Adapt This Book: Dracula

Adaptations are tricky business, particularly when you tackle the classics. There's just no way to meet everyone's expectations. If you adhere too slavishly to the source material, you risk creating something turgid and lifeless; it's impossible to shoehorn in every part of the novel without having things drag on and on and on.

The other extreme, which I personally find far more frustrating, is the case of the writer who seems to have perhaps skimmed the text, then pillaged it for whatever bits and pieces he found most interesting, creating a largely new story and slapping on the old, well-known title.

Why, hello, Dracula.

Adapt This Author: Meg Cabot

To tell the truth, my favorite books are all found in the children's and young adult sections of the library. J.K. Rowling, L.M. Montgomery, Roald Dahl, Madeleine L'Engle: the list goes on and on. Even now I'm still finding children's and young adult authors to love. One of my favorite discoveries from the last few years is Meg Cabot.

Cabot is best known for her young adult series The Princess Diaries, which follows a funny, engaging, insecure teenager in New York who discovers that she is actually the princess of a small principality in Europe. Despite the fairy-tale nature of the conceit, the books are down-to-earth and the characters relatable and real.

I've read a smattering of her young adult books and nearly all of her adult novels since I first found The Princess Diaries, and I've enjoyed every one. Cabot's characters are universally charming, and she writes adult romantic comedy as well as teenage fantasy.