Some 80 book and movie lovers packed into Books and Books in Coral Gables on Sunday, Feb. 19, to see the Red Carpet Premiere of Radio Rebel, a Disney Channel movie based on Shrinking Violet, a young adult novel by Palmetto Bay author Danielle Joseph.
“The place was packed so some people even had to sit on the floor,” Joseph said.
Among the guests was Alex Flinn, another Palmetto Bay author who last year was the one attending the red carpet for the release of Beastly, the movie based on her young adult novel.
“I thought the movie was a lot of fun, and [star] Debby Ryan did a great job,” Flinn said. “I watched the movie on TV Friday night with my daughter, Meredith and also went to the event at Books and Books, which had a good turnout. It was great to celebrate this special time with Danielle.”
It was a dress up event at the Coral Gables bookstore, the second one that Joseph attended in a week. The first was the movie premiere in LA with the movie’s stars.
“It was a lot of fun, just like the LA premiere,” she said. “Books and Books set up a red carpet where they took pictures, video and acted as paparazzi.”
She said the LA premiere was terrific. “I had a wonderful time. It was so much fun to get all glommed up for the red carpet,” Joseph said. “I especially enjoyed sitting with the actors and watching them experience the movie for the first time. Then we had an after party where everyone mingled, danced and celebrated.”
Watching the movie with friends and family was just as much fun for her. She said the movie was well received by people in all age groups.
“Many kids have told me that they ended up watching it a few times this past weekend,” she said. Making the transition from book to movie meant some major story changes. But Joseph said she was pleased with the adaptation of her book for the screen.
“The message and basic structure of my book was the same,” she said. “I was really pleased with the script because they kept a lot of the important elements like the main characters and what they are striving for but they added elements that would make it come alive on the screen.”
A strong element in Shrinking Violet was music, which also was a big part of the movie.
“I especially love all the music that they added and the humorous moments that Tara and the rest of the characters experience,” Joseph said.
One of the best side effects of having your book made into a movie is the increased sales of the book. Because of the movie, Shrinking Violet just went back for a fourth printing, which is great news. When the first printing sold out, the publisher briefly considering not doing a second printing and Joseph embarked on a blog tour to convince them there was enough interest to make a second printing viable.
