Picture books made into movies

I love picture books, even when my kids were in high school I would occasionally check out picture books that did a good job of conveying what I wanted them to learn in a lesson. I also love Books made into movies, but when my kids were the age we would have really done this, I didn’t think about comparing the two. Also, so many of these adaptations came out after my kids were done reading picture books, or sometimes I just don’t like the adaptation. Cough Polar Express cough cough.

(there are so many affiliate links in here)

My dream for picture books made into movies units

The fun for picture books made into movies you can do so many things with them, and turn one book into a whole super amazing unit with all the crafts and all the other lessons.

Especially Dr. Seuss books, his illustrations just scream fun crafts and delicious snacks.

I would probably make this somewhat similar to Five in a Row and read the same book every day for five days and each day pull out another idea. I think I might even spread over two weeks and pull in similar books and ideas.

I can add creating these to my never-ending list of ideas I want to create.

I’ve split these books up into sets of 10, just to make nice easy ways to divide them. There is no particular organization beyond sets of 10, and honestly, if I’d done it better I would have created some sort of pretend organization.

I’ll also add there are a whole bunch of picture books that have brief adaptations, at some point PBS or Scholastic made 30-minute adaptations of their books into lightly animated movies, and I have not included all of those in here.

Also, at some point, there was a Dr. Seuss TV series, that is the best I can figure for why there is a whole slew of his books made into 30-minute movies. When I was picking up the books from the library to write this post I discovered a whole slew more I hadn’t known about.

And finally:

Get the bookmarks

Years ago I made these bookmarks to help me keep track of what books we had already done and keep an eye out for them at used bookstores, and such so I could get them at a better price.

Then I turned them into a Books Made Into Movies bookmarks you can buy, or you can JOIN MY NEWSLETTER and get a coupon as part of the welcome series to buy it free.

Picture books made into movies list 1

1. Jumanji book   movie more recent movie (actually that DVD set has all 4 Jumanji movies including Zathura)
2. Zathura (Jumanji’s lesser-known sequel) movie
3. Polar Express     movie
4. Shrek (though the book is even less like the movie than usual)
5. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs   movie [Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs book club]
6. Pickles to Pittsburgh (the sequel to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) movie
7. Where the Wild Things Are    movie
8. Madeline     movie cartoon series
9. Babar (wow the hardback $163, paperback $16)    movie   cartoon series
10. Eloise (I always was amused as a kid by how naughty she was)   movie

What’s funny is I read my kids all of those books when they were little, and some I know they don’t really remember.

Picture books made into movies list 2

1. Cat in the Hat   movie
2. How Grinch Who Stole Christmas     cartoon and live-action
3. The Lorax   movie
4. Horton Hatches the Egg   movie
5. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day     movie
6. Ferdinand      movie
7. A Day with Wilbur Robinson     movie (I think this movie got a bum rap, and I love it a lot)
8. Curious George   movie
9. Night at the Museum    movie
10. Clifford    movie

You know what we did watch a lot of when the kids were in preschool? The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That. Unlike many preschool shows, I actually enjoyed it, probably because the music was fun and not annoying.

Picture books made into movies list 3

Many of these are not yet on my official bookmarks because I found them at the library as I was searching for the picture books made into movies. There was a whole bunch of DVDs that I said, “Wait! I know that book!” then pulled it off the shelf.

My daughter may have teased me a time or two and said I was talking to myself. Yes, I do. I do that a lot.

• The Tale of Peter Rabbit movie– Beatrix Potter is another one that once upon a time had a bunch of vaguely animated versions of her books, or they tried to keep the watercolor idea as they made the movies. The recent movie from what I can see uses the name and the blue coat he wears. The story doesn’t seem to have much to do with the book.
• Horton Hears a Who movie– There may be two movies for these books, and both movies cover both books, I don’t know for sure
• Green Eggs and Ham movie or TV show?– it looks like this was an entire TV show rather than a movie, new discovery!

More early elementary ideas

Since these are books for early elementary, let’s see what preschool, kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade ideas I have. I can probably get one for each grade.

• Koala Lou book and activity
• How do bugs see?
• Darius 1 (build roads like the Assyrian empire did)
• Ocean Raiders Addition Facts game
• Calendar Time– Something you use all across early elementary time