This coming year, many movies based on books are being released. Reading the book before the movie is important to knowing the plot and being able to better experience and critique the movie and the accuracy of its representation of the novel. Knowing the original story will help with connecting with the character and the story. Ranging from classics to recent young adult novels, you won’t be able to put down these books.

     Wonder by R.J. Palacio is a popular book released in 2012, and it won the Carnegie Medal and the Goodreads’ Choice Awards Best Middle Grade and Children’s book. The plot follows Auggie Pullman, a boy born with a facial deformity. This deformity was diagnosed as Treacher Collins syndrome and a cleft palate. Due to health issues as well as his jarring appearance, he was homeschooled until ten years old. Starting middle school was a difficult transition for him. He was initially ignored and ridiculed for his appearance, but in a heartwarming turn of events, his classmates came to accept and appreciate him. Although this novel was written for middle schoolers, its redefinition of beauty and strong messages can be applied in any instance at any age. The movie, starring Jacob Tremblay as Auggie and featuring Julia Roberts as his mother and Owen Wilson as his father, will be released April 7, 2017.

     John Newbery Medal-winning A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle is a classic science fiction novel first published in 1963. Meg Murry, Charles Wallace Murry and Meg’s friend Calvin O’Keefe travel through time, space and dimensions in search of Meg’s and Charles Wallace’s father, who had been missing for a year prior to the start of the book. The trio fights evil forces such as IT, a brain that controls the planet of Camazotz and forces eerie conformity upon the inhabitants. Although there was a TV movie released in 2003, a new movie will be released July 28, 2017. The star-studded cast includes Doctor Who’s Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Dr. Kate Murry, Star Trek’s Chris Pine as Dr. Alex Murry, Mindy Kaling as Mrs. Who, Reese Witherspoon as Mrs. Whatsit and Oprah Winfrey as Mrs. Which. Storm Reid makes her acting debut as star Meg Murry.

     Charles Martin’s The Mountain Between Us was published 2010. Strangers Dr. Ben Payne and Ashley Knox, a successful writer, are stuck in a Denver airport on their way to Florida. An incoming storm and broken deicers on the plane cause a flight delay, but Ashley has to make it to Florida for her wedding, and Ben can’t miss his medical conference. Ben provides Ashley the last remaining seat on his private jet. Above the High Uintas Wilderness, the pilot has a heart attack. The characters must work together to survive some of the harshest conditions in the world. In the movie to be released October 20, 2017, Kate Winslet and Idris Elba will star as Ashley and Ben.

     In her 2015 novel All the Bright Places, Jennifer Niven tackles subjects such as death and mental illness. Following her sister’s death, Violet felt trapped in her small Indiana town. Theodore’s obsession with death and undiagnosed manic depression becomes apparent to the reader. When the two are partnered for a project on Indiana, an unlikely friendship develops. Starring Elle Fanning as Violet Markey, the movie will be released in 2017.

     Novelist Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar was originally published January 14, 1963. This American classic is semi-autobiographical, in that the names of people and places are changed.  The haunting and dark book explores mental illness, and the movie attempts to do so as well. In 1979, a movie rendition of the book was released. A New York Times movie review written on March 21, 1979, explains that the movie strayed from the book, and the main character, Esther, did not maintain the heroic qualities that Plath depicted her as having. Movie critic Janet Maslin states, “Miss Hassett is unconvincing and, much of the time, unsympathetic; she hasn’t a hint of the mystery that might make an audience believe in her madness.” Hopefully, star Dakota Fanning will be better equipped to portray the madness of her character. The movie will be released in 2017.

     Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling will be released as a movie script in book form on November 18th. The movie is based on an “encyclopedia” of monsters, which was released March 12, 2001.  According to Pottermore, the movie is about “The adventures of Newt Scamander in 1926 New York City,” who “wrote” the encyclopedia, which will be referenced in the movie series. There will be five movies, the first of which comes out November 18th. Read the encyclopedia before the movie to get a better understanding of the new world Rowling will create for this movie.

     Although these six books vary widely in subject matter, genre and publication date, they are all great reads you won’t be able to put down.