# Children's books that would make great live-action films **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 24, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-would-make-great-live-action-films/586644 "2011-06-24T00:59:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-would-make-great-live-action-films/586644/1 "2011-06-24T00:59:54Z")
_The Wicked Enchantment_, Margaret Benary-Isbert: [Books Your Kid Should Read: The Wicked Enchantment](http://booksyourkidshouldread.blogspot.com/2009/01/wicked-enchantment.html) _The Thundering Prairie_, M.A. Hancock. Story about one of the families that participated in the Oklahoma land rush: [The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1893](http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/landrush.htm) _The Midnight Fox_, Betsy Byars: [cool-reads.co.uk - books for 10-15 year old readers by 10-15 year old reviewers](http://www.cool-reads.co.uk/review.asp?ID=1562) _Bound for Freedom_, Ruth Chessman: A story of courage and friendship of two young English boys who came to Colonial New England as indentured servants. Your picks? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-would-make-great-live-action-films/586644/2 "2011-06-24T15:26:06Z")
One book I read over and over in sixth grade: [**Sir MacHinery**](http://www.amazon.com/Sir-Machinery/dp/069540167X/). Been out of print forever. The story: an inventor moves to Scotland to build a robot. Some brownies (the wee magic folk, not the pre-Girl Scout kind) find the robot, believe him to be a knight in armor, call him “Sir MacHinery” because of all the crates around marked “machinery”, and take him away to an adventure involving Merlin the magician, the Loch Ness Monster, and a war between ghost armies. ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-would-make-great-live-action-films/586644/3 "2011-06-24T17:12:02Z")
I always thought _The Dark is Rising_ would make a great live-action (with CGI) film. Unfortunately, the movie that was made of it was completely awful. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-would-make-great-live-action-films/586644/4 "2011-06-24T18:11:37Z")
If they could get the tone right, _The Phantom Tollbooth_ would be wonderful. I’m picturing something along the lines of _Who Framed Roger Rabbit._