10 More Novels That Could Fuel the Teen Movie Comeback



1 / 14 Chevron Chevron 13 Little Blue Envelopes -- Maureen Johnson Maureen Johnson is a huge force in the realistic-teen-novel renaissance. Her most popular novel, 13 Little Blue Envelopes, is like a sweetly romantic blend of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Eurotrip. The story of teenage Ginny Blackstone following her deceased aunt’s instructions all around Europe could be a visually lush celebration of a girl on the verge.

In light of the recent anniversary of The Breakfast Club and the news that popular young-adult author John Green is having another of his real-world-set books turned into a movie, we started to wonder if we are, in fact, on the cusp of a teen-movie renaissance. By “teen movie” we don’t just mean a movie that features teens. By that definition, teen movies never left the mainstream. (See: newly minted hit Divergent.) We’re talking about realistic teen stories. Something without witches, vampires, or dramatic trials. This is the sort of story John Green specializes in. But he’s not the only one.

To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with paranormal romance, or post-apocalyptic adventure. Real teenage issues can and have been explored in those books and films. This is true of all genre fiction, which can so easily be dismissed as about nothing more than dragons, time travel, or mystical powers. The appeal of genre fiction to this particular generation of teenagers is also easily understandable. Besides making cracking good reads, genre books appeal to an age group brought up on a steady diet of Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling wasn’t the first author to introduce witches and warlocks to younger children, but she’s undeniably been the most popular in the last decade. Even kids who don’t like to read love getting their hands on Harry Potter. So it makes sense that those kids would graduate from Harry and Hermione to Bella, Katniss, and Tris.

Calling for resurgence of realistic fiction in teen movies is not the same as calling for genre fiction’s head—there’s room for both. But wouldn’t it be nice to see some of the non-supernatural teens move out of the art house and into the mainstream? Recent teen-fiction adaptations like The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Spectacular Now, and Fat Kid Rules the World are a great start, and the increased cinematic presence of John Green is nothing but good news for other great Y.A. authors hoping to see their books reach an even wider audience. There’s room for so many kinds of stories for our teens to devour, and it would certainly be nice to see a bit more variety when it comes to teenaged film heroes. Here’s our pick of the 10 books we’d like to see made into films. We think they have a shot outside of the art house, and could certainly hold their own against any witch or wizard that may come their way.