Nicholas Kristof’s New York Times article has been causing a lot of talk in my Twitter-verse lately, regarding the best kids’ book ever, and what with the recent announcement of two of my favorite children’s reads being adapted for the silver screen, Eric and I have been thinking about some more books that need making into films. Here’s our list – tell us which books we’ve been crazy for leaving out!

Young Bond

These James Bond prequels are begging to be shown on the big screen, but writer, Charlie Higson wants to wait until he’s finished the series before thinking about it. Surely putting the written exploits of a film character icon on screen is inevitable, but in the meantime we’ll have to make do with Alex Rider in Storm Chaser.

Anything by Richard Scarry

File this one under nostalgia if you like, but the unique and instantly recognizable style of Richard Scarry’s classic collection of Busytown books would make for some fab animation.

The Adventures of Tintin

Yes, I know the coifred French reporter may have already caught the attention of Msr. Speilberg, who’ll be releasing a 3D rendition of Tintin next year, but I’m impatient. Hey if the on-screen adaptations stays true to the series of books (Ha!) there could be 24 of these films made. Blistering barnacles!

Dragonology

Pirates, Wizards and Vampires have all had their fair share of film and book attention lately, it’s high time dragons were the in-thing. And no, Eragon does not count. Dragons may not have the same depth as Harry Potter, or the coolness of Edward Cullen, but they’ve got lots of scales and can breath fire – see, the script writes itself!

Choose Your Own Adventure

This one takes a little explaining. Years ago I saw a spooky movie in a small theater in Sea World, where the audience had to vote on key points of the story by pressing a button on their seat – I guess the majority vote decided. I’m surprised this didn’t catch on more widely, and I think this style of collaborative storytelling would lend itself ideally to a film version of the classic Choose Your Own Adventure series of books. Who’s with me in trying to create a script with a democratically evolving plot?

Where’s Waldo?

Or “Where’s Wally?” if you grew up in England, like me. I’m typecasting here, but Daniel Radcliffe needs to hold on to those specs for a few more years and play the part of the stripy-togged traveler, Waldo, don’t you think?

Thanks also to Matthew at Nugget Island for finding this list of 10 Kids Movies That Were Better Than the Book. Be sure to take a peek at that too.