The legendary Studio Ghibli has made some of the most memorable animated films of our age and demonstrated heady mastery of adapting children’s books originally written in English, from Ursula Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea in Tales from Earthsea, Diana Wynne Jones’ Howl’s Moving Castle and Mary Norton’s classic The Borrowers in Arrietty.
So, if you could pick what Studio Ghibli tackled next, what would it be?
We have some “in my dreams” suggestions from authors and teen site members here and want to hear yours too! Share on Twitter @Gdnchildrensbks or email childrens.books@theguardian.com with the headline “Ghibli” and we’ll add them to this blog!
SF Said, author of Varjak Paw and Phoenix
Studio Ghibli’s love of British children’s literature is well-documented. The studio’s most famous animator Hayao Miyazaki’s list of 50 favourite children’s books is an education in itself. It’s perhaps less well known that the influence has now come full circle. The thread of inspiration that went out from Britain to Japan has now returned, because many contemporary British children’s writers and illustrators are massive Studio Ghibli fans.
I would love to see my books made into Ghibli films; I don’t know a single children’s book creator who wouldn’t! The gorgeous handmade art, the commitment to character-led stories rather than conflict, the effortless blending of the mystical and mythical with the everyday mundane: it all speaks to our sensibilities in a way that Hollywood seldom does.
It would be a dream to see a Studio Ghibli Varjak Paw, or perhaps even better, a Studio Ghibli Phoenix. Phoenix would be a very hard book to adapt, but I think they could pull it off; they could actually capture the magic of the stars singing to Lucky in his dreams.
As for other people’s books: top of my list would be an adaptation of Exodus, Julie Bertagna’s brilliantly prescient cli-fi masterpiece. It would be perfect for the Ghibli treatment!
Katherine Rundell, author of Rooftoppers
I’d love to see a Ghibli film of Sally Gardner’s Tinder, which is a brilliant, creepy, deeply human re-telling of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Tinderbox. I love Ghibli obsessively - I love how they make the strange beautiful and the beautiful strange - and that’s what Sally Gardner does too.
@EmilyDrabs @ElenCaldecott @StudioGhibli @whatSFSaid I would gladly swap my soul for a Ghibli of Rooftoppers - their beauty is unbeatable.
— Katherine Rundell (@kdbrundell) March 21, 2015
Site member JBOO1698
Is it weird that I wanted James Frey’s Endgame to be adapted by Studio Ghibli? I think that the storyline could actually work with a film of the sorts that Ghibli make. I’d watch it!
Site member JustOneMorePage
I’d love to see the fantastical elements Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights animated, especially the daemons. The overarching themes have something similar to other Ghibli movies so hopefully it would fit in well.
I also think The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forrester would make a great Ghibli movie because of its great female heroine and a whimsy fantasy-reality storyline that resemble My Neighbour Totoro and Porco Rosso. I think that would be fun to watch too!
Darren YA blogger at shinraalpha.com
A Monster Calls - I know this is filming right now, but I honestly think Jim Kay’s illustrations would translate into beautiful animation, ala the corruption from Princess Mononoke. Also, Patrick Ness’ emotionally devastating story fits the Ghibli style beautifully.
Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials books are my all time favourite books, and maybe through animation we could finally get a magical, diverse and beautiful looking for trilogy. Also, Lyra is a brilliant, curious and tenacious young lady who would fit Ghibli style perfectly - a bit like Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind!
Other books that sprang to mind, Pure by Julianna Baggott (a very twisted, manga feel to it), Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough (I think the animation would work in him so well! It’d be so very creepy), Lockwood & Co by Jonathan Stroud (I see Lockwood as very Howl-like), The Strange & Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Lyndsey Walton (quirky, beautiful magical realism & loss of innocence), The Last Wild by Piers Torday (animals, adventure & a huge, exciting story to explore!) and also The Sleeper and The Spindle by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell (a bold, dynamic retelling of a fairy tale? Perfect!)
@EmilyDrabs @StudioGhibli @whatSFSaid I would KILL for a Studio Ghibli Geek Girl. I WORSHIP those films.
— Holly Smale ☀️ (@HolSmale) March 21, 2015
Sarah Benwell, author
A Ghibli adaptation is one of those wishes as an author which you don’t even dare to whisper out loud incase you shatter all chances or shatter your heart. Three separate reviews of my book The Last Leaves Falling have suggested it, and my breath catches every time!
But if I had to pick a book that isn’t mine, I would give a sliver of my soul for a Ghibli The Ocean At the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. It’s the perfect balance of literary and popular, real world and magical, and I think Ghibli would take it to wonderful places.
Sarah McIntryre and Philip Reeve, authors and illustrators
We’d both love to see Cakes in Space animated by Studio Ghibli! The characters and setting would work very well! :)
Philip says, if it’s not one of our books, he thinks Geraldine McCaughrean’s The Kite Rider would work very well. I’d like to see them animate The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pené du Bois.
