These are kids’ books that have never been made into movies, but I would dearly love to see movie versions of them! As far as I know, no one is currently considering making any movies of these, but I can dream. I’ve decided to divide the list into books that are public domain and ones that aren’t because I’ve been told that would make a difference if someone was actually interested in turning a book into a movie.
If you’d also like to suggest children’s books that should be made into movies, comment below!
Books That Are Not Public Domain
General Fiction
Gone-Away Lake (1957)
A pair of cousins, exploring a swampy area over summer vacation, find the remains of an old resort community that once stood by a lake and meet the people who still live there. By Elizabeth Enright.
I’m honestly surprised this one hasn’t been done before, but if any movie of it exists, I couldn’t find any mention of it. It’s a nostalgic summer story about a secret club in an enchanting place.
Miracles on Maple Hill (1956)
With their father suffering from shock and depression after having been a soldier and a prisoner of war, Marly and Joe’s mother moves the family to their grandmother’s old house in the small town of Maple Hill, where the children’s father can get some rest. There, they are befriended by a couple of supportive neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Chris, who make maple syrup. When Mr. Chris suffers a heart attack and must spend some time in the hospital, the family helps Mrs. Chris with making the maple syrup. The family’s friendship with the neighbors and learning how people can help and support each other helps the father to heal from the war.
This story already reminds me of a Miyazaki movie, but I think a live-action movie of this type would be magical, too. A young girl learns about the kind of person she is and her place in the world by helping others. By Nan Agle.
Mystery
David struggles to understand his strange new stepsister as she attempts to initiate him and his siblings into the occult world and seems to awaken the poltergeist that supposedly once inhabited their house. By Zilpha Keatley Snyder.
A servant boy has to help his master solve the frightening mystery of a ghost that haunts a young princess amid political intrigue in Medieval Italy. By Avi.
Historical
A Long Way from Chicago and A Year Down Yonder
These two books are about the adventures a brother and sister have with their grandmother in the rural Midwest during the Great Depression. Hysterical! By Richard Peck.
The Richleighs of Tantamount (1966)
A family of wealthy Victorian children spend the summer at their ancestral home, experience newfound freedom, and learn a few things about their family and themselves. By Barbara Willard.
I think this would make a wonderful Christmas movie, much better than the ones where random cartoon characters try to “save Christmas.” A group of children in a small French village, which was devastated during World War II, revive an old Christmas custom and bring life and hope back to their village. By Suzanne Butler.
Fantasy
Charlotte Sometimes (1969)
A young girl, Charlotte, is sent away to boarding school, but as she tries to become used to her life there, she discovers that every time she goes to sleep in her boarding school bed, she trades places with another girl, Clare, who attended that same boarding school in the past, in 1918, and slept in the same bed. Charlotte struggles through days in the past with the help of Clare’s sister, Emily, not knowing quite why this is happening and worried about losing her own identity as she crosses back and forth between time periods. By Penelope Farmer.
I understand that there is a British television serial based on the book, but I think it would be great as a movie, too. Although, I think that a movie version of this book might want to do a few tweaks on the ending. There are three different endings in different editions of the book because, for some reason, parts of the original ending were left off in later printings. There might be a better way to combine pieces of the various endings. I also don’t think that Charlotte’s time-traveling is very well explained. The characters are left to speculate about why it all happened, and I guess that there’s something to be said for leaving things to the imagination, but a movie version might want to explain things a little more explicitly. However, one thing I would insist on is not allowing Clare and Emily to be actual relatives of Charlotte. That would not only be a kind of cop-out explanation, but it wouldn’t be faithful to the original version of the story, which has to do with personal identity. I think a movie version should have part of the significance of the girls switching places based on their personal similarities, the way it was the original book, and also maybe highlight their differences, how each of them might have accomplished something important in the other’s time because they each did something or said something that the other wouldn’t have because they’re not quite the same people. I think that was in the story, too, but I think it could be brought out more.
