Anyone not like the Twilight series?

[PWS]

Agree with you both--I'm for anything that gets people to read. In my psych of women class students have to read something from a list of autobiographies (or thinly fictionalized autobiographies), and I had a young man come see me at the end of the class. He'd read Rubyfruit Jungle (a coming of age story about a very feisty young lesbian in case you haven't read it), and he told me that it was the first book he'd read all the way through since 3rd grade (including my textbook no doubt since he didn't do all that well on the tests), and he wanted to know if there more books "like that" out there. It was a revelation to him that there would be books he'd enjoy reading. I had trouble not crying for him. So, Go, Twilight!

[AJane]

I'm enjoying this discussion here. I teach middle school. Remember that that is the target audience. They are sick to death of politically correct (good role models). A lot of the kids who read this series over and over and buy the commercialized products and have seen the movie dozens of times are the "goths". Good luck getting them to buy into anything, let alone read the same series of books multiple times and actually discuss what they've read. I agree that if you're judging by adult standards, the writing isn't top notch. And if you are a fan of the vampire genre, you may have a beef with her taking a different approach to vampires. But for better or worse, these books have captured the imagination of a generation of young adults for several years now. Not just a flash in the pan. As the other movies come out, they will fan the flames again. I guess my point is, getting certain young adults to read anything is difficult, so a series that encourages them to read has value.

Thank you! Gut, I think my daughter's teacher thinks the same way you do - she has allowed my daughter and a couple of other girls who are huge fans of the series to bring them in for free reading time instead of making them read the "leveled" readers that are too easy for them. It's all about encouraging reading, rather than lobbing literary critcism at books geared towards a young age group.

I bolded your other statement because I agree with that sentiment wholeheartedly. There is nothing wrong with a fairy tale or a love story for just what it is. My kids have a book of original Hans Christian Anderson stories, and they know the *real* Little Mermaid didn't live happily ever after with the prince and they cried over The Little Match Girl frozen in the street. Not everything has to be Disneyfied and sanitized - why are we so afraid to let kids experience different emotions, particularly through literature? I'm not saying I let my kids (my older, my youngest is in kindergarten) read anything, explicit sex or violence or foul language is off-limits for now. But I want them to feed their imaginations with something other than TV drivel like Hannah Montana or Spongebob.

[Pandora Box]

The problem that I have with this argument is that carrots and cucumbers are real and factual things. Vampires are fictional, therefore (IMO) people are at liberty to apply whatever characteristics they want to them. I didn't think Meyer went THAT FAR outside the box in her description, I personally hought it was a fresh viewpoint on an old legend.

I also wanted to mention that I agree with Gutmutter. With some kids it is hard to get them to read anything at all, so any book that sparks their interest is a positive. It may inspire them to look for other books they might enjoy!!!

True, but the entire concept of the vampire originated from folklore tales and legends from mainly Eastern Europe where the dead would rise to feed on the blood of the living. There were reports of such creatures roaming the countryside. Of course they aren't real but many had a strong belief in them. While there's no single definitive description of them, the basics stayed the same. Then there's the image of the suave, seductive Byron-esque figure from Dracula and Carmilla (lesbian vampires! It's actually an amazing book, I recommend it) and Anne Rice's books. Even today there are legends of vampires around the world (can you tell that I did my research? Self confessed geek here ) The characteristics can change but not to the point where you can't call it a vampire. Fictional or not, there is a canon and nerds like me care about it. I think I might be repeating myself here so I'll get off my soapbox.

I'm all for non PC books for kids (well, within reason obviously - having said that I was reading Hannibal Lecter ay 13 and I'm perfectly sane...) but Twilight is an odd box. It has a ridiculously abusive relationship at the centre of it that's supposed to be the perfect romance (a guy who could kill you creeping into your room at night while you sleep, how sweet) and then the paedophilia in the later books which is unforgiveable. Yet it's all a big 'Just say no' message as well - no sex until you're married or you'll die! (slight exaggeration but not without reason) I hope that the kids who read these books go on to read other great pieces of literature and develop a love for reading the same way that I did after reading Harry Potter, but with the sheer bat-mad insane antics that the Twi-hards have reportedly been caught up in, I do have fears.

[PWS]

True, but the entire concept of the vampire originated from folklore tales and legends from mainly Eastern Europe where the dead would rise to feed on the blood of the living. There were reports of such creatures roaming the countryside. Of course they aren't real but many had a strong belief in them. While there's no single definitive description of them, the basics stayed the same. Then there's the image of the suave, seductive Byron-esque figure from Dracula and Carmilla (lesbian vampires! It's actually an amazing book, I recommend it) and Anne Rice's books. Even today there are legends of vampires around the world (can you tell that I did my research? Self confessed geek here ) The characteristics can change but not to the point where you can't call it a vampire. Fictional or not, there is a canon and nerds like me care about it. I think I might be repeating myself here so I'll get off my soapbox.

I'm all for non PC books for kids (well, within reason obviously - having said that I was reading Hannibal Lecter ay 13 and I'm perfectly sane...) but Twilight is an odd box. It has a ridiculously abusive relationship at the centre of it that's supposed to be the perfect romance (a guy who could kill you creeping into your room at night while you sleep, how sweet) and then the paedophilia in the later books which is unforgiveable. Yet it's all a big 'Just say no' message as well - no sex until you're married or you'll die! (slight exaggeration but not without reason) I hope that the kids who read these books go on to read other great pieces of literature and develop a love for reading the same way that I did after reading Harry Potter, but with the sheer bat-mad insane antics that the Twi-hards have reportedly been caught up in, I do have fears.

