Pop Classics: Your Favorite Movies Reimagined as Picture Books
The Pop Classics series of picture books from Quirk Books and illustrator Kim Smith are a nerdy parent’s dream. For parents of a certain generation - specifically those who grew up in the 80s and 90s - and a certain penchant for nostalgia, the Pop Classics are destined to become deeply-beloved family favorites. Hands down, they are my favorite series of picture books on our shelves.
Disclosure: A portion of our Pop Classics collection was provided by Quirk Books. Some of the links in this article are affiliate links that will lead to Amazon or Bookshop.org.
The series all started with a tribute to the legendary Home Alone back in 2015. I saw it sitting on the holiday shelf at a local Barnes and Noble and picked it up on a whim. After all, I’m a giant sucker for childhood nostalgia, and Home Alone is one of the movies I’ve said from the very beginning I can’t wait to share with my kids.
And, suffice it to say, the book was a spectacular hit in our house. Our son was absolutely obsessed with booby traps for a very long time after reading Home Alone, tying blankets and baskets from the ceiling to try and capture us, and I’ll honestly never forget it.
Shortly after that, the book quickly made our list of the best Christmas picture books of all time - and this was just about the same time that more nostalgia-filled Pop Classics from Kim Smith started to role into stores. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Back to the Future, X-Files, The Karate Kid - apparently Smith knew exactly who she was targeting with these books, and she definitely had my number. 6 years and 11 books later, the Pop Classics have grown into quite a special project.
What Are the Pop Classics?
The Pop Classics are a series of picture books from publisher Quirk Books. They’re illustrated by Kim Smith and almost all of the stories are adapted by Rebecca Gyllenhaal. They stand out in a very big way because the source material is seemingly being systematically chosen by a child straight out of the 80s and 90s - leaving you with a feeling akin to being bombarded with childhood nostalgia much like reading Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One.
Young parents with a deep-appreciation for some of the classic movies and shows that raised them are clearly the target demographic here. Factor in a bit of nerdiness and there’s simply no resisting these books. And why would anyone want to resist them? After all, in some ways this is what the creation of Dad Suggests was truly all about. I absolutely love sharing stuff like this with my kids. And it’s definitely not a secret that nostalgia is my Achilles’ heel.
And, perhaps best of all, these books are absolutely by no means some sort of lazy cash-grab like you often see with licensed projects. Everything about these geeky treasures is crafted with the utmost care. Respect and love for the source material is always on full display - with perfect details chosen and a great aptitude for capturing the spirit of the story. In many cases we’ve actually read these books long before actually watching the movies, and the fact that I consider them a memorable and meaningful introduction to some of my favorite movies is the best compliment I can give.
Which Pop Classics Are Available So Far?
As of right now, there are 11 wonderful picture books in the Pop Classics series (well, technically the 11th book - A Rugrats Chanukah - comes out next month). The complete list so far is as follows:
Home Alone
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Back to the Future
The X-Files
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
The Karate Kid
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Elf
Doctor Who: The Runaway Tardis
School of Rock
A Rugrats Chanukah
As you can see, Quirk Books and Kim Smith are targeting a very specific demographic (also known as me), and they’re absolutely nailing it with pinpoint accuracy. In what world could anyone have guessed that the next book in the Pop Classics series was going to be A Rugrats Chanukah? To the untrained eye, it might seem out of place with 80s movies like Back to the Future and The Karate Kid. But to a young parent who grew up in the late 80s and 90s, it all just spells one thing: childhood.
The Creators Behind the Pop Classics
The big name behind this project is the illustrator Kim Smith. She truly has a remarkable talent for capturing the spirit of these films and shows and including the very best details in her art to bring them to life on the page. It’s wonderful how her distinctive cartoon style ties the entire series together, and I can’t say enough nice things about how well these books are packaged - with beautiful endpapers and colorful spines that all look very nice as a collection.
Naturally the stories themselves are credited to the creators of the movies or TV shows. For example, on the cover of Home Alone, it says “based on the story written by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus”. But lots of credit must be given to Rebecca Gyllenhaal, who is the mastermind credited for the text adaptations in almost every one of these books.
I’d love to know more about how these books are crafted - whether the illustrations from Kim Smith come first or the text adaptations from Gyllenhaal. But what I know for sure is that these films are condensed and brought to life in the most natural and perfect way you can imagine. The creators have a true knack for highlighting the perfect selection of moments from the films - iconic scenes and laugh-out-loud quotes make it seem like you’re really sharing and passing on the actual story that you love.
Pop Classics for the Holidays
One thing that the Pop Classics have done amazingly well so far is providing us with a new holiday classic almost every year. So far we have Home Alone, Home Alone 2, Elf, and A Rugrats Chanukah. In fact, the latter 3 have come out in 3 consecutive holiday seasons now, so I think it’s safe to say that this is a planned trend. And to this I have to say to Kim Smith and the very fine folks at Quirk Books: Please give us Gremlins!
Gremlins would fit absolutely perfectly into the Pop Classics universe, and would make for a perfect holiday season offering. And like several of the films chosen to be Pop Classics, like Home Alone or Buffy or Back to the Future, it has just a tiny bit too much language and violence, so it would benefit greatly from Kim Smith’s wonderful ability to distill down these classics to their family-friendly core. Parents everywhere, especially me, would be eternally grateful for the early opportunity to share the story with their kids.
The Future of the Pop Classics
And, while I’m on the subject, I have a few other recommendations if Quirk Books is out there listening. Here are just a few other properties I’d really love to see Kim Smith tackle in the future:
The Neverending Story
The Princess Bride
Labyrinth
Edward Scissorhands
The Goonies
Little Shop of Horrors
Hocus Pocus
Napoleon Dynamite
Big
Jurassic Park
But, regardless of whether they’re able to tackle any of those suggestions or not, I know the series is in very good hands. The first 11 books are collectively a real treasure, and I hope the series continues to grow for many, many more years.
Have you discovered the Pop Classics series yet? Which books are you favorite? What movies or TV shows would you like to see them tackle next? Let us know in the comments!
