Librarian Ruth Thoreson described her disappointment about the time she saw the movie “The Outsiders” after reading the book. “In the book the characters are supposed to be gritty and tough whereas in the movie they had the handsome, clean cut, popular actors during the time period play the main roles.”

Most people generally prefer the book over the movie due to the great detail the book provides. “I am not a movie person, I always prefer the books,” Thoreson said. “I like to picture the characters in my mind. I think by reading the descriptive language in books you can build your own idea of what you think it looks like and you can get more into the feelings.”

Junior Sean Weldon seems to have a different opinion than Thoreson. “Movies are obviously better,” Weldon said. “I think movies are better because it’s automatically compacted into two hours and I don’t have to read and take a week to figure out the ending to a story. I also like books though because you get to imagine your own storyline.”

On the contrast, Thoreson believes that movies possess some qualities that books can not produce. “I think there are some books that are more attractive when you can actually see the pictures that go with it the visuals,” Thoreson said. “Especially ones that take place say a place you have never been before. I could read a book about India, having never been there, and I have an idea but to have a movie that was actually filmed in India and be able to see what it actually looks like, there is benefit to that to.”

Besides movies having the benefit of putting words into actual images, they sometimes lure people into reading a book they may not have read before. “Sometimes I will say the movie is a door to the books, so that they will watch the movie and then they will want to read the book,” Thoreson said. “So if it gets people to read a book then it’s all good.”

Junior Rosie McAninch has the common opinion of books being better than movies. “When I read a book and then watch a movie then the book is better, but I normally just watch the movie,” McAninch said. “I think the book is better because it is more detailed and and interesting.” McAninch thought the book “Safe Haven” by Nicholas Sparks was much better than the movie version.

Some people think that you should read the book before you watch the movie or vice versa. “If you are more of a visual person then you might enjoy the movie first and that might make the book more enjoyable to you,” Thoreson said. “If you are more of a literary person, like myself, I would much prefer reading the book first.”

Weldon might describe himself as a literary person. “I feel like you should read the book first before you watch the movie because it leaves your mind open to imagine more possibilities instead having all the characters in your head all pictured out for you already,” Weldon said.

Although Thoreson generally prefers books she does see benefits to movies that are made from books. “I can read a description of Quidditch (A game from Harry Potter) and it doesn’t translate but when you see it on screen is like ‘Ohhh now I get it.’” Thoreson said. “So for some of the action scenes the movies are better.”