Five Young Adult Novels That Deserve Movie Adaptations

                Since Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone came out in 2001, big screen adaptations of Young Adult novels have been some of the box offices biggest hits. With the recent premiere of The Fault in Our Stars and If I Stay and The Giver on the way, this summer seems to be the season of the adaptation. I've compiled a list of the books I would most like to see in the theaters.*

1. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

                America loves its World War II movies, but I favor a British studio for this film. To pull this off, one would need a director familiar with the twists and turns of spy thrillers and two badass young actresses to lead the cast. Some people have suggested Kira Knightly and Renée Zellweger, but I think they are too old for Maddie and Verity (who are in their early twenties). Whatever actresses are chosen, they will have to prove chemistry does not exists only for love interests.

2. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

                A few months ago, Rainbow Rowell proudly announced on twitter that the movie rights to her Pritz Award Honoree had been sold to DreamWorks. If done right, the Eleanor and Park movie could be a quirky, romantic drama of TFIOS proportions. Popular fancasts are hard to find since Hollywood has a sadly unsurprising lack of Asian-American actors and heavy-set actresses. Rowell says that her biggest fear is Eleanor played by a skinny girl and Park played by Keanu Reaves. Same here, Rowell.

3. Going Bovine by Libba Bray

                This one could go either completely amazing or very, very wrong. Whoever directs Bray's award winning novel needs to embrace the stories surrealism and not fear ridiculousness. Logan Lerman, who is no stranger to Young Adult adaption, could play Cameron and Adèle Exarchopoulos could play Dulcie. Throw a CGI gnome in there and you got a movie.

4. Every Day by David Levithan

                I have to admit, I just want to see if it could pull this off. Since A is constantly switching bodies, multiple actors and actresses would need to be hired to play the same main character. With a talented young cast, this movie would be a fresh take on teenage romantic dramas. That being said, it's unlikely that a studio would take on the challenge. But a reader can dream.

5. Great by Sara Benincasa

                The most recent adaptation of The Great Gatsby might have made booklovers everywhere cringe, but She's the Man and Clueless prove that people love teenage movies based on classic novels. I pick Wes Anderson to recreate Jacinta's modern candy-colored world and Elle Fanning to play Naomi Rye. Jacinta is tough, but the If I Stay trailer does prove that Chloë Grace Moretz could pull off the white bob.

*I excluded movies that are already in production, but not books that the movie rights have already been sold, since studios can sit on movie rights for years.