Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This week’s topic: What Movie Do You Wish Had Been a Book First? (and, to add, if it WERE a book, who should have written it?)

Assuming we’re staying on a YA path today, I’m choosing 2004’s The Girl Next Door. Emile Hirsch plays Matthew, the naive, over-achieving high school senior with big dreams, and Elisha Cuthbert plays Danielle, the sweet, weirdly endearing former porn star who moves in next door.

Ooh, I bet I stopped you with the whole porn star mention! Yeah, I felt that way too when I first read the blurb on the back of The Girl Next Door at Blockbuster several years ago. Who wants to watch a movie about porn stars?  Still, I rented it because I love movies set high school and, let’s face it,  Emile Hirsch is pretty easy on the eyes.

I watched… and fell totally in love. The Girl Next Door is fast-paced, funny, sweet, and oddly realistic for all its shenanigans. It’s no raunchier than say, American Pie or Superbad, the soundtrack is fabulous, and the characters (for the most part) are incredibly likeable. Like all timeless teen movies, there’s skinny dipping, clueless parents, and prom. And the ending… it’s surprising and refreshingly mature. I watch The Girl Next Door EVERY time it comes on TV.

The book version of The Girl Next Door would be SUCH a fun read, and in my opinion, would fall neatly onto upper YA contemporary bookshelves. It has everything that’s popular in YA right now: big hook, steep character arcs, major stakes, a little adventure and a lot of steaminess. So, while it’s not something you can pick up in paperback form at Borders, I still recommend watching The Girl Next Door the next time you’re looking for a great movie.

What about you? What movie would you have loved to see in book form?