Ten writers for children. All with something to say.

3/4/13

From Page to Screen

With the Oscars taking over the internet and television last week, it got us thinking about books that have become movies, and this round, our topic will be exactly that. I love both books and movies, so this is fun for me. There have definitely been some clinkers that probably should have remained only a book, but there are lots that I have enjoyed. In fact, it was hard to narrow it down to one. Most recently, I'm a big fan of The Hunger Games books, and I loved the movie. But for this post, I'm going to focus on an older one.
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo is a sweet story about ten-year-old Opal who finds a stray dog and names him Winn-Dixie. She lives in a trailer park with her preacher dad, and the story has many colorful characters that Opal encounters on a daily basis. And I absolutely loved the movie version of this. Anna Sophia Robb plays Opal with big, wide eyes, and a sweet voice.Winn-Dixie is a big doofus of a dog that you can't help but love. For me, the most brilliant casting was Dave Matthews as a lonely introvert who runs the pet store.I'm a huge fan of his music and one of my favorite scenes is when Opal walks in to the pet store only to find all the animals out of their cages, charmed by him playing the guitar.If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it.

4 comments:

Edie Hemingway said...

Because of Winn Dixie was a real favorite of mine, too--both book and movie!

Stephanie said...

It was on the other day. I'd forgotten how charming it is.

Lauren said...

I have still not been able to watch the movie for "Because of Winn Dixie". It is one of those books where the characters were so strong and so real for me that I do not want to watch the movie and get it in my head. There are just a few books like that for me. But I may change my mind. We'll see.

Stephanie said...

The Road is like that for me. I loved that book but cannot watch the movie. Same with Schindler's List. The book devastated me, I could not even think about watching the movie.