The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Taking a page from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, in which the food gets bigger and bigger. It's the tale of one starving caterpillar who just eats more and more and more until it looks like he's going to explode. Think of the variety of foods, and travels he can take looking for the one item that will satisfy his cravings. Once he reaches a critical mass, he'll grow a pupa and turn into a beautiful butterfly satisfied with only drinking for the rest of his existence. Could be made more adult by adding a dark tale ending in rehab. Also, the lead role should ideally be played by Heimlich from A Bug's Life.

Blueberries for Sal
It's a sweet story about a human mother and child who go wandering off to pick blueberries and the child gets separated and meets up with a mother bear, while the bear cub follows the oblivious human. Someone really should have called DFCS on this lady, but anyway, it could be done in a twisted way by the folks who made Coraline (they've can use her vivid hair color for the blueberries!), and maybe have a slightly grislier encounter between the two mothers, that of course ends happily. I don't necessarily want to scar all kids for life.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
If the Madagascar franchise can be entirely framed around the "Move It" song, then surely this one can use "Boom Boom Pow" as its title theme. The story is about an alphabet that climbs a tree until the tree collapses and all the letters get crushed. In the theatrical version, it would be told from the perspective of the letter A, who has to deal with all 25 other letters climbing all over him.

Strega Nona
The title character is sort of this old, mysterious witchy lady who helps cure headaches and can even get girls dates, and has invented the never-ending pasta bowl, that gets out of control because of her bumbling friend Big Anthony. In the live-action version, Strega could work at the Olive Garden as head chef, and need to take a few days off to do a guest stint on The Bachelorette to work her magic on the potential husbands. When she comes back, the Olive Garden kitchen is over-flowing with pasta and she's got to find a solution to the problem.

Guess How Much I Love You?
What's cuter than talking animated bunnies? Not much. I'd love to see Miyazaki take a spin at this simple short story about a father and son bunny trying to outdo each other with how much they love each other. It would be sweet, fanciful and totally gorgeous looking.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
This has been done as a TV special, but is perfect for a big screen live action adaptation. One down on his luck kid can't get anything right, rebels against family until his rotten luck changes. Simple and a surefire hit. Not sure why they actually haven't made this one yet.

Lyle, Lyle Crocodile
A crocodile in the city. It's got to be better than Barney. Lyle's pretty much a nanny to the Primm family. Ideally, in my little mind, it would be a blend of live-action and animation, where the humans are real and the crocodile (and the snotty cat) gets animated Alvin and the Chipmunks-style. Russell Crowe would play Mr. Grumps.

No, David!
This book has about five words in it, but this newer Caldecott Honor Book is a hoot, with a mischievous boy doing things basically to just piss off his parents, who pretty much shout "No, David!" to everything he does. Think of the troublesome scenarios the animators could invent for him, the schemes that David could come up with, and if done with the books vibrant color palate, it would be great.

Pat the Bunny
3-D animators can have a field day with this, showing off the texture of the bunny on the big screen. The tickets should also come with a book of textures, to bring Feel-O-Vision to the mainstream. Actually, let's strike that because the implications of Feel-O-Vision and the adult film industry are just two things I don't want to think about. Let's go back to an adventure, that's all Honey, I Shrunk the Kids style as the toddler exploring the world around him, trying on a giant ring, encountering a massive mirror and playing with the title bunny, who will naturally be the hero of the tale, bringing the toddler back to its parents.

Goodnight Moon
The simple story has been done as part of an HBO special, but never received full-length feature treatment, and its about time. Instead of just sitting and going through a nursery and saying "goodnight" to particular items, the story will have to be fleshed. Following one exhausted child as the moon goes missing during the "new moon" portion of its monthly cycle and he/she goes on a quest to find it and wish it goodnight before he can finally fall asleep. Crossover with the Twilight franchise a possibility.

Other children's book adaptations you'd like to see? Leave 'em below.