YA Friday: The Book Was Better, Pt. II

YA Books-Turned-Movies, Pt. II

It's always a blessing and a curse to see a great book turned into a movie or tv series. You hope they get it right, but prepare for the worst.

If you’re an avid young adult fiction reader (and extra) like me, there is a strong chance are you’ve already dream cast your favorite YA book and possibly wasted hours paging through carefully curated Tumblr posts and fan trailers to see how other readers envisioned the story. And while most film adaptions don't even compare to the book, there is still the thrill of seeing the same story told in two different mediums. And with more and more YA novels being optioned for film – and actually going into production! – the fun no longer stops at the reader's imagination and the Internet.

Here is a list of the some of the upcoming young adult book to movie adaptations for the first half of 2019. So now you can read the book before the movie and point out all the things they got wrong to your friends.

Coming Soon

The Umbrella Academy book cover

The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way

In an inexplicable worldwide event, forty-seven extraordinary children were spontaneously born by women who had previously shown no signs of pregnancy. Millionaire inventor Reginald Hargreeves adopted seven of the children; when asked why, his only explanation was, 'To save the world.' These seven children form The Umbrella Academy, a dysfunctional family of superheroes with bizarre powers. Their first adventure at the age of ten pits them against an erratic and deadly Eiffel Tower, piloted by the fearsome zombie-robot Gustave Eiffel. Nearly a decade later, the team disbands, but when Hargreeves unexpectedly dies, these disgruntled siblings reunite just in time to save the world once again.


On Netflix February 15


The Knife of Never Letting Go book cover

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Todd and Viola are pursued by power-hungry Prentiss and mad minister Aaron as they set out across New World, searching for answers about their colony's true past and seeking a way to warn the ship bringing settlers from Old World.

The movie's title has been changed to "Chaos Walking."


Has been pushed back to 2020

Chaos Walking film still of two people standing on a rock


Five Feet Apart book cover

Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott

Seventeen-year-olds Stella and Will, both suffering from cystic fibrosis, realize the only way to stay alive is to stay apart, but their love for each other is slowly pushing the boundaries of physical and emotional safety.

In Theaters March 22


Pet Sematary book cover

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

When the Creed family's beloved cat, Winston Churchill, dies, Dr. Louis Creed -- on the instructions of his elderly neighbor -- buries the animal not in the "Pet Sematary" where local children inter their deceased pets, but rather in the haunted Indian burial ground behind it. The next day, a changed Churchill comes back, a little smellier and more vicious than before. What will happen when a person dies and is buried in the same area?

In Theaters April 5



The Sun is Also a Star book cover

The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

Two teens, Daniel, the son of Korean shopkeepers, and Natasha, whose family is here illegally from Jamaica, cross paths in New York City on an eventful day in their lives. Daniel is on his way to an interview with a Yale alum, Natasha is meeting with a lawyer to try and prevent her family's deportation to Jamaica and they unexpectedly fall in love.

In Theaters May 17