Author: Stephenie Meyer
Publisher: Little, Brown and Co.
Copyright: 2005
ISBN: 9780316160179
Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 9-12
Genre: Paranormal and Horror--Monsters--Vampires
Reader’s Annotation: Bella's sleepy new home town turns out to be more interesting than she thought--it's also home to a family of gorgeous vampires.
Plot Summary
When 17-year-old Bella’s mom moves to Florida with her new husband, Bella decides to try living with her dad. He’s the police chief of the tiny town of Forks, Washington, where it rains all year round. Bella is shy, but the kids at her new high school are friendly. One boy, though, won’t stop glaring at her. He is Edward Cullen, one of the five ethereal Cullen siblings. Some mystery surrounds them, and they hold themselves aloof from the other students. Fascinated by Edward’s beauty and intensity, Bella is determined to discover his secret. With the help of stories from a flirtatious Native American boy, Jacob, and following an amazing display of speed and strength by Edward, she learns that he and the other Cullens are vampires. Noble vampires, though—they feed only on animals. Edward admits that his staring was not hatred but attraction. (Bella’s blood smells irresistibly good to him.) Soon the two are mooning over each other, though Edward maintains that he can’t trust himself not to hurt Bella. The other Cullens somewhat grudgingly let Bella into their lives. All is well until another vampire pack comes into town and gets a whiff of Bella, forcing her to leave Forks immediately.
Critical Evaluation
Though I’ve seen the first three movies, Twilight is the only one of Meyers’s books I’ve read. I was put off by the amount of sighing the characters do. It seems that every time Edward and Bella speak their words are preceded or followed by “s/he sighed.” Though there are compelling elements in the story—the Cullen family’s history, the hatred between vampires and the local native people, the star-crossed lovers motif—there isn’t enough of it. A large percentage of the book’s 500+ pages is taken up with moony descriptions of Edward’s beauty and Bella’s feelings about him. The pacing is slow and the plot is thin. By the time the action finally kicks in, the book is almost over, and the resolution comes too quickly and easily. Furthermore, the main characters are boring. I found it hard to be interested in Bella’s thoughts because she has very little personality. What does she do for fun? What does she find funny? These questions go unanswered. The same is true of Edward. He may be beautiful and powerful, but he doesn’t have anything interesting to say. Though I’m not invested in these books, I consider myself “Team Jacob” because when Jacob and Bella are together they have actual conversations.
Curriculum Ties: N/A
Booktalking Ideas
Explain "star-crossed" love and why Edward and Bella's relationship is in this category.
Read Jacob's story about "the cold ones."
Challenge Issues: Sexual tension, mild violence
In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." I'll include positive reviews from School Library Journal, Kliatt, and Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices and mixed reviews from Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, and The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Book.
About the Author
Stephenie Meyer's life changed dramatically on June 2, 2003. The stay-at-home mother of three young sons woke up from a dream featuring seemingly real characters that she could not get out of her head.
"Though I had a million things to do, I stayed in bed, thinking about the dream. Unwillingly, I eventually got up and did the immediate necessities, and then put everything that I possibly could on the back burner and sat down at the computer to write—something I hadn't done in so long that I wondered why I was bothering."
Meyer invented the plot during the day through swim lessons and potty training, and wrote it out late at night when the house was quiet. Three months later she finished her first novel, Twilight. With encouragement from her older sister (the only other person who knew she had written a book), Meyer submitted her manuscript to various literary agencies. Twilight was picked out of a slush pile at Writer's House and eventually made its way to the publishing company Little, Brown where everyone fell immediately in love with the gripping, star-crossed lovers.
Twilight was one of 2005's most talked about novels and within weeks of its release the book debuted at #5 on The New York Timesbestseller list. Among its many accolades, Twilight was named an "ALA Top Ten Books for Young Adults," an Amazon.com "Best Book of the Decade...So Far", and a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year.
The highly-anticipated sequel, New Moon, was released in September 2006, and spent more than 25 weeks at the #1 position on The New York Times bestseller list.
In 2007, Eclipse literally landed around the world and fans made the Twilight Saga a worldwide phenomenon! With midnight parties and vampire-themed proms the enthusiasm for the series continued to grow.
On May 6, 2008, Little, Brown and Company released The Host, Meyer's highly-anticipated novel for adults which debuted at #1 on The New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. The Host still remains a staple on the bestseller lists more than a year after its debut.
On August 2, 2008, the final book in the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn was released at 12:01 midnight. Stephenie made another appearance on "Good Morning America" and was featured in many national media outlets, including Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek, People Magazine and Variety. Stephenie headlined the Breaking Dawn Concert Series with Justin Furstenfeld (lead singer of Blue October) to celebrate the release in four major markets across the US. Breaking Dawn sold 1.3 million copies in its first 24 hours.
The Twilight movie, directed by Catherine Hardwicke and starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, was released on November 21, 2008. Twilight debuted at #1 at the box office with $70 million, making it the highest grossing opening weekend for a female director.
Stephenie lives in Arizona with her husband and three sons.
http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/bio.html
Why is this title included?
The first book in a wildly popular series, Twilight is bound to be in demand for some time to come.