Twilght

Twilight by Stephanie Meyers
544 pages
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
ISBN: 
0316160172
Reading Level/Lexile:  9th grade and up/720L

Genre:  Fantasy, Romance

Annotation/Teaser:  Bella moves to Forks, Washington, and falls in love with the new mysterious and handsome Edward Cullen.  But Edward has a secret.  He is a vampire.  Will this relationship cause danger to Bella and everyone she loves?

Plot Summary: Bella is seventeen years old and has just moved to Forks, Washington.  She has volunteered to go live her dad so that her newly married mom can spend time with her husband.  Bella feels her new life is drab and boring until she sees the Cullens.  The Cullens are 5 siblings who are beautiful and mysterious because they only socialize with each other.  Edward seems the most interested in her but is hostile toward her when they have classes together.  As Bella gets to know Edward better, she realizes just how baffling and confusing he can be.  Soon after, Bella meets Jacob Black on a beach trip to La Push Indian Reservation.  It is rumored on the reservation that the Cullens are vampires.  Bella decides to do a little internet research and the pieces start to come together.  Unfortunately, Bella decides she is already too in love with Edward and can't worry about him being a vampire.   Bella begins to spend time with the Cullens and finds out that their father trains them to kill animals for their blood thirst.  Bella and Edward grow closer and things are going smoothly until a visiting vampire clan shows up.  James, one of the male vampires, becomes obsessed with Bella, and wants to kill her for sport.  The Cullens make it their mission to protect Bella from this vampire and his obsession. 

About The Author:  Stephanie Meyer 
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 Times bestseller 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.

Stephanie Meyer Bio (n.d.) Retrieved from www.stephaniemeyer.com

Critical Evaluation:  One of the first things I noticed was the apple on the cover of the book.  I found that the apple is an allegory. The apple in this case represents temptation.  Another place where the apple is representative of temptation is in the Bible in the story of Adam and Eve.  The cover is not the only place in Twilight where the apple can be seen.  As Bella sits in the cafeteria at Forks High School, she turns an apple over and over in her hands as she contemplates giving into the temptation of pursuing a relationship with Edward. 
There are many examples of imagery in this book.  Especially when Meyers describes the beauty of Edward and the Cullens.  "I stared because their faces, so different, so similar, were all devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful. They were faces you never expected to see except perhaps on the airbrushed pages of a fashion magazine. Or painted by an old master as the face of an angel. It was hard to decide who was the most beautiful – maybe the perfect blond girl, or the bronze-haired boy."
Another place where we see the use of imagery is when Edward shows Bella what happens when vampires go into the sun.  "Edward in the sunlight was shocking. I couldn't get used to it, though I'd been staring at him all afternoon. His skin, white despite the faint flush from yesterday's hunting trip, literally sparkled, like thousands of tiny diamonds were embedded in the surface."  These descriptions make this novel beautiful and a book that will appeal to the romantic side of teenagers. 
Curriculum Ties:  N/A

Book Talk Ideas:  How could it be that Bella falls in love with a vampire that is thirsty for her blood?

Controversial Issues:  Vampires, sex, violence

Defense:

*I will keep the library's selection policy on hand and memorized with a good understanding  of the standards and policies to show that the selection meets the standards. 

*I will keep good and bad reviews (both electronic and print) and make sure they are from reliable and respected sources such as School of Library Journal, Booklist, and YALSA. I will have copies of these reviews to give away. 

*I will confirm the library's position to provide intellectual freedom as stated in the Library Bill of Rights and keep a copy of this.

*I will keep a written rationale to justify the reasons this material is included in the collection, such as educational significance and curriculum ties.

*I will be respectful and calm and practice "active listening".

*I will make sure I read the material and are very familiar with it.

   

* I will keep a reconsideration form on file in the event that my other strategies don't work. 

Why I Chose This Book?  I chose this book because of the popularity of the book series and the movies.