8th-grade books made into movies

Did you cheer in your mind growing up when the TV cart was rolled into your classroom? Or were you one of those lucky people who had a TV in every classroom like schools do now? Reading a book and then watching the movie is a great way to get more engagement with your kids (or students) and it’s been the basis for my kids’ reading assignments for years. These 8th-grade books made into movies are all great ways to get your kids excited to read more. It’s time for the next in my ever-growing book and a movie grade lists.

(there are so many affiliate links in here)

Why read books made into movies?

You’ve probably seen the iceberg meme format, where it lists the few things you see and then underneath is this infinitely longer list of things you don’t know about. That’s the comparison between the book and a movie.

Also, it’s an easy way to employ higher level thinking skills as you compare the two and think about different interpretations.

One final caveat about this list

I have not personally read all of these books, and some of them may not be the reading level I thought they were from my research.

Also, inclusion on this list does not mean I think your child should read it. Some of these are books I know I would not assign to my kids at this age. However, I know other parents might.

One more thing!

You can get all of these books and every other grade level in my books made into movies by grade level bookmarks. Buy them, OR JOIN MY NEWSLETTER and get a coupon during the welcome series to get them for free.

I’ve just reorganized my bookmarks so they are in the same order as the books on this post.

Classic 8th-grade books made into movies

Some of these books loosely fit the category of “classic,” but I’m going with anything older than 50 years is classic. Mainly I’m creating these two categories to give me a valid reason to split the list in half.

• Dracula (movie)- I’m going to add this caveat, while the book is appropriate for 8th grade, many movie adaptations enhance some of the more sensual themes and may turn it into a high school book
• Diary of Anne Frank (movie)(modern mini-series)- I distinctly remember reading this in 8th grade and watching the movie. Just as a side note, I specifically linked it to an older edition of the book. The newest edition includes material Otto Frank had edited out because he felt it was too personal, and I tend to agree with him having accidentally bought the more modern edition. [Diary of Anne Frank book club]
• Swiss Family Robinson (movie)- you could read this earlier honestly (Swiss Family Robinson book club)
• Lord of the Rings (movie)- we listened to the Lord of the Rings as an audiobook and this was one of our very first movie marathon events
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (movie) [20,000 Leagues Under the Sea book club]
• Ender’s Game (movie)- I would also recommend reading the sequels and companion series, but there is no movie for those, so they’re not on the list [Ender’s Game book club]
• Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats (movie)- yes this was originally a book of poems
• The Boy in Striped Pajamas (movie)
• The Eagle of the Ninth (movie)- I really was hoping Superman would pick this to read any summer
• The Princess and the Goblin (movie)- I’ve been warned this movie is not particularly good
• Little Prince (movie)
• Tom’s Midnight Garden (movie)- I may take this off the list since it looks like finding copies of the movie are becoming very hard, which is a shame because it looks interesting.

Modern 8th-grade books made into movies

Not too surprisingly because dystopians are wildly popular, there are many dystopians on this list.

• Hunger Games (movie)- what started the fad [Hunger Games book club]
• Divergent (movie)
• Maze Runner (movie) [Maze Runner book club]
• City of Ember (movie)
• Mortal Engines (movie)[Mortal Engines book club]- we watched this just as the pandemic was really talking about masks, and the kids were laughing at the main character having a bandana mask like so many were wearing then
• Flipped (movie)
• Sisterhood of Traveling Pants (movie)
• Avalon High (movie)
• The Breadwinner (movie)
• Wonderstruck (movie) – both the book cover and the movie poster are so pretty, you have to go look at them
• I Capture the Castle (movie)- this is by the same person who wrote 101 Dalmatians
• Hoot (movie)
• Golden Compass (movie)- This could also be younger, but I know some parents will have hesitations with the anti-church bent to the books, also I have to admit I was trying to add a few more here, stealing books from 7th-grade books so it was at an even 20 and I could get this almost to 30… Also, eww, this is the movie tie-in cover
• Mysterious Island (movie)- I’ve heard this is a sequel to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and I’m super curious about it
• Mean Girls (movie)- hmmm, this may be removed next time I update this because it looks like the book came out after the movie, that’s not adapting a book, I need to do more research
• Soul Surfer (movie)