She will be 12 in November, and I thought the movie was fine for her. I know there are many *longing* looks but I thought the actual *underwear scene* was way over-hyped, and I don't think the younger girls "get" some of the same messages that some of the older ones do. As far as the vampires, violence, etc., I think she's seen as bad or worse in the Harry Potter movies, and she's not the type to easily scare, anyway.

So now, she's going to read the first book ... After that, we'll see about the others as she gets older; of course, she'll want to read them all right away. It seems, though, that every Mom I talk to (in person) has let her 12 yr. old read them all already (not that that would influence me.) Thanks again to everybody who gave views in the previous thread we did!

Have you read them? The books are fantastic! AND there's a lot in the books about being 'pure' and saving sex for marriage. I read a quote by the guy who plays Edward in the movies and he said something along the lines of thing being ironic that books with a strong message about waiting for marriage has all of these girls writing him wanting not so innocent things from him...

Ha! Good one

yeah, the author of Twilight is Mormon, so there's a lot of Christian overtones in those books. and it's why i won't buy them. she gave a ton of money to pro-Proposition 8 organizations with the profits!

The Twilight series are crap. I have my BA in English Literature, and let me tell you, those books are just utter crap. I wouldn't let my daughter read them simply because it's an over-wrought melodramatic story that glorifies a psychotic relationship and abstinence. It's so poorly written. The relationship between Bella and Edward is so distorted and the girls reading these books sees him as an ideal mate.

The problem I have is that Edward is the only thing that's important to Bella. I have a life outside of my boyfriend, but she barely does and she neglects her friends for a guy, who stalks her while she's sleeping. And the creepiest thing of all: He wants to kill her and eat her.

Read this article: it's a feminist perspective on the books (and they talk about all of the books, so spoilers abound) and talks about how Meyer glorifies abstinence and basically creates a new genre: abstinence porn. And the only reason why he doesn't want to have sex (at all) is because he's afraid of killing her. What a great message that is! Sex can literally kill you! The only reason why the agree to wait until marriage is because Bella bribes him and basically says that she'll marry him only if he agrees to have sex with her.

http://*****magazine.org/article/bite-me-or-dont

And don't get me wrong, I read the series twice. And I do not and will not recommend it to anyone.

if you want to read a romance, read Pride and Prejudice. Something with actual literary merit.


EDIT: Stupid censoring. The website is www.b itch magazine.org/article/bite-me-or-dont

Actually, the movie opens up a lot of useful conversation, though I know it's not great literature!!! For instance, my DGD immediately said the relationship wasn't realistic, and that you wouldn't want that in real life, though it makes an interesting story. I think as long as you're discussing all this, it's fine for them to see.

Well that's good, she sounds a lot smarter than her peers. I dunno, I thought the movie was hilarious because it was so crappily done but other than that it was pretty useless. I was reading Agatha Christie when I was her age. I would encourage her to read books she'll get something out of. It's my belief as a book lover that books should always give you something in return. Jane Austen is fantastic for readers who want to get into more difficult material, and she sounds smart, so she might like it, along with Louisa May Alcott and Anne of Green Gables (awesome series). All these books are written by women who were ahead of their time, and are all about women ahead of their time.

sunflowergirl68, she's read the things you've mentioned, except for Agatha Christie, and one of her favorite stories/movies is "Pride & Prejudice." She's one of those kids who brought home laundry baskets of books from the library at a very young age, and reads voraciously. She likes the vampire aspect of Twilight, gets a kick out of that. (One of her favorite Halloween costumes is a vampire one! )

If she likes vampires, here's a website with a list of vamp books:

http://www.vampirelibrary.com/

http://www.vampirelibrary.com/lists/guide.htm (at the end is a list of YA)

When she reaches high school, she'll probably like Octavia Butler and Margaret Atwood.

I'm in library school, and I'm currently doing a project about dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels for YA. Here's my list! (If she likes vampires, she might like some of these... I highly recommend every single one.)

The opposite of perfection: ten dystopic young adult novels



Anderson, M.T. Feed. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2002.

Titus has an information feed hardwired into his brain; the feed tells him which trends to follow and helps him navigate the world. Anderson's deft crafting of extreme slang and believably flawed characters makes Feed a frighteningly realistic portrait of a future world where no one is safe, even in their own head. (Ages 14 and up)


Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic, 2008.


Once a year, each district in Panem (formerly the United States) sends two teenage tributes to compete in the Hunger Games. Only one person comes out of it alive; Katniss hopes it's her. This suspenseful, superb novel incorporates political intrigue with wilderness survival and science fiction. (Ages 13 and up)


Doctorow, Cory. Little Brother. New York: Tor Books, 2008.