@tomhpollock The City's Son would be PERFECT for Ghibli, with its interweaving of real urban grit and magic @EmilyDrabs @ghibli_intl
— Kate Neilan (@Magic_Kitten) March 22, 2015
Nigel McDowell, author
Forget the pedestrian live-action adaptation: we don’t need Hollywood’s The Golden Compass, we need Ghibli to do justice to Northern Lights. Pullman’s novel has all the classic Ghibli ingredients: a fantasy world almost (but crucially, not quite) like our own; flying machines and delicious overtones of steampunk and science; magic; animal sidekicks that are so much more than decorative scenery, and an extraordinary sense of scope and place...just imagine the vistas the geniuses at Studio Ghibli could create! And, most importantly of all, a bona fide Ghibli heroine: Lyra Belacqua, stubborn and streetwise and with a strong sense of justice and adventure. Oh, just imagine...
@LaureEve @EmilyDrabs @HolSmale @ghibli_intl Mieville's Un Lun Dun would make a great one too, for its monster ecology...
— Tom Pollock (@tomhpollock) March 22, 2015
Joe Craig, author of Jimmy Coates series
I want to put in a vote for a Studio Ghibli movie of Varjak Paw by SF Said. The characters leapt into life in my imagination as soon as I started reading the book. I feel like the visual inventiveness of a Studio Ghibli animation could do justice to the story.
@EmilyDrabs @HolSmale @ghibli_intl @tomhpollock's The City's Son would be stunning in Ghibli form.
— Laure Eve (@LaureEve) March 22, 2015
Site member Patrick
When Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart made the leap from the page to the big screen it was given serious short shrift. The film adaption completely failed to capture of the spirit of the novel and the out-turn was a duff, charmless shadow of Funke’s original. Studio Ghibli with their lyrical, fairy tale-like style of storytelling and richly detailed animation seems like an ideal haven for Inkheart to start again. An adventure at heart, Funke’s story is vivid on the page so could easily be portrayed on-screen, and, generally, the idea of Inkheart being reimagined by some of the most thoughtful animators in history is a very exciting one. Inkheart is one of my all time favourite children’s books.
@EmilyDrabs @StudioGhibli @whatSFSaid Rooftoppers too!
— Elen Caldecott (@ElenCaldecott) March 21, 2015
Site member Freddymadefilms
I think we need SF SAid’s Varjak Paw! Imagine slow time down by Studio Ghibli!
@EmilyDrabs Ingo by Helen Dunmore would be pretty dreamy. Must ask @StudioGhibli-loving teen for his opinion.
— Sara O'Leary (@saraoleary) March 21, 2015
On email, site member TheoWolfTiger
I think that Wolf Brother, written by Michelle Paver, would work perfectly as a Ghibli film. The mystical quality to Wolf Brother would blend magnificently with the artistic character creation and animation that Studio Ghibli are so good at. Torak is in my opinion, the perfect hero for such a film. I’m not sure how they would do the parts from Wolf’s point of view, but I’m sure that some ingenious solution could be thought up. I will now await the official announcement with bated breath!
@EmilyDrabs I think it'd have to be Toby Alone by Timothée de Fombelle @StudioGhibli
— Library Mice (@librarymice) March 21, 2015
On email, Sally
The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson. A spunky female heroine, gorgeous period Viennese setting, and who can forget that scene of the harp falling down the stair case?
@EmilyDrabs @StudioGhibli Shadows on the Moon by @ZMarriott
— Rhian Ivory (@Rhian_Ivory) March 21, 2015
On email, Dianne
Donkey Oaty: Ass of La Mancha by Kate O’Neil. Circus animals Donkey Oaty, Sandshoe Panda and Dulcie Neigher and their impossible dream of righting wrongs done to ringmaster Mr Cervantes. Ghibli would work magic as they reach for unreachable stars.
@EmilyDrabs @StudioGhibli Helen Dunmore's Ingo books - weird and beautiful.
— Jessamy Taylor (@jessamy_taylor) March 23, 2015
On email: reader Anne Viel
I’d like to see Bird by Crystal Chan as a film by Ghibli. Bird narrates a very important moment in the life of a little girl. She, and everybody around her are going to change (a lot!), become better. Even the oldest character grows, it’s a fabulous message: nothing is never stopped in life. It’s a very important theme in Miyazaki’s films. It makes me think to Chihiro. There is a huge importance of supernatural in the book too. It has a big place in Japanese culture and films, and they know how to represent it without being common. Sets that have a real role are treasures for an animated film. The tree in the book, and the clif could make some gorgeous images and make sense. I’m very sensitive to silence in movies. In the story, the grand father doesn’t speak anymore. This could be a very difficult film making exercise, but a fantastic result. And I’d like to see in cinemas a beautiful story about behind between two cultures, how to live with that.
