School Library Journal's Media Mix: Deadtime Stories to Make Film Debut

Cool, creepy, frightening, funny, and family friendly. Deadtime Stories for Kids: Grave Secrets, adapted for the screen by sisters Annette and Gina Cascone, who wrote the original 1990s Deadtime Stories books for tweens, is the first title in a new series of films from Hill & Brand Kids and Mantooth Films. The film will star three-time Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner Diane Ladd along with Jennifer Stone, Ashlee Jones, Christian LeBlanc, Taylar Hender, Devan Leos, and Mackenzie Brooke Smith.

Grave Secrets is scheduled to be released in theaters in early 2012 with a limited run and then will premiere on TV and DVD. The second film, The Witching Game, is in pre-production. Also, Tor Books/Starscape (Macmillan Group) will publish Grave Secrets and five other new titles in the series in January 2012.

In the film, Amanda Peterson (Taylar Hender) always buries her dead pets in a pet cemetery in the backyard. When she and her friends set out to bury a dead squirrel, they dig up a grave that's already occupied-and not by a pet. Additionally, the lady who lives next door (Diane Ladd) wants to keep her secrets buried.

When asked about the upcoming film, Ladd said: "I love the story and the message it sends to children, as well as adults-that you should never judge someone without knowing their story."

Click here to return to the News Menu