If you read James Frey’s much-contested memoir, A Million Little Pieces, or his followup novel, Bright Shiny Morning, and thought to yourself, This guy should be writing young adult books!—well, you were way ahead of me. But indeed, Frey and a co-writer, Jobie Hughes, signed a deal last summer with HarperCollins for their young adult science fiction novel I Am Number Four, the first in a projected six-book series.
A Million Little Pieces
Dreamworks immediately snapped up the film rights to I Am Number Four, which won’t hit bookstores until this fall, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Initial reports named Michael Bay as a potential director, but the latest news is that D.J. Caruso, of Disturbia and Eagle Eye fame, has signed on to direct. (Bay will still produce the film.)
According to the New York Times, I Am Number Four is about “a group of nine alien teenagers on a planet called Lorien, which is attacked by a hostile race from another planet. The nine and their guardians evacuate to Earth, where three are killed. The protagonist, a Lorien boy named John Smith, hides in Paradise, Ohio, disguised as a human, trying to evade his predators and knowing he is next on their list.”
What do you think about Frey’s latest project? Why do you think he made the jump to the YA market? Are you looking forward to the book or the movie—or both?
