'The Summer I Turned Pretty' to 'We Were Liars' — Canadian 'BookTok' expert on fandom of book-to-screen adaptions
In Canada, Morgann Book went from gaining an online following as a teenager posting cake design videos from the Ontario Dairy Queen her parents own, to leaning into her love of reading by drawing book covers on cakes. And yes, her last name also happens to be "Book."
Five years later, Book is among the most followed and trusted BookTok voices. So much so that you can see her at the one-day only free, immersive pop-up event in Toronto on July 19, part of Prime Video's Prime Book Club.
"I think one thing I didn't do early on, and it was COVID so we couldn't, but I couldn't engage much with my audience in person," Book told Yahoo Canada. "I did a previous event with Prime Video back in December and that was one of the first times I had met a large number of my audience, ... my followers, friends, in person. And I'm still connecting with those people today."
"I think it's really incredible to see the community that BookTok as a whole ... has just fostered because readers, we're introverts, but you get us talking about books, and it kind of just opens people up in a brand new way."
How book fans evaluate screen adaptations
For Book herself, even she finds inspiration in the larger BookTok community, including for her successful podcast, "Off The Shelf," diving into both novels and book-to-screen adaptations, part of her Bookish Media company.
"I've really been inspired this year through authors and BookTokers that I've gotten to connect and meet with through my podcast," Book shared. "This is another year where I'm like, I love YA [young adult] and romance and romantacy, but ... I really want to branch out my reading taste this year, and I felt like that has kept me inspired."
But when it comes to book-to-screen adaptations, many of the most recent hits have found their home on Prime Video. And what Book believes makes a great one is when there's "respect" for the source material, while also being crafted in a way that appeals to a new audience.
"We Were Liars, for example, was published in 2014. I've known about this book for 11 years now ... and I think when the show finally came out they really did a good job at saying, yes this is a new show coming out, but they included specific lines of dialogue and scenes that connected the original audience to this new show," she said. "Certain lines, like there was a mention of Johnny not wearing sunscreen, and ... that immediately clicked as like, OK someone on this team read this book, knows what they're doing."
With these adaptations also comes more BookTok content. In the case of The Summer I Turned Pretty, it reignites conversations like whether Belly should choose Conrad or Jeremiah.
"I haven't seen a Team Conrad, Team Jeremiah feud since the whole Twilight thing, which was a very long time ago," Book said. "No one knows what's coming in Season 3 of The Summer I Turned Pretty, but those who have read the books know how the other books translated on screen, and can kind of hypothesize where Season 3 is going."
Reflecting on her impressive career to date and that initial connection to social media, Book highlighted that her journey has allowed her to become more comfortable in her self, particularly in more public spaces.
"The people who I grew up with and the person that I was growing up would not recognize who I am today," Book said. "I can be a shy person, but I think BookTok and content and social media and doing interviews like this and doing the podcast has allowed me to become, not even like an extrovert, but just comfortable in what I'm saying and what I'm speaking about."
"I used to be a terrible public speaker. It made me so nauseous. And I think going to events and hosting all these things has just changed who I am inherently as a person, which I didn't even think was possible."
But what's next on Book's reading list? In the spirit of The Summer I Turned Pretty reaching its last season, Book said she's planning on pickingThe Summer of Broken Rules by K.L. Walther.
"This is supposed to be like a really good YA summer romance," Book highlighted. "Then if you want something like a little bit spicier, Meghan Quinn also has really great summer rom-coms that I love."
The Prime Book Club Toronto Pop-Up takes place July 19 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Mandy's at The Well. Activities include customizing your Kindle case, an on-site artist for a custom rendering of your ultimate book crush, and more.
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