?? What antics are these? I've missed something apparently... obviously you mean something beyond just reading the books 18 times and seeing the movie a dozen since HP fans did that!

[ClosetRTWatcher]

I'm all for non PC books for kids (well, within reason obviously - having said that I was reading Hannibal Lecter ay 13 and I'm perfectly sane...) but Twilight is an odd box. It has a ridiculously abusive relationship at the centre of it that's supposed to be the perfect romance (a guy who could kill you creeping into your room at night while you sleep, how sweet) and then the paedophilia in the later books which is unforgiveable. Yet it's all a big 'Just say no' message as well - no sex until you're married or you'll die! (slight exaggeration but not without reason) I hope that the kids who read these books go on to read other great pieces of literature and develop a love for reading the same way that I did after reading Harry Potter, but with the sheer bat-mad insane antics that the Twi-hards have reportedly been caught up in, I do have fears.

Someone I know told me they had been told about the big "abstinence" message in Twilight and that the entire point of the whole series was all about abstaining. I thought it was rather ridiculous. I didn't feel like it was in my face the whole time and I appreciated that the series made the point that a couple can be "sensual" without having sex.

Although I thought the whole "imprinting" thing was kind of creepy, I accepted the way that it was explained. I think it is an exaggeration to call it "pedophilia" given that no older person ever made a sexual advance toward a child in the series. I recently finished reading the vampire novel "Let the Right One In" - this novel did deal with this issue. It was highly disturbing, and no this one was NOT geared toward young people!!

I also have to agree with the last poster. I haven't heard of anything about Twilight fans acting crazier than Harry Potter fans.

[AJane]

?? What antics are these? I've missed something apparently... obviously you mean something beyond just reading the books 18 times and seeing the movie a dozen since HP fans did that!

I guess I missed something, too. The fans seem to be having a great time reading the books and anticipating the next movie and I'm not sure what's to fear about that.

Anyway, this is all stuff that's been discussed upthread - Pandora Box, you say "abusive relationship" (a term that shouldn't be thrown around so cavalierly...abusive relationships aren't romances and Edward is no more "stalkerish" than Juliet's Romeo, and through all 4 books it's made abundantly clear that he worships Bella and cannot stand the thought of harming her). The charge of pedophilia is another that I think is used carelessly when one considers the actions of actual pedophiles (which are real, unlike vampires).
The "no sex until marriage or you die" isn't quite right, either. Edward, a young man who originally belongs to another century, desires marriage whereas Bella, a more modern product of a broken home, isn't so keen. In the fourth book, their discussions of sex and marriage does stray into older-adult territory, but it's more palatable for young people to read about that than the Hannibal Lecter series (which as a horror fan I own and enjoy, though that last book and movie were really sub-par), which is chock-full of the most gruesome violence imaginable. The Twilight series is free of obscene language and (putting in spoilers in case someone is reading this and hasn't read the final book yet)

.
The what-makes-a-true-vampire charge is one of those things that I'd have to agree to disagree on, but I'm curious why no one has complained about the werewolves in Twilight, whose supernatural ability is inherited rather than foisted upon them by a bite from a werewolf, and can change into beasts at will. Not to mention that they don't age and even in human form, grow to an immense size. I guess werewolf fans aren't as passionate as vampire ones.

Anyway, I've said before that if one doesn't enjoy the series, that's certainly a matter of personal taste and Lord knows there have been many very popular bestsellers that I've hated. But I really have to question such extreme charges about the story when terms like "abusive relationship" and "pedophilia" are bandied about. To me, those are serious subjects and though I would never presume to speak for the author, I can't believe that she intended her characters to be portrayed as such. It's kind of like complaining that Cinderella was so weak-willed that she couldn't get up the gumption to leave the house without a fairy godmother's assistance, or that Snow White wasn't much good for anything except housecleaning and waiting around for a rich man to ask her to marry him. You could look at it that way or you could just take those stories for what they are - fairy tales with the promise of true love, which every young person dreams about at some point in their lives. Everyone reads for different reasons, but I think most really avid readers read for pure escapism, at least some of the time. It's good to have a little of that along with the heavier literature, I think.

[Cootie]

I am having issues with my students in elementary school reading the Twilight books. Many children as young as first grade have stated that they saw the movie. And some students a little older are reading the books or their parents are reading them to them. They want to know why I don't buy them for my K-5 school. Yikes.

[Ionan]

The what-makes-a-true-vampire charge is one of those things that I'd have to agree to disagree on, but I'm curious why no one has complained about the werewolves in Twilight, whose supernatural ability is inherited rather than foisted upon them by a bite from a werewolf, and can change into beasts at will. Not to mention that they don't age and even in human form, grow to an immense size. I guess werewolf fans aren't as passionate as vampire ones.

[AJane]

That's true, but one thing I didn't get was

. That bit confused me.

As far as to how old kids should be before they read the books, I think you have to consider the individual child. Really young kids aren't good enough readers to manage the books, anyway, and I'm surprised they would be interested in watching a movie that is mainly a teen love story. My mother never censored my reading material - I started reading at a very young age and in elementary I read books well above the standard reading level - and while I don't allow my kids movies or video games that have bad language and explicit sex or violence, I don't censor reading material though I do guide and suggest. I haven't had a problem thus far as my older daughter has been receptive to the books that I do recommend to her.

[Ionan]