Markus, aka w1n5t0n, is a teenager in a San Francisco that doesn't exist yet; it's a place of constant surveillance and fear. He's in the wrong place at the wrong time, and ends up being interrogated by the Department of Homeland Security for six days. Markus fights established protocols and invasive security tactics in an exciting novel that has been compared to 1984. (Ages 13 and up)


DuPrau, Jeanne. The City of Ember. New York: Yearling, 2004.


The only light in the city of Ember comes from electric lamps; if the lamps go out, the city will be left in utter darkness. Doon and Lina think that time is soon to come, and when Lina finds a mysterious document, the pair teams up to discover a way out of the city. This is a dark, engrossing novel about two young people who challenge everything they've ever known. (Ages 10 and up)


Farmer, Nancy. The House of the Scorpion. New York: Atheneum Books, 2002.

Matt is a clone of El Patron, the leader of a drug-producing country south of the United States. Matt is being groomed to replace El Patron when he dies; he is educated, pampered, and hated. Farmer's pacing and balanced writing makes this novel a gripping tale of morality, humanity, and science. (Ages 13 and up)


Goodman, Allegra. The Other Side of the Island. New York: Razorbill, 2009.


Honor wants to fit in on Island 365, so she worships Earth Mother and tries to be a good student for the Corporation. Her rebellious parents, on the other hand, refuse to act the way they should, and are imprisoned; Honor must rescue them. Goodman's twisting plot and omniscient narrator (who knows how the story ends) are innovative and well-crafted. (Ages 12 and up)


Ness, Patrick. The Knife of Never Letting Go. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2008.

A germ has killed all the women and given the men the strange ability to broadcast their thoughts to the world, in the form of Noise. Todd runs away from home, only to be chased by the townsfolk; he comes across a gap in the Noise, and everything he thought he knew about the world comes crashing down around him. The cliffhanger ending to this first of three Chaos Walking novels is like a punch to the stomach. (Ages 13 and up)


Pfeffer, Susan Beth. the dead and the gone. New York: Harcourt Books, 2008.


Alex's parents are away the night the moon tilts, and they don't come back. He must take care of his sisters and deal with having to grow up much too quickly. Readers will easily picture themselves in Pfeffer's story. (Ages 13 and up)


Pow, Tom. The Pack. New Milford, Conn.: Roaring Brook Press, 2004.


Bradley and his friends are The Pack: semi-feral children living in a destroyed world inhabited by dogs. An old woman takes care of the Pack, making sure they don't turn wild again, but when one of the children is kidnapped, Bradley and his friends must go on a dangerous journey to face a warlord. The violence and grim reality of this novel make it a gritty, intelligent read. (Ages 12 and up)


Ryan, Carrie. The Forest of Hands and Teeth. New York: Delacorte Press, 2009.


Night of the Living Dead meets romance: Mary lives in a village surrounded by a fence to keep out the undead, but she's just as scared of them as she is of being married off to a man she doesn't love. Mary and a group of villagers must fight off the zombies while they deal with their own personal issues. Ryan's novel is a great entrée into zombie literature because it's not overly gory and actually has a plot. (Ages 14 and up)

Thanks so much for the vampire book recommendations, ladies!!! I will definitely check them out for my DGD... I have now bought her the first two Twilight books, and she is thrilled.

if you ever need more recommendations, your DGD is in the demographic i plan to work with!

All I can say is that my 16 yr old daughter, my 24 yr old daughter and I really loved the books. I liked the fact that there was nothing in the books that I had to worry about being explicit. It also opened up a lot of conversations between my 16 yr old and myself, especially as far as Bella being consumed with Edward and how it really wasn't healthy to be that single minded. I would read the series again and I know my dd's have.

Your post kinda cracks me up, no offense but why would you read past the first book much less the whole series..much less TWICE if its such crap. Now I'll admit its not the best writing, to me the biggest problem was editing, but the stories are amazing. What Stephanie needs is a new editor! That so called "crap" has sold millions and millions and millions of copies to both teens and adults, been on the best sellers list for how long? And is good enough to have people clamoring over themselves to make the books into movies.

Now I respect that you dont like it but c'mon....if it truly were "crap" it wouldnt be the sensation it is. The books were written for teens and for entertainment, its hard to put an adult perspective on a teenage world. This is romance genre, its not really supposed to be about learning a lesson and being true to life, thats why its fiction.

I hated vampires till I read the Twilight series. That darn Stephanie Meyers got me addicted!

I don't understand why its horrible to encourage abstinence? I realize in this day in age its unrealistic, but I don't see any harm in encouraging it.

As for the series of books, please don't make us all feel like we are uncultured boobs because we liked it. Sure, we don't have a doctorate in literature and obviously have an uneducated opinion on writing, but this series got millions of girls reading that would have maybe been watching tv or texting otherwise. Whether it is perfect literature is irrelevant, people were reading and being entertained and that is all that matters.

Just because you didn't like it doesn't make it crap. Its just not your taste or style of reading.