Our girls love movie nights. If it is on video or Netflix, they are fans. Especially if they know it already or get to pick it. Well, the picking gets taken out of their hands fairly often and we use this opportunity to share what we consider classic movies with them. Most of the time, the girls love them. Some examples? The Sound of Music. State Fair. Little House on the Prairie. Mary Poppins. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
And then there are the movies that we pick, or they pick, that were books first. Those are fantastic opportunities to do read-alouds as a family and then watch the movie together. Or perhaps the girls see the movie at the library and want to watch it. Guess what they get to do first? Yep – they have to read the book before they watch the movie.
This allows for comparison, critical thinking, analysis, and so much more. Some of our favorites?
- Ella Enchanted
- Anne of Green Gables
- The Sound of Music (read the biographies)
- American Girl books/movies
- Chronicles of Narnia
- Mary Poppins
- Peter Pan
- Paddington
- How to Train Your Dragon
- BFG
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- James and the Giant Peach
- Princess Diaries I/II
- various fairytales
- Wizard of Oz
- Little women
- Charlotte’s web
- Robin Hood
- The Lorax
- Pinocchio
- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
- various biographies such as Corrie ten Boom, Helen Keller, Amelia Earhart, Abraham Lincoln, and more
- The Indian in the Cupboard
- The Cat in the Hat
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
- A Little Princess
- The Secret Garden
- The Tale of Despereaux
- The Polar Express
- Mr. Popper’s Penguins
- Little House on the Prairie
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas
We have definitely had our fun with the book to movie comparisons and there are many more that I didn’t think of to list here.
Which ones have your family read and then watched? Are there some I didn’t list? We are always looking for more to enjoy.
At Home.
At Home 
Sometimes I’m surprised to find that a movie I like was previously a book!
we just watched BFG, I never knew it was based on a book. that surprised me!
Miss J loved the movie when she saw it with her grandmother. I haven’t had the opportunity to see the new one yet. We love all of Roald Dahl’s books and many of them have been made into movies. Some not so well done, though most are.
See my list at http://homeschool-review.blogspot.com/2016/07/movies-that-used-to-be-books.html – loved your post!