It was a huge week in the movie world this Thanksgiving, as Wicked and Gladiator II continued their streaks and Moana 2 premiered to huge numbers. So I thought, while listening once again to the Wicked soundtrack, why not recommend books that I think fit some of the characters from these huge films? After all, we’ll have to wait to get copies of the movies themselves at our libraries. So here’s 2 books I think fit each of these 7 characters well.

WICKED

Elphaba Thropp

Elphaba’s existence within the world of Oz is dictated by her green skin and her magical powers, leading some to fear or dislike her and some to try to manipulate her for their own gain. I truly think that Namina Forna’s The Gilded Ones is the perfect trilogy for an Elphaba lover. Following Deka, who has already felt isolated from those around her, the first book chronicles the aftermath of a blood ceremony that reveals gold instead of red (the color of impurity) and the strange woman that offers her a place among a group of near imortals called alaki, an army of girls just like her.

Likewise, Jessica Lewis’s Monstrous is a perfect Elphaba pick, featuring a girl forced to make terrifying decisions and aligning with ancient powers. Lavinia is staying with her aunt for just six weeks in a small Alabama town, but the suspicious neighbors are not the strangest thing about the town. No, that’s the fact that she’s dragged out of her bed in the middle of the night and offered as a human sacrifice. But the ancient monster only takes willing sacrifices and instead they decide to team up.

G(a)linda Upland

Galinda, sorry Glinda has a huge emotional journey over the course of Wicked (in both the movie and the complete arc as it stands in the musical) and tends to make decisions based off of what her own comfort level is, even if it ends up leading to worse outcomes for everyone (herself included). Ready or Not by Andi Potetta also has characters on the verge of big changes making questionable decisions, though in this case it’s about trying to keep a friend group together. It’s also filled with stunning art and colorful pages, as sparkly as Glinda herself.

Wish You Weren’t Here by Erin Baldwin is for the Galinda of “What is This Feeling”, because I think she’d see herself greatly in Priya Pendley, the popular girl with a cute boyfriend, adoring fans, and everything else you could want. Juliette is on her way to a Priya-free week at camp, until Priya shows up on move-in day, and Juliette learns that her roommate is none other than Priya herself.

Fiyero Tigelaar

The name of the game for Fiyero is charm, because boy does he have charm oozing out of every pore. So naturally, a story about a charming swashbuckling Prince falling in love with a witch who is disliked by society because of her powers and desired for those same powers by one who would manipulate her…Fiyero might be Prince of Winkie country and not of pirates, but I think Sinner’s Isle by Angela Montoya is right up his alley.

And speaking of princes, let’s talk about Prince Jadon, who is cleaning up his image after a public (and viral) breakup. Prince of the Palisades by Julian Winters, like Fiyero, is effortlessly charming, as Jadon finds love unexpectedly while trying to stay out of trouble.

MOANA 2

Moana

There’s no book I think Moana would enjoy more than Isle of Blood and Stone by Makiia Lucier. Elias is a royal explorer, about to head to uncharted waters when the discovery of a hidden riddle upends everything the people of St. John del Mar believe–one that may tie to the fate of two missing princes and Elias’s missing father.

In a very close second though is Liar’s Test by Ambelin Kwaymullina. which is about Bell, a Treesinger who is competing in the Queen’s Test against six other girls to determine who will rule for the next twenty-five years. The Treesingers were invaded by the Risen, and she’s looking for revenge against them and to help her people.

Loto

Loto is a new character in Moana 2, and she’s an craftswoman and inventor who is always seeking to improve the canoe. Alesta in Leanne Schwartz’s To A Darker Shore is a teen inventor on a journey, one where she’s seeking to find a friend that took a punishment meant for her. That journey leads her to depths farther than she’s traveled before, all the way to hell.

Clementine in Wendy Xu’s The Infinity Particle is also an inventor, though she works with technology. She’s working for an AI pioneer, whose assistant is a humanoid AI named Kye.

Moni

Moni, like Loto, is a new character in Moana 2, and he chronicles a lot of Motonui’s history. There’s a lot of great multigenerational stories in YA, but I thought Moni would enjoy Randy Ribay’s Everything We Never Had. Spanning four generations, from 1930 to 2020, it follows Francisco, Emil, Chris, and Enzo through working in the fields of California to a grandfather moving in during the pandemic in Philadelphia.

I think Moni would also really enjoy Rachel Moore’s Us in Ruins, where Margot is on the hunt in Pompeii to find and reassemble an ancient and cursed vase using the journal of a lost teen explorer to guide her. But when she finds a statue that looks like the boy from the journal, she’s shocked when the statue comes to life.

GLADIATOR II

Lucius Verus Aurelius

Lucius’s tale is one of revenge, battle, and legacy. For the first especially, there’s no better place to look than Emily Varga’s For She is Wrath, a retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo. Dania was imprisoned for nearly a year after being framed for a crime she didn’t commit, and now is on he hunt for revenge against the one who betrayed her.

On the battle side of things, it’s hard to find anything more epic than Sarah Raughley’s The Bones of Ruin, featuring Iris, an African tightrope dancer in Victorian London who cannot die. She’s pulled into the Tournament of Freaks, a competition put on by a committee who believes the apocalypse is imminent.

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