Stories are one of the most powerful teaching tools and communication tools that we have. As such, bringing books and films together to inspire and engage students can heighten understanding of a particular text, story, topic, or historical event. From my own childhood, annual readings and viewings of Charlotte's Web were highlights for me in the 2nd and 3rd grades, and I watched The Secret Garden over and over, captivated by seeing this story come to life on screen.
There are many other classic book and film pairings for educators and librarians to choose from as well as book and film pairings that are not adaptations, but rather inspiring and powerful combinations that can offer a greater understanding of a historical event or of a specific experience or topic.
Book and Film Pairings for Elementary School Learners
In addition to my two favorite pairings mentioned above, Charlotte's Web (for younger elementary students) and The Secret Garden (for older elementary students), I offer two additional recommendations.
Inspired by my own children's favorite pairings, I highly recommend Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and its animated film adaptation. My kids loved both the book and the film. They pair wonderfully to inspire children's imaginations and foster interest in science and technology.
For slightly older elementary-aged students (especially advanced readers) A Christmas Carol (or adapted book versions for younger students) and The Muppet Christmas Carol are heartfelt pairings to program during the holiday season.
Book and Film Pairings for Middle School Learners
The Harvard X-Media Lab is an institute dedicated to cross-media education. Their resources, research, and offerings specifically focus on the power of stories as experienced through cross-media opportunities. Two powerful resources and suggested book and film pairings from the lab are: Wonder and The Watsons Go To Birmingham. In both cases, the book and film adaptations are paired together to enhance student understanding, social-emotional learning, and much more. Wonder could be used for upper elementary students in addition to middle school learners.
A new documentary film out of India that many of our readers may not be familiar with is Coral Woman. This powerful documentary follows Uma Mani, a woman, and painter who falls in love with coral reefs and learns to scuba dive in order to see coral up close and improve her paintings. Her journey to experience coral takes her on a journey of discovery regarding climate disruption and inspires her to consider the power of art to create change and care for the planet.
Harper Collins India has a picture book available about Uma Mani that would pair wonderfully with the film if it is available in your region: Coral Woman : Dive into the Majestic World of Coral Reefs with Uma Mani! This film would also pair well with the National Science Teaching Association's Interactive E-book Coral Reef Ecosystems or The Brilliant Deep: Rebuilding the World’s Coral Reefs written by Kate Messner and illustrated by Matthew Forsythe that also tells a true life story of coral reef enthusiast Ken Nedimyer.
Holes is another powerful classic pairing for middle school students in which the book and film adaptation come together to engage students more deeply around the story. Walden Media offers a free educational resource for the film, which emphasizes character study and could be a powerful way to explore the film and book together, particularly in regards to how the characters come through in each.
You can find the Walden Media materials here: https://www.walden.com/wp-content/uploads/2003/04/Holes_EdGuide.pdf
The Giver by Lois Lowry is another book often taught in middle school. Extending a lesson on this powerful book by including the film adaptation offers students deeper engagement opportunities with this important material. Scholastic created an in-depth Reading Guide for the book. You can find it here: https://www.scholastic.com/content/dam/teachers/activities/migrated-files-in-body/the-giver-bookfile.pdf and use it to engage both the book and film.
The final two book and film pairings involve memoirs/autobiographies of youth paired with biopics based on their books. Both are ideal for 7th-10th graders. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb pairs beautifully with the documentary film He Named Me Malala. Journeys in Film created a rich curriculum guide for He Named Me Malala that can deepen student understanding of Malala's life, Pakistan, girls' education around the world, and much more. You can find that comprehensive resource here: http://journeysinfilm.org/product/malala2
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Young Readers' Edition by William Kamkwambe with Bryan Mealer tells William's inspiring story of creating a windmill for his community in their battle against drought and hunger. Like Malala, Kamkwambe's story is inspirational and uplifting and speaks to the power of perseverance and education. The film adaptation of the book is one I've used with my own children alongside the resources created for the film by Journeys in Film. You can find the free curriculum guide here: https://journeysinfilm.org/product/the-boy-who-harnessed-the-wind/
Finally, Martin Scorsese's beautiful film adaptation of The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, the award-winning film Hugo is one of my favorite book and film pairings. The book looks thick and substantial but is because it includes lots of original artwork and artfully spaced text. Engaging students with both of these complimentary pieces of work can be magical.
Book and Film Pairings for High School Students
Media literacy and screen engagement are extremely important for all students, including high schoolers whose worlds are often intimately linked and led by the screens they engage with on a regular basis. Using film and book pairings to heighten their understanding of the power and importance of media is an essential part of their educational experiences.
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood is an engaging graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi and another autobiographical work that students, no matter their experience, can likely relate to because its subject is also a teen. Though her struggles may differ from theirs, there are still many access points to her story. Pairing the graphic novel with the film adaptation can help students engage with this important work.
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund offers a free resource for teaching Persepolis: https://cbldf.org/using-graphic-novels/using-graphic-novels-in-education-persepolis/.
Night by Elie Wiesel is often taught in high school classrooms. This masterfully written book that tells Wiesel's own story of surviving a concentration camp as a teenager during the Holocaust pairs beautifully with Big Sonia, which follows the life of Sonia Warshawski, also a teen during the Holocaust who survived a concentration camp and at age 95 still shares her story and experience to improve understanding about this horrific 20th-century event. Educators often pair these two teen experiences together and utilize the free curriculum guide Journeys in Film created for Big Sonia: https://journeysinfilm.org/product/big-sonia/.
Another book that remains a standard in many high school classrooms is Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. In seeking to engage students by relating this book to the realities of the U.S. criminal justice system today, we see many educators pairing this book with the film Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson's personal life story as a lawyer engaged with the Equal Justice Initiative. Both Just Mercy and To Kill A Mockingbird are stories of injustice in Alabama and both powerfully reflect the struggle for equity in the United States.
Journeys in Film created a free curriculum guide and Independent Learning Student Packet for the film: https://journeysinfilm.org/product/just-mercy.