Book to screen

Children’s books have inspired creators of other media for a long time. You can probably come up with many television programs inspired by characters who first appeared in print: Rosemary Well’s Max and Ruby; Angelina, based on the mice-children created by Katharine Holabird, and Marc Brown’s ever popular aardvark Arthur are just the start.

Films, too, have been inspired by children’s books: the Wizard of Oz, (opens in a new window) Old Yeller, (opens in a new window) and more recently Shrek (opens in a new window) and Polar Express. (opens in a new window)

Books translated into film or television shows are a different medium. Pictures move, voice and music are added and often action is added to adapt the material to its new format.

The appeal of films or television from books is much like the appeal of series books. Known characters are brought to life again in a different way. And translations are good. I think.

One of my all-time favorite books, a practically perfect picture book, Where the Wild Things Are (opens in a new window) by Maurice Sendak (HarperCollilns) is being released as a live action (enhanced by computer generated animation, I think) next month.

Okay, it’s a different medium. But how can this perfectly paced tale told through a flawless yet brief blend of words and illustration be adapted to a live action movie that will have to be at least 90 minutes long?

What will be added? And what will be lost? Will the audience be new or will it be for folks like me — those for whom Sendak’s classic holds a special place?

I don’t know. So I’ll have to wait until next month to find out, I suppose. I don’t worry about the film ruining the book for me — I know it by heart (and in my heart, too, I think).

I wonder about those children who haven’t met Max personally yet. I wonder if the screen Max will diminish the Max of the imagination, the one who lives every time a child and an adult read Where the Wild Things Are.