Over 300 books made into movies to enjoy with your family

As a kid, I always loved being assigned a book to read in school that had a movie.  I knew that meant we’d spend at least a day or two of that class watching the movie.  Sometimes the movies were good, more often they were bad, but they always lead to great discussions afterward.  I have patterned our homeschool reading lessons after the same model, a book and a movie (you’ll see that hashtag all over my Instagram feed).  I assign my kids books, we discuss them, and then watch the movie.  It has become a cherished family tradition. After getting frustrated trying to figure out appropriate grade levels, I put together these books made into movies by grade level list to help figure out just when I should assign something.

Before we go any further, you get a coupon code to get the printable books made into a movie by grade level bookmarks FREE (they’re normally $2.99) when you sign up for my email newsletter. Mine are in my purse, and I use them ALL the time to plan out our reading, to figure out what we’ve already read, to keep an eye out for books on sale at used bookstores. I mark them up, cross things out, lose them and reprint them.

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Why read books made into movies?

There are so many reasons, but the first is to help with homeschooling a struggling reader. Your kid is almost certain to get excited to watch a movie about the book they just read, and getting a child to read a book they’re excited about is so much easier than just assigning a random book.

Next, you can develop critical thinking skills as you compare the two mediums. What changes were made because the plot point does not translate directly to film? Was the movie faithful to the book? Hint, the answer is frequently no. Did the movie add in changes that improve the book? I think the movie Shrek is better than the picture book Shrek. Really Shrek is an adaptation in name only.

Finally, books made into movies can be a great tool to learn how to write book reports.

Update from Future Ticia [insert year here]

Next, I’ve updated this post many many times. Currently, this is Future Ticia 2022 going through and fixing all of the images and links from when I changed my URL and realizing I have another 50 books to add into this list, so it may change substantially once I get that done.

Future Ticia 2023, it did change a bunch, and then I was updating this post and found another list I’d saved. So excuse me while I go update a bunch more.

Final note, this list grew so massive, I started breaking these out into individual grade level posts. It can be a bit intimidating to scroll through 300 books, and that’s with me sometimes saying, Shakespeare plays.

All right, let’s get this massive journey started: Books made into movies by grade level, AAAAND ACTION!

Also, all these Amazon links are going to be affiliate links, so I don’t have to keep marking it.

Picture books made into movies

What a great way to get your kids excited about this tradition. There is an instant payoff as you can read them the book and watch the movie the same day.

1. Jumangi book   movie
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
11. Cat in the Hat   movie
12. How Grinch Who Stole Christmas     cartoon and live action
13. The Lorax   movie
14. Horton Hatches the Egg   movie
15. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day     movie
16. Ferdinand      movie
17. A Day with Wilbur Robinson     movie (I think this movie got a bum rap, and I love it a lot)
18. Curious George   movie
19. Night at the Museum    movie
20. Clifford    movie

I started our book and a movie nights after the kids were mostly done with picture books, we’ve started doing some with their cousins, but I haven’t written about it yet. I really need to get some of those written.

That’s my first 20 books made into movie by grade level down. Though, picture books aren’t quite as limited by grade level…

3rd-Grade Chapter books made into movies

I now only have the picture books to make its own post.

That’s 29 30 book and a movie combos. This total is incorrect because I found another 6 or so that I added in when I wrote the post, but I’m not gonna bother updating the count right now.

4th Grade books made into movies

I am almost done making individual posts for each of these. Some of my absolute favorite books made into movies for fidelity to the book are on this list.

4th-grade had 29 books to add to the list.

That’s 50 book and a movie combos. I’m getting up there. That’s 58 books made into movies.

5th Grade books made into movies

Okay, yet another list that has been turned into its own post, I’ve got almost all of these written! I feel so accomplished. Also, creating this particular post I was amazed how many of my favorite books were on this particular list.

That gets us up to 88 book and a movie combos.

Future Ticia 2023 is taking a break for a little bit, I’ve spent over an hour just updating it this far, and I need to go move around. The big problem with updating these posts is I’m left thinking, “Oh, I want to read that, and I want to read that, and I want to watch that.” Currently we don’t have Disney+ so I won’t get a chance to watch Flora and Ulysses, which is a shame because I love Kate DiCamillo.

Hitting update and walking away from the computer.

6th Grade books made into movies

Okay, I’m back from my break a couple of days later. If I want to get this finished to republish tomorrow, I need to get busy.

