five million copies and is one of the most widely-read books outside … Continue reading Page to Screen: The Diary of Anne Frank
Page To Screen: A Night To Remember
The late Walter Lord is kind of a legend among Titanic buffs and historians. When he wrote A Night To Remember, which was published in 1955, he basically inspired the public fascination with the ship that continues today. Pretty much every book written about the Titanic uses Walter Lord's work as a source because he's that OG. How did Lord … Continue reading Page To Screen: A Night To Remember
Page To Screen: Minority Report
We all know how Phillip K. Dick's work is a fixture on the big screen. He's like Jane Austen that way, only with computers and big chase scenes. One of his more underrated stories is The Minority Report, which first appeared in the January, 1956 issue of the sci-fi magazine, Fantastic Universe. Then in 2002 it was … Continue reading Page To Screen: Minority Report
Page To Screen: Tuck Everlasting
Living forever is an interesting idea. What would you do if you had all the time in the world? I would think it would get boring after a while because you would see history cycle around and cycle around with people and nations making the same mistakes over and over again. If a being isn't … Continue reading Page To Screen: Tuck Everlasting
Page To Screen: Christy
One of my favorite books in high school (and today) is Christy by Catherine Marshall, and when the series with Kellie Martin came on TV, I watched every episode. Who else can relate? For those who aren't familiar with the story, it takes place in 1912. The titular character is Christy Huddleston, a nineteen-year old woman from … Continue reading Page To Screen: Christy
Page To Screen: Julie & Julia
It's been ten years since Nora Ephron's swan song, Julie and Julia. It was an ambitious film for her and it also wasn't, because it features expected and loved Ephron trademarks of witty dialogue and deft character development. What's unusual for the Ephron canon is that Julie and Julia juxtaposes the lives of two unique … Continue reading Page To Screen: Julie & Julia
Page To Screen: Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen's single most famous novel is, of course, Pride and Prejudice. All six of her novels are famous, but there's something about P&P that puts it above the others. It's been adapted more than any other Austen novel, that's for sure. I toyed with the idea of asking the Twitterverse which versions of Pride and Prejudice were their … Continue reading Page To Screen: Pride and Prejudice
Page To Screen: Sherlock Holmes
Like Robin Hood, Ebeneezer Scrooge and Ichabod Crane, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is another literary heavyweight with a lengthy filmography. Holmes is not only a captivating character, but is widely credited with influencing today's use of forensic sciences. The first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study In Scarlet was published in Beeton's Christmas Annual … Continue reading Page To Screen: Sherlock Holmes
Taking Up Room 