The Saturday Post: YA Movie Adaptations Galore & More!

A busy week, especially for YA book adaptations! Here’s the scoop …

* Variety reports on some VERY exciting news that we’ve been secretly dying to share with you for ages, and that is about the film rights for Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley, only one of our top books of 2011 (and possibly ever):

Gotham Group has acquired feature rights to Cory Whaley’s thriller “Where Things Come Back,” with Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Lindsay Williams and Eddie Gamarra producing.

“Things,” Whaley’s first novel, is set in a small Arkansas town and told through the eyes of a 17-year-old after a birdwatcher spots a species of woodpecker thought to be extinct since the 1940s, sparking a flurry of woodpecker-mania — while the teen’s younger brother has suddenly and inexplicably disappeared. Story is intertwined with that of a young missionary in Africa, who has lost his faith and is searching for meaning.

“Where Things Come Back” was published by Simon & Schuster’s Atheneum Books for Young Readers in May.

Gotham Group produced recent release “Abduction.”

* Meanwhile, check out a great interview with Corey for the National Book Foundation’s “Top 5 Under 35”

*We finally got our first look at Nicolaus Hoult and Teresa Palmer as the main characters in the upcoming adaptation of Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion (thanks Page to Premiere):

*A VERY busy week for The Hunger Games fandom, not the least of which was the release of some gorgeous cast photos in Vanity Fair. Here’s my favorite:

Here are some more Hunger Games headlines:

• Jennifer Lawrence dispels Twilight comparisons, explains why she loves Katniss & more
• The Hunger Games trailer gets a rating & a run time
• Woody Harrelson explains Haymitch’s appearance, plus talks about working with his co-stars & why he loves The Hunger Games
• Scholastic to release The Hunger Games Tribute Guide, another companion book with new information about all 24 tributes

* Speaking of The Hunger Games, it seems Liam Hemsworth is one of several actors up for lead roles in the adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s The Host

* And that segues us perfectly into a bevy of news from The Twilight Saga fandom! Here are highlights:

• MTV debuted a new clip from Breaking Dawn: Part 1 featuring Bella getting ready for the wedding:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeziRRl5hEs

• Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart & Taylor Lautner imprinted their hand & foot prints outside Grauman’s Chinese Theater
• MTV interviewed Rob, Kristen & Taylor about Breaking Dawn: Part 1
• Plus, check out highlights from the Breaking Dawn: Part 1 press junket
• See more at Twilight Examiner

* Here’s the stunning trailer for Everneath by Brodi Ashton:

* In case you missed it, USA Today has an excerpt from The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

* And last but certainly not least, our friends at Boys Don’t Read have a great interview with author M.T. Anderson!