Elynne Danneby is afraid of dragons, which is a shame because her family makes its living by dragon charming. When thieves steal a dragon egg, Lynnie conquers her fears in order to get it back. By Douglas Hill.
Mairelon the Magician and Magician’s Ward
This is a two-book fantasy/mystery series that takes place in an alternate version of Regency England where magic is real and an accepted part of society. The main characters are Richard Merrill (alias Mairelon the Magician), a wealthy wizard who has to clear his name of theft in the first book and who is trying to stop a dangerous magical plot in the second book, and Kim, a former street waif who becomes Mairelon’s apprentice, and later, his fiance. There’s a lot of humor in this series, and the setting might also appeal to fans of Jane Austen because of the similar time period. By Patricia C. Wrede.
A fairy’s wish at a young princess’s christening ensures that she will be an ordinary, imperfect girl instead of the perfect princess that her parents were expecting, but what others think of as a misfortune turns out to be a blessing. By M. M. Kaye.
An orphan girl trying to fit into a new home travels back in time and befriends the former owner of the house. Part of a loose trilogy. By Janet Lunn.
A girl falls asleep on her school bus and has a fantastic dream, only it turns out to be more than just a dream. Jennifer learns that she has been adopted by a king only to be used as tribute to an evil enchantress. She struggles to find the key to breaking the enchantress’s spells and saving not only herself but the six princesses who went before her. By Nick Sullivan.
A boy journeys to a far-off city and discovers his destiny as an ancient legend is fulfilled. By Maeve Henry.
Wizard’s Hall (1991)
When Henry sets out to learn magic at Wizard’s Hall, he questions whether he has the necessary talent, but he believes in the importance of trying. It turns out that his talent is a particularly unusual one, and he uses it to save the school when it’s under threat. By Jane Yolen.
Series
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles
This young adult series about Princess Cimorene, who becomes the Queen of the Enchanted Forest, parodies many popular fairy tales. By Patricia C. Wrede. 1985-1993.
I picture this being a series of movies. The humor somewhat resembles the fairy tale parodies in Shrek, but these books were written first, and I personally thought that many of the parodies were more clever. Plus, there’s a lot of girl power in these books. There is no fairy-tale situation so absurd or impossible that it can’t be either conquered or set on its head by a very practical princess.
Scary
I don’t watch a lot of really scary movies because I get nightmares easily, but these are some that I’m honestly surprised haven’t been done yet.
Jane-Emily (1969)
A young woman takes her niece to visit her grandmother and uncovers the disturbing truth about the niece’s other aunt, Emily.
Books That Are Public Domain
The advantage of turning one of these into a movie would be not having to negotiate with an author for the rights. The disadvantage is that older books might have racial language or stereotypes that would need to be cleaned up or cut out, but that wouldn’t be too difficult with the ones that I recommend.
General Fiction
Dandelion Cottage (1904)
The four friends make a deal that they can use the cottage as their playhouse, provided that they take care of it. This is the first and best known book in a series. By Carroll Watson Rankin.
There are some language and stereotype issues that would need to be addressed in this series, but only minor ones in the first book. I think a movie based on this book would appeal to fans of the Cottagecore aesthetic.
Mystery
Series
An orphan girl in the early 20th century grows up to become the owner of her own film company in Hollywood. Along the way, she solves mysteries with her friends at school, on vacation, and later, on filming locations, and helps the war effort during World War I. A Stratemeyer Syndicate series. 1913-1934.
This series was basically a precursor to the Nancy Drew mystery series. Like other early Stratemeyer Syndicate series, there’s more adventure than mystery, but I think turning it into movies or a tv series could allow a script writer to redo the stories to emphasize the mystery part of the books. In particular, I think there’s potential for the second book in the series, which takes place at a boarding school and involves secret societies and a supposedly haunted statue, to be made more spooky and mysterious in the manner of Dark Academia. However, there is one book in the series that has serious issues with racial language and attitudes and should not be be made into a movie or show.
Jestress's Forgotten Books and Stories 