Falling Hard: 100 Love Poems by Teenagers - Poetry, Drama, Film and Response

1.  Franco, Betsy (ed.).  Falling Hard: 100 Love Poems by Teenagers.  Cambridge, Massachusetts:  Candlewick Press, 2008.

2.  Overview.  Poems collected by Betsy Franco from teenagers - both male and female - populate the pages of this collection.  Falling between the ages of 13 though 18, these poems cover the many moods of love, from funny to solemn, from lighthearted to deadly serious, from playful to heart broken.

3.  Critical Analysis.  This volume of poetry surprised me.  Perhaps because I'm older, when I think of "love poem" I think of descriptive words like sweet, happy, even suggestive.  But these poems express lots of raw emotion, and they don't just hint about sex.  The language is explicit in many of them; apparently they portray what teenagers are thinking about when they think "love poem."  VOYA  stated it nicely in their review: "its pages reveal tortured, timeless poetry, yearning hearts, broken spirits, and emotions on overload. Brutally honest, achingly tender, these glimpses of love through poetry are erotic, sibilant, and sexy."  My how times have changed in the last two generations.

From a poetic standpoint, the poems are varied in style.  Some rhyme, while some don't.  Some have a rhythm, while some don't.  Some have obvious meaning, while some don't.  If teachers and librarians are interested in a book of poetry that will appeal to both boys and girls, this could be the one.  However, it should be recommended with caution.  This could be one of those books that brings backlash in a conservative community, so school staff need to be prepared to answer questions about its inclusion on a library shelf or suggested reading list.  This one could bring out the censors.

A review from Booklist says it this way:  "The teen poets in this lively anthology knock greeting-card clichés even as they celebrate their romance and their passion . . . . Some of the simplest lines say the most: “I want you less than I thought I did. / And I love you more than I ever knew.” From the pain of breakup and denial to affection and desire, the feelings in these poems will ring true to gay and straight teens alike." 

Many poems show sophistication using techniques such as allusions to literature - "I am Poe's Lenore . . . Fitzgerald's Zelda . . . Homer's Muse";  or entertainment - "I enjoyed the confusion in your eyes / At my Monroe-meets-Hepburn dress";  or art - "Like a van Gogh in a museum, / It's look but don't / Touch."  Parallel structure strikes a chord in lines like "It was good / then it wasn't / He was nice / then he wasn't / I was okay / then I wasn't / We both loved / then we didn't."

Betsy Franco is a noted author who at the time Falling Hard was released, had published more than 80 books, including three previous anthologies.  I do not doubt that this volume would be a hit with teenagers while some of the adults in their lives may not be quite so enthusiastic.

Zombie Haiku - Poetry, Drama, Film and Response

1.  Mecum, Ryan.  Zombie Haiku.  Cincinnati, Ohio:  HOW Books, 2008.

2.  Overview.  The world is being taken over by zombies.  Contained within the pages of this book is the journal filled with haiku poems written by a newly converted zombie.  The zombie loses his arm to Chris, the last known human in the area, and clutched in his hand is a journal.  Chris begins writing in the journal, explaining the situation, and then finishing up with one final chilling haiku of his own.

3.  Critical Analysis.  What an interesting combination of reactions this little book holds for this middle-aged adult reader!  The poems themselves are really quite amazing.  That a whole story could be told in haiku (3 lines of 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables respectively) is pretty unbelievable.  At first, I found myself counting syllables.  I suppose that is the English teacher in me.  And yes, I did find a mistake or two where the syllables weren't quite right.  But by the time I reached a fourth of the way into the book, the syllable counting was gone and I was focused on the story being told.  Apparently zombies have voracious appetites for fresh meat (as in human flesh), so most of the book tells the tale of the zombie's quest for food.  And this is where the mixed reactions come in.  This book is classified as humor, and I did find myself laughing as I simultaneously cringed.  Lines such as this

I can remember

good food that Mom used to make.

I bet Mom tastes good.



border somewhat on distasteful, until a few stanzas later I found

I loved my momma.

