SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About/Contact
  • Fusenews
  • Reviews
  • Librarian Previews
  • Best Books
    • Top 100
    • Best Books of 2022
    • Best Books of 2021
    • Best Books of 2020
    • Best Books of 2019
    • Best Books of 2018
    • Best Books of 2017
    • Best Books of 2016
    • Best Books of 2015
    • Best Books of 2014
    • Best Books of 2013
  • Fuse 8 n’ Kate
  • Videos
  • Press Release Fun

July 21, 2016 by Betsy Bird

Picture Book / Movie Pairings: They Make Sense in My Head!

July 21, 2016 by Betsy Bird   Leave a Comment

The other day I was sitting with a group of talented children’s librarians discussing Dan Santat’s Are We There Yet?  Boy, I tell ya, there’s nothing like sitting down with smart people to hear them discuss a picture book in full.  I walked out of that room with a lot more knowledge crammed into my cranium than I’d had coming in.

In the course of our talk, it was pointed out that Santat’s latest would actually pair very well with Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.  There’s something about the tone of both the book and the film, that madcap good-natured energy, that jells.  And so, in that vein, I present to you one of my odder posts.  Picture book and movie pairings.  I have absolutely no idea when you’d actually want to pair the two together.  I just like the couplings.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

#1

Are We There Yet? + Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure

 AreWeThereYet  Bill_&_Ted

Granted, there are a lot less pirates in Bill & Ted.  But the idea of traveling through history and gathering a wacky crew of folks along the way . . . that’s awesome.

#2

The Cat and the Hat + Risky Business

CatintheHat1RiskyBusiness

Apropos of nothing, the other day a woman in my library mentioned to me that she’d always been discomforted by Seuss’s classic easy reader.  There was something about the chaos of it all that really got to her.  She likened it to Risky Business, which I thought was a particularly amusing pairing.  In both cases a house experiences chaos and clean-up.  And in both cases you really don’t want to be in trouble with mom.  The big difference between the two is that Seuss’s book ends with a question about what YOU would do if your mother asked YOU what you got up to while she was gone.  Tom Cruise suffers no such dark night of the soul.

#3

Are You My Mother + Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

AreYouMyMother1Mad_max_beyond_thunderdome

I’ve often gone on record saying that P.D. Eastman’s classic feels like a somewhat post-apocalyptic wasteland.  Admittedly this comparison to Thunderdome isn’t perfect because there are no mothers in that movie (nor any sentient machines).  Still, in both cases you have motherless children, and some crazy technology, so I’d say the pairing holds.

#4:

Frog and Toad Are Friends + Elling

FrogToadFriends1Elling

This one makes a lot of sense to me.  The nature of the relationship between a laid back frog and an uptight toad pairs just beautifully with this charming if admittedly somewhat obscure 2001 Norwegian film.  I just see a lot of parallels between Elling and Kjell and Frog and Toad.  For a while there Kevin Spacey was going to remake it here in America.  It didn’t work out, but if Spacey ever wants to consider taking the role of Toad instead, I think he’d be perfect for it.

#5

Outside Over There + Labyrinth

OutsideOverThereLabyrinth_ver2

Cheating.  This one’s cheating.  There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that Labyrinth was inspired, in part, by the lesser known of the Sendak picture book trilogy (the first two books being Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen).  Sendak is even thanked at the end of the credits so there’s that as well.  I don’t really have to explain why the book and movie are related.  Goblins and stolen babies = children’s classics no matter what the media.

#6

The Little House + Up

LittleHouseUp_(2009_film)

That’s a good pairing.  In both cases the house is moved in the wake of incessant industrialization.  However, if I can remember the ending of Up, the house in Burton’s book fares far better.

#7

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble + Being John Malkovich

SylvesterMagicPebblebeing-john-malkovich-poster

Yes?  No?  Am I the only one who sees this?  I think it’s the idea of being awake and alert and trapped in a situation where you’ll never be able to escape on your own.  So maybe I should have said Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and the END of Being John Malkovich.

#8

Blueberries for Sal and Grizzly Man

BlueberriesSalGrizzlyMan

ACK!  That’s no good.  Abort!  Abort!

Filed under: Uncategorized

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

June 2022

Have You Seen the Darkness? A Richard Fairgray, Black Sand Beach Interview

by Betsy Bird

June 2022

Publisher Preview: Ellen Myrick (Part Three!)

by Betsy Bird

June 2022

Newbery/Caldecott 2023: Summer Prediction Edition

by Betsy Bird

June 2022

School's Out for Summer So We're Talking About Lunch Lady Day!

by Betsy Bird

May 2022

The Sun Does Shine: How Does an Adult Title Get Adapted for Young People? A Talk with Olugbemisola Ruday-Perkovich and Anthony Ray Hinton

by Betsy Bird

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

Gallery: The Art of the Picture Book Barcode 2022

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Press Release: Picture Book Summit Line-Up Confirmed

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Banana Fox and The Gummy Monster Mess | Review

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

Heavy Medal

Continuing the Mock Newbery Process: Time for July Suggestions

by Steven Engelfried

Teen Librarian Toolbox

by

The Classroom Bookshelf

by

The Yarn

Shark Week, Vanilla Ice Cream, and the Honda CRV: Bob Shea and Brian Won Team Up for ADURABLE

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

Best Middle Grade Books 2019 | SLJ Best Books

Best Chapter Books 2020 | SLJ Best Books

Best Middle Grade Books 2020 | SLJ Best Books

Best Nonfiction 2021 | SLJ Best Books

Sessions on Teaching the Truth, Facing Challenges to Antiracist Books, Mobile Services, and More Planned for SLJ Summit

About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

Commenting for all posts is disabled after 30 days.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

  • External Links

    • A Fuse #8 Production Reviews
  • Follow This Blog

    Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    Primary Sidebar

    • News & Features
    • Reviews+
    • Technology
    • School Libraries
    • Public Libraries
    • Age Level
    • Ideas
    • Blogs
    • Classroom
    • Diversity
    • People
    • Job Zone

    Reviews+

    • Book Lists
    • Best Books
    • Media
    • Reference
    • Series Made Simple
    • Tech
    • Review for SLJ
    • Review Submissions

    SLJ Blog Network

    • 100 Scope Notes
    • A Fuse #8 Production
    • Good Comics for Kids
    • Heavy Medal
    • Neverending Search
    • Teen Librarian Toolbox
    • The Classroom Bookshelf
    • The Yarn

    Resources

    • 2022 Youth Media Awards
    • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
    • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
    • Summer Reading 2021
    • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
    • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
    • Summer Programming Survey
    • Research
    • White Papers / Case Studies
    • School Librarian of the Year
    • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
    • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

    Events & PD

    • In-Person Events
    • Online Courses
    • Virtual Events
    • Webcasts
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Media Inquiries
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Content Submissions
    • Data Privacy
    • Terms of Use
    • Terms of Sale
    • FAQs
    • Diversity Policy
    • Careers at MSI


    COPYRIGHT © 2022


    COPYRIGHT © 2022