I recently judged a writing contest for the Kiss of Death Chapter of Romance Writers of America—which is partial to the suspense writings of Daphne Du Maurier (Rebecca, “The Birds,” etc.)—and the contest coordinator, Donnell Bell, asked me to pen a guest post for Five Scribes, the group blog to which she contributes.

The post went up yesterday; it’s on suspense and how I taught it to my eighth graders using Daphne du Maurier’s “The Birds” and Alfred Hitchcock’s film of the same name.  Check it out!

I'm not a fan of the film, but how awesome is this BIRDS Barbie?

Because I also touch on the idea of books versus movies—specifically calling out Kenneth Branagh’s 1994 abomination, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein—in the comments section, Bell asked me if there are any films I deem better than the books . . . I’m stumped.

Do you know of any?  I’m having trouble here . . .

Remember, in the book, when the Creature decapitates Elizabeth and Dr. Frankenstein attaches her head to another body? No?? Oh yeah - because that doesn't happen.