While that sounds really fun in theory, many of them were…not good. Unlike when a book is adapted to screen, where there are places for creative liberties or artistic choices for what to include or exclude in the new rendering, movie novelizations did not usually craft a story thinking about the principles of good, engaging writing. That’s not to say they’re all bad, but it is to say once you begin to see some of the movies that were novelized during the ’90s, you’ll wonder if those books are actually any good. This roundup is going to offer a bit of everything, though the bulk will be novelizations of books for children through young adults. It should come as little surprise, too, that most of these books are either without an author attribution, with an author using a pseudonym, or by authors who specialized in this type of work, and as a consequence, are not very diverse. Certainly, several authors who broke into the field during this era cut their teeth on these projects and commentary about the novelization is no reflection on the restrictions they likely faced in writing them. Pro-tip: if you’re itching to read one of these books and think all have been lost to the ether, the good news is you can find many of them on Etsy if they’re not linked below.
Travel Back in Time With These Movie Novelizations
Love a good look at books and nostalgia? You’ll want to check out these ’90s teen book series, these ’90s teen horror novels, and nostalgic teen magazines.
Never fear, though. A. L. Singer is the pen name of Peter Lerangis, who was one of several ghostwriters for the series, penning somewhere around 40 of the books. Lerangis did a number of other novelizations, including for The Sixth Sense.
Let it be known that Thomas did write another book, too. That book, Sandy: The Autobiography of a Star, is about a dog named Sandy who “told” her story to Thomas and cowriter William Berloni.
Among some of Markas’s other writing credits include tie-ins for Scooby-Doo, One Tree Hill, and the novelization of Bring It On.
Second: who else misses the era of aliens and weird creatures on TV and movies? E.T., Alf…
The E.T. film did boast a number of tie-in and franchise titles, but this is the actual novelization.
*Wondering why that name also sounds familiar? Kotzwinkle is the author of Walter the Farting Dog.
Hughes penned several Power Rangers tie-in novels, as well as the novelization for A Goofy Movie.
Tine wrote several novelizations of big ’80s and ’90s films, including Beethoven, The Bodyguard, Basic Instinct, and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.
Locke penned several other novels under that name, including a tie-in for Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and he also wrote under the name Ray Garton, authoring several mysteries, thrillers, and horror books.
Kahn has a pretty impressive career, working as an ER doctor and a writer for television, alongside a number of original novels and novelizations. Among his novelizations are Poltergeist and Return of the Jedi.
Fun fact: the name George Spelvin is not a real name, but it’s a common pseudonym from the theater world. It is not clear who the “real” author behind this novelization may be.
Hiller wrote several novels from the Karate Kid movies, as well as novelizations for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Ghostbusters II. She wrote her own books, too, including Rent a Third Grader (I vividly remember reading this one!).
Krulik is a prolific writer, covering everything from early reader books to YA novels.
Perry has written several of his own novels, as well as numerous entries into Tom Clancy’s “Net Force” series and even some Star Wars franchise titles.
Leroe has written for younger readers, as well as young adult readers, and some of her original titles include The Big V, The Peanut Butter Poltergeist, and Confessions of a Teenage TV Addict.
That said, for some film novelizations like this one, it works.
Author H. B. Gilmour’s biography is absolutely fascinating. She began in editing and while editing, wrote several novelizations. Her very first book was a take down of publishing, and her second novel featured cover art by her daughter.
