The film was so close too. They had the art direction and casting perfect. But then the studio interfered and they chickened out on the plot so as not to "offend" anyone, and the final story was just a sad, watered-down version of itself with no punch at all. It would make a better miniseries as you say, but I think you're right-- HBO is probably the only network that would do it justice, and they don't do YA stuff.

Still. It could have been worse-- it could have been like the movie adaptation of The Dark is Rising. I didn't even see it, but as I heard they changed the character, setting, and a good chunk of the plot. Why even call it the same name?