Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

The Kit Kittredge movie is in limited theaters and is due to open wide July 2. Rotten Tomatoes has given it a fresh rating. I haven't read any of the books in the Kit series, although I've read some of the other American Girl entries, and my niece, who shall remain nameless, was a big American Girl fan way back when. I've seen the direct to DVD movies for Felicity, Samatha and Molly. I enjoyed them, but none of them inspired me to go and read all the books. Maybe I'll feel the need to do so after I see the Kit movie.

Bartimaeus Trilogy: The Amulet of Samarkand

I've seen a brief item that mentions that book one of the Bartimaeus Trilogy: The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud is in development -- kind of like the movie version of the Other Place. The trilogy is one of the best fantasy series I've read in recent years -- a gritty, well-developed alternate world, complex characters, the wry asides of Bartimaeus himself and face-paced plots. It will be interesting to see if they work as movies though. One of the most fascinating elements of the book is how Jonathan Stroud was able to make us care about an entirely unlikeable character. That, I think, is quite a feat.

Magic Kingdom for Sale

When I was reading about Airborn, I saw that Stephen Sommers is also listed as director on the announced book-to-movie production of Magic Kingdom for Sale by Terry Brooks. Announced means it's still pretty iffy whether it will make it into production. Although it's been years since I read it, I remember it as being quite funny.

Airborn

The book Airborn by Kenneth Oppel is listed at www.imdb.com as being in pre-production. It's a great read and a swashbuckling tale so I think it'd make a fun movie. Stephen Sommers is listed as the director. He directed the Mummy movies. Christian Vandal listed as playing Matt.

Airborn is about Matt Cruise, cabin boy on the airship the Aurora, and his exploits with spoiled rich girl Kate de Vries as they battle air pirates, among other things. The sequal Skybreaker is out too. As I said, fun, great reads! Kenneth Oppel also writes the Silverwing series (which I haven't read I'm ashamed to say).