I loved their film version of "Howl's Moving Castle." I vote for "Time Stops For No Mouse" @GdnChildrensBks pic.twitter.com/hTJzjsgZf3
— Taurean J. Watkins (@Taurean_Watkins) March 23, 2015
On email, David
I’d like to see a Ghibli version of Ted Hughes, The Iron Man. The Brad Bird film (The Iron Giant, 1999) was charming and quite enjoyable but barring some names, it contained little of Hughes’ original story.
@GdnChildrensBks @StudioGhibli Joan Aiken please! Adventures of Dido Twite or her younger sister IS saving the children of the Underground!
— Lizza Aiken (@LizzaAiken) March 23, 2015
On email, Jodie/Geranium Cat
I’d like to see Studio Ghibli do Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, the book that first made me interested in cosmology. I’m also sure that if anyone can do Varjak Paw and Northern Lights, it would be Ghibli. Or what about getting The Little White Horse right!
But I think, of all the children’s books I love, it would be the comparatively unknown Nicholas Stuart Gray’s Grimbold’s Other World that I would choose, if I could. Gray’s witty and poetic story of a clever and resourceful cat, and Muffler, the boy who understands animals but dreams of a life beyond herding goats, seems perfect material for Ghibli’s style.
We think The Twistrose Key @tonealmhjell would be a perfect Studio Ghibli film - talking animals & beautiful scenery galore @GdnChildrensBks
— lbkidsuk (@LBKidsUK) March 23, 2015
On email, Harry
There are so many to choose from. I would love to see a Ghibli version of The House That Beebo Built – it’s an amazing French children’s book (number 1 of 3) about an incredible inventor who builds your fantasy house and then has to leave when developers close in. Most memorable for the ending where he and his friend escape by using three planks and making an impossible staircase that just keeps carrying them higher and higher and further away.
Or failing that, what about a Ghibli version of The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, by the amazing Alan Garner. I would love to see them tackle the mythic landscape and the iconic and unforgettable shape-shifting monsters - the Morrigan and the Svaarts and the elves. The Moon of Gomrath is the sequel waiting to happen!
@GdnChildrensBks Going back a bit further, 'Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh' could be a marvellous Ghibli creation.
— Lucy Marcovitch (@Lucym808) March 23, 2015
On email, Diana
Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones. The monster made of rubbish would be spectacular, and the strange ending of the book would be stunning. The whole atmosphere of the book is very Ghibli.
@GdnChildrensBks Maybe slightly obvious..but The Moomins would be magical! & I'd love to see a Ghibli interpretation of Alice in Wonderland!
— Olivia van Hooft (@omvanhooft) March 23, 2015
@GdnChildrensBks Well I'd love to see more interpretations of Diana Wynne Jones books, Howl's Moving Castle (although different) was great.
— Emmeline Pidgen (@emmelinedraws) March 23, 2015
On email: MeganTheBookAddictedGirl
I‘ve been giving this some thought... I would absolutely love to see Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series as a Studio Ghibli adaption - I think they’d perfectly capture the atmospheric world, the action and the characters. Tinder by Sally Gardner would be another of my favourite choices - can you imagine that beautiful book in beautiful animation? Perfection. And also... also Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy, partly because I would give anything to see this brilliant series come to life in any way, mostly because I think Skulduggery and Valkyrie would look amazing in animation! I feel Ghibli could capture the craziness of the characters, the masterful plots and the brilliantly constructed world.
Oh, one final choice! Harry Potter. I mean, can you imagine the amazingness of HP in Ghibli animation? It would blow my mind. Just... I need it!
@SWritesBooks @EmilyDrabs @Gdnchildrensbks @philipreeve1's Mortal Engines! Steampunk, fantastical, full of whimsy, and ethnically diverse!
— Natasha Ngan (@girlinthelens) March 23, 2015
@GdnChildrensBks I can't think of anything more beautiful than a Ghibli version of The Kite Rider!
— Hayley Wood (@Writer_HayleyW) March 23, 2015
@whatSFSaid @Mat_at_Brookes @GdnChildrensBks How about The Forbidden Library by @DjangoWexler ? Think they'd adapt it brilliantly!
— Laura (@272BookFaith) March 23, 2015
@GuardianBooks @GdnChildrensBks Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quintet! Enid Blyton's The Faraway Tree? Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain?
— Ariel Gordon (@JaneDayReader) March 23, 2015
@GdnChildrensBks The Graveyard book by Neil Gaiman would make a great animation but maybe LAIKA again rather than Ghibli
— Peter Bunzl (@peterbunzl) March 23, 2015
@GuardianBooks @GdnChildrensBks "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" by @neilhimself !
— Pedro Petit (@petitpedro) March 23, 2015
@GdnChildrensBks I think a Ghibli adaptation of The Secret Garden would be worthwhile!
— Ivuoma Okoro (@IvuomaOkoro) March 23, 2015
