Books and Adaptations

Posted June 12, 2018 by Ashley Jackson

Hello again! I am back in Boston as of late last night (early this morning) and they weather is gorgeous.  I read many great books while abroad including a thriller/mystery series. My sister-in-law had obtained a collection of books from the UK author Ann Cleves. These books are great mystery books and the Vera series has been made into a television series in the UK (which we can watch here in the States on Hulu).  These series remind me of Agatha Christie series with Hercule Poirot.  Great for summer time beach reading of you’re into that sort of thing.

Reading these books got me thinking about books that have been adapted into television and movies.  I feel that most popular books have now been adapted into a film or television series. Often, people only know about the adaptation before learning that it was a book first (with the exception of Harry Potter and The Hunger Games). The Divergent series, The Maze Runner series, The Book Thief, and Riverdale as well as Lemony Snicket as Netflix series just to name a few of the Young Adult books/comics. Jaws and Jurassic Park were books first as well.  This is the tip of the iceberg. 

What does this mean for LIS and Children’s Literature as a program of study at Simmons and how should we approach the subject as students and later, professional? I believe it is something that should be considered and thought about because I do not see this trend going anywhere. Should adaptations be considered as an approach to those who are aspiring authors, or would this be considered selling out?  I do not know.  Is it something we should leave alone altogether as students? I think it would be interesting to see course work related to this topic even if it was just a small section of the course.  Perhaps it already is! As a fairly new student in the CL program I have a lot to discover and I am looking forward to it all.

 Until next time!