One of the local Tennessee heroes is Casey Jones, he was a train engineer in the 1800s who was known for never being late, and who sacrificed himself but saved everyone else on his train from a crash.
He was originally made famous by a song written a few years after his death, and then became famous again when Disney made a cartoon short about him.
For our study we read about Casey Jones {affiliate link}, then we watched the movie.
Afterwards we compared the book and the movie. In this instance we did a simple same and different T-chart, but this is a favorite activity of mine with books that have been made into movies. What was changed?
In case you can’t read what that says, in both he crashed, but he did not paddle through water in the book.
There were a few significant differences between the book and the movie, and if you’re interested I’d highly recommend the wikipedia article about Casey Jones, it gives some interesting facts there.
What is your favorite book to movie transition? Do you like any picture books that have been made into movies. I have very mixed feelings on those movies.
Interesting lesson! I bet this generates a lot of discussion too.
Little J loves the “How to Train Your Dragon” book series by Cressida Cowell, but the first movie to come out is completely different than the books.
Little Wonders' Days
Book into movie? Hmm. I think Charlotte Web. Still hate Little Mermaid with a passion. Don't tell completely different story and steal the name of the book!
The wikipedia article is great!
I think Charlotte's Web is the only book-into-movie I've enjoyed – but I've only seen the cartoon version, and that was years (decades!) ago. I need to watch the more recent remake (and rewatch the cartoon – not to mention re-read the book…)
I only vaguely knew of Casey Jones. This is cool to get this kind of history about it. I love comparing the books to the movies.
Night at the Museum is a fun one – and I like Mr. Popper's Penguins even though it is also very different than the book, and Nim's Island – maybe not so much a picture book, as an easy chapter book, but it's another one where I liked the movie until I read the book (with the kids) – book is better!