A Word About Twilight

Meyer, Stephanie. The Twilight Saga. Little, Brown Young Readers, 2008. ISBN 0316031844

I must make the point of saying, first and foremost, that these books can be addicting. It's the type of story that the reader begins and then looks up at the clock and suddenly realizes an entire afternoon is gone. This fact, and the fact that there is very little objectionable material in the stories, would seemingly make it ideal for tweens. However, I must disagree.

Although there are scores of tweens reading these books and watching the movies, I feel that this series is better suited for young adults. My reasoning for this is due to themes presented throughout that require some maturity to fully grasp or understand: mortality, damnation, sexuality, violence and what some have said are unhealthy, codependent romantic relationships, to name a few.

That being said, I can also appreciate that at least the tweens reading these novels are indeed reading. If I knew a tween personally and felt he or she were ready for such themes and would discuss them openly, then I would most definitely not prohibit them from enjoying a delightfully captivating work of fiction. A word of caution and a grain of salt is all I'm asking. Especially because these books are so wildly popular, and many tweens, who never would have looked at them otherwise, are feeling pressured to read it simply in order to fit in.