And as I continue my attempts to make this post more readable, the 6th-grade books made into movies have their own post now.

That’s 116 book and a movie combos.

7th grade books made into movies

It’s a post now! Yep, because this post is insanely long, and I’ve changed this list a little. So here is the 7th-grade books made into movies.

That was 20 more books.

That’s 136 books made into a movie combos. I’m almost to 100 books made into movies, and I haven’t reached high school…..

8th Grade books made into movies

I have updated this into its own post: 8th grade books made into movies

Again haven’t really read and watched these book and movie combos….. 2020 Ticia here, we’ve read a bunch of these, but I haven’t gotten them all written yet. So many books, so litle time.

Future Ticia 2020 is adding 8 more books to that list.

And that gets us up to 164 book and a movie combos.

High School Books Made Into Movies

I’m in the process of making posts for each grade in high school. With my updated list, I have 40 books for each grade in high school, and this post is already insanely long.

The posts are all done, and now some of the lists have 50 books…

I’m going to fully confess the high school books can be moved around, and some of these are more pop culture, but have fun conversations to have. I also left out vast scores of John Grisham movies and other popular authors, though I could have padded my numbers with those……

(Some of these may have lower reading levels, but are traditionally assigned during high school)

9th-grade books made into  movies

And now I’m up to 116 movies. Each high school grade is going to add 10 because I kept it just to 10, though I could probably add more. Yeah, any count that I have at this point is so incredibly off with these updated lists.

With the update list, that is now 214 books made into movies.

10th-grade books made into movies

That is 126 book and a movie combos. And this is as far as I’ve gotten with my updated lists written, if you want the full 80 more books that are on the list, you’ll have to get the bookmarks.

264 books made into movies.

11th-grade books made into movies

At my high school, junior year was American literature, so it was a very different reading list from what I’m recommending, I opted to spread American literature throughout the grade levels.

And 136 304 book and a movie combos.

(These may have lower reading levels but are traditionally assigned as reading for high school, so I didn’t check the reading level, just being honest)

12th-grade books made into movies

Ha ha ha ha, man when I first wrote this list, I only had 10 or so books on the 12th-grade books made into movies. Now there are 40. FORTY books you could pick to read as a senior.

Make that 50 books, some of these newer books the reading level is easier, but many parents will prefer to address these tougher issues with older kids.

I may have gotten better at finding books made into movies, AND there may be a lot more made than I realized when I first started this project.

We’re up to 146 354 book and a movie combos. Now I’ve got some bonus books.

More high school books made into movies

I’m pretty sure most of these books listed here have been moved onto specific grade levels now, but I’ll leave them here for now. My other books list now is just made up of authors who have many many many adaptations made.

I double-checked, and all of them except for The Pelican Brief are now assigned to specific grade levels. Oh and James Bond books.

Though from my understanding reading Forest Gump, James Bond, or the Godfather will have to come with a discussion on changing opinions of what is okay to say, and how to treat people. Having looked at a few reviews of Forest Gump before I assigned it for my kids to read, I decided not to have them read it.

1. Frankenstein     movie (Frankenstein book club)
2. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde     movie
3. The Green Mile      movie
4. Hunt for Red October      movie
5. The Godfather      movie
6. The Outsiders      movie
7. Gump and Co.      movie
8. Roots      movie
9. Sherlock Holmes (it could easily be read in junior high)     movie
10. The Pelican Brief      movie
11. Silence     movie
12. Unbroken     movie
13. War Horse     movie
14. Seabiscuit      movie
15. The Help      movie
16. James Bond books     movie
17. Schindler’s List     movie
18. Ten Little Indians  (now renamed And Then There Were None)    movie
19. Memoirs of a Geisha     movie

I am now up to over 500 movies (when you get into the author suggestions). It’s almost midnight and my brain doesn’t want to process math.

Do you love this information and wish you could take it with you to the bookstore?  Then I’ve got you covered because you can sign up for my newsletter and get this all as a cute PDF that can easily be made into a bookmark for stowing in your books or your purse.  Each grade or interest level is broken down into its own bookmark, and as I find new books I’m updating the bookmarks (I just doubled the book and a movie combos). You can buy it for $2.99 OR you can subscribe and get these bookmarks for free.

Check out more great reading lists over at iHomeschool Network Must Read books and 100 Things Link Up (there are so many great ideas on there), and now also over at Kid Minds.

Originally published many years ago, last updated and republished 2017