Twlight by Stephenie Meyer

1) a) Bibliography:
Meyer, Stephenie. (2005.) Twilight. New York: Little, Brown and Company. 498 pp.
b) Genre and Awards:
Teen Fiction/Fantasy.
A New York Times Editor's Choice
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
An Amazon "Best Book of the Decade...So Far"
A Teen People "Hot List" pick
An American Library Association "Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults" and
"Top Ten Books for Reluctant Readers"
Has been translated into 20 languages

2) Synopsis: Bella, a 17 year old High School student leaves her home of Phoenix to live with her dad in Forks, Washington. She meets and falls completely in love with a boy, who may have a secret...

3) a) Characterization: Bella and Edward, the main characters, are extremely haunting. Readers will fall in love with their romance, and love the in-depth portrayals of teen love. Charlie, and all the Cullens are also lovable and memorable characters. Meyers does a great job introducing people to her "cast" and her "world."
b) Plot: Bella struggles to find her place in her new high school. She has the attention of every boy she doesn't want...and can't figure out the one that she does. From the opening page, this book is so hard to put down.
c) Theme: Young love! Acceptance.
d) Setting: Forks, Washington. An extremely small town, with rain and cloudy skies every day...ideal setting for the not-quite-human.
e) Style and Effectiveness: Meyer's writing style is perfect for young girls, however, I don't feel her repetitive descriptions of Edward's beauty would appeal to the male audience at all. My 13 year old cousin read and loved this book, as did I, at 25! Apparently this book is quite effective.
f) Value and Concerns: My only concern with this book is the underlying sexual tension. Edward and Bella openly discuss the "physical" aspects of their relationship, and it is only Edward's thirsting after Bella's blood that keeps them apart. I am not sure if this is appropriate for Junior High and younger. However, the tension of abstaining is what the high school girls are eating up!
g) Needs of Adolescents: All adolescents are very considered with feeling accepted by members of the opposite sex. The relationships they have are very important to them, no matter how long (or short) they last. This book treats young love as such, very important, and vital to Bella and Edward. I think young adults will appreciate the deep love story. I also believe moving in the middle of High School like Bella did is a terrifying experience. Though she makes new friends, like Jess, the other girls are still very critical of her. She does well adjusting, and the town of Forks is very accepting, which is a good message.
h) Multicultural Issues: I think acceptance of all people is a theme of this book. The characters of Jacob and the other characters from the reservation near Forks introduce a different ethnicity, and add another layer of acceptance to the story. It does deal with humans versus The Cold Ones...and if we can accept dangerous vampires, surely other genders and cultures are accepted as well! :)

4) Possible ClassroomUses: I think this book would not be appropriate for read alouds or whole class discussions, because I don't believe the boys would be interested. It would work for small groups of girls, or individual reading.

5) Appropriate Age Range: junior high girls with guidance, and high school.

6) I personally really enjoyed this book. I fell in love with Bella, and think Edward sounds pretty appealing! My only criticism was that the flowery language sometimes got a little repetitive. I know she was trying to capture the essence of young love, but I found myself wanting to get to the meat of what is happening next, instead of yet another description of Edward's muscular pale wonderfully formed chest. All in all, I would (and have!) reccommended this book to others! I can't wait to read the sequels.