I read the Twilight saga by Stephanie Meyer straight through in the last week;  the perfect way to end the summer!  The books get longer and longer:  Twilight – 498 pages, New Moon – 563 pages, Eclipse – 629 pages, and Breaking Dawn (just released) – 756 pages.  But readers won’t be counting!  (They also won’t be getting their house cleaned before school starts!)

I had heard the hype about the books but remained a skeptic.  Female high school student transfers to a small town and falls in love with a vampire?  That isn’t a genre that would normally interest me.  I’m not a fan of horror, but The Twilight Saga is not really horror…and it isn’t exactly romance.  But whatever it is – it is terrific!  Young adult males are recommending the series to their friends, too, so it isn’t just chick-lit!  Part of the appeal is that it is an unprecedented genre – sort of Dark Shadows meets Mary Stewart (queen of romantic suspense).  Indeed Edward Cullen is the most appealing vampire since Barnabas Collins and he and Bella Swan provide plenty of G-rated steam throughout the series.  (Meyer successfully takes a cue from the old movies – what you don’t see/read can be sexier than what you do!) 

The first and the fourth in the saga are more action packed and suspenseful making them the best reads.  The fourth book is the creepiest and will probably be more satisfying to fans of horror than the first books.  Books two and three had me tired of Bella’s alternating self-serving, self-depreciating, selfless and then selfish behaviors.  (Of course, this also made her a realistic American teenage girl!)  But I was beginning to question exactly why both Jacob and Edward were in love with her?  I wanted them to dump her for someone with a spine!

When the relationship boils over in the fourth book it remains creatively G-rated, but the intense relationship between Bella and Edward makes this series of novels a bit mature for middle school readers.  Edward’s fantastic self-control and “old-fashioned values” allow the couple to spend most nights in bed together without having sex in the first three novels, however I don’t recommend teens attempt this at home!  After all, there is only one Edward… and he is fictional!  Definitely fictional!

The Twilight Saga are terrific YA fiction but for my community they are more appropriate for high school so I am choosing not to include them at my 6-8 school.  Public libraries might as well buy a set of the books for their adult section because their adult readership probably matches that of Harry Potter.  I know I’m recommending them to my friends in spite of the fact that Bella is a predictable YA damsel-in-distress who is inexplicably attracted to the guy that is (more than slightly) dark and dangerous.  Add fast cars, fantastic battles, and the afore-mentioned G-rated steam and, well… you might as well read them….  But clean your house and get the laundry done first!