Read It and Watch: Great Book-Movie Combos for Your Homeschool

These are some of our favorite book-movie match-ups for family movie nights this fall.

Read: The Hundred and One Dalmations

Watch: 101 Dalmations

Dodie Smith’s novel has a whimsical, Beatrix Potter-esque charm and a Dorothy Sayers-esque wit that make you appreciate the Disney classic even more.

Read: By the Great Horn Spoon

Watch: The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin

Old-school Disney’s take on the Sid Fleischman’s Gold Rush novel is a surprisingly charming cowboy flick adaptation, even if the ending veers firmly into goofy territory.

Read: The Island on Bird Street

Watch: The Island on Bird Street

A Polish boy keeps his promise to his father by living a Robinson Crusoe-ish life of adventure and danger in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust.

Read: Howl’s Moving Castle

Watch: Howl’s Moving Castle

Diana Wynne Jones thought Studio Ghibli’s adaptation of her book, about a girl under a curse and a wizard with a not-so-optimistic attitude, was “fantastic.”

Read: Emma

Watch: Clueless

Amy Heckerling brings Jane Austen’s classic into 1990s Beverly Hills in this faithfully unfaithful adaptation.

Read: Escape to Witch Mountain

Watch: Escape to Witch Mountain

Both the original book and its movie adaptation have a 1960s sci-fi vibe that feels a little like a time capsule version of the future, but the story — of orphans with superpowers who must make sense of their origins to save themselves and the world — is timeless.

Read: Lisa and Lottie

Watch: The Parent Trap

Identical twins separated at birth meet for the first time at summer camp and make up their minds to get their divorced parents back together. The book and movie diverge in details but share the same spirit.

Read: Mother Carey’s Chickens

Watch: Summer Magic

Many people miss this charmer from the creator of rebecca of sunnybrook farm, but both the book and the film chronicle the adjustment to make-do, can-do country living with heart and humor.

(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)

This was originally published in the fall 2017 issue of HSL, and I’d love to expand this list to include more diverse selections. Any recommendations?

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