I eat her with my mouth closed,

how she would want it.

Then it really got almost too gross in its descriptions for me.  But I can sure imagine some of my high school boys eating this up (pun intended!).  It is definitely clever.  And no English teacher is going to try to analyze the heck out of this one.

Some additional characteristics of this book which add to the interest include gross zombie photos that appear to be taken with a polaroid and taped into the book.  Blood is splattered on many of the pages as the zombie has the book open to write his poems while feasting.  Some of the poems are written directly on the journal pages while some are typed or written on scraps of paper and taped in.  Older readers will realize they must suspend what is even possible in a zombie world when they are asked to believe that a zombie could write such brilliant haiku, let alone type some stanzas (where does the typewriter come from given that the zombie is traveling around looking for his next meal?) while taking pictures. 

The funniest part of all was getting to the end and discovering that Ryan Mecum is/was a youth pastor for a Presbyterian church in Cincinnati.  Somehow, that made perfect sense.  (I've worked with quite a few youth pastors in my time and they are definitely a crazy bunch of guys). 

If you "hunger" for more zombie haiku, take a tour of the website which includes zombie haikus sent in by other writers (check out the one sent by Billy Collins) and Mecum's own haikus mimicking what famous authors would have said had they written zombie haikus.  Fun!
http://zombiehaiku.com/

Interestingly, criticism of this book from recognizable sources that I often quote (Booklist, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly) are not to be found.  However, fans of everything zombie had plenty to say:

"Simply one of the best zombie reads of the year... If you have a taste for horror, this quirky little book is for you. But if you're a zombie fiend like myself, you should make it your single minded goal to seek out this book and digest then savor it." -- Mark. L Miller, Ain't It Cool News


"Ryan Mecum obviously knows his zombie films well, and his book tells a gory, violent story that will warm the veins of Romero fans." -- Rue Morgue Magazine

"A thoroughly unique and entertaining experience. Ryan Mecum has quite possibly found the only corner of entertainment not yet infected by the zombie plague--haiku--and made me wonder why it took this long, as the two seem to go together like zombies and brains. I highly recommend it to fans of all things zombie." -- Robert Kirkman, author of The Walking Dead and Marvel Zombies

"The most inventive zombie book in years!" -- David Wellington, author of Monster Island

Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art - Poetry, Drama, Film and Response

1.  Greenberg, Jan (ed.).  Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art.  New York:  Henry N. Abrams, 2001.

2.  Overview.  Heart to Heart is a book of poems and art.  The poems were written by well-know poets, many of whom write for "young readers" and were inspired by famous works of American art, from paintings to sculpture to photographs.  Printed in pairs with the work of art on one page and the poem on the facing page, both poetry and art come alive in this volume.

3.  Critical Analysis.  Poetry is seeing a revival among young people.  Given the efforts of such poets as Robert Pinsky and Billy Collins, both U.S. Poet Laureates who began projects to bring poetry into schools, more and more young people are being exposed to quality poetry that is modern and engaging in addition to the classics that have traditionally dominated the English classroom.  This book continues the move by bringing quality art and poetry together into one place.  Called "ekphrasis" which is writing that is based on a work of art, these poems began with the art which inspired the words.  The poems cover a wide range of tones including humorous, reflective, sad, and playful.  While some poems are more challenging than others,  I would venture to say that most middle and high school students would find poems they would admit they like.  The art helps to support the meaning found in the words, so readers who believe they do not like poetry may find that the art helps them to construct meaning from the words more easily.

Older students who learned to love the verses of Jack Prelutsky and Shel Silverstein in elementary school should be able to move to these more advanced poems with ease (assuming a misdirected English teacher doesn't use them for traditional analysis and explication, killing the joy of reading them before it has even had a chance to begin).  Perhaps because I'm an art museum junkie along with being a relatively recent convert to poetry, I label this volume as one of the best poetry books in my collection.  It will introduce students to both great artists - both visual and verbal. 

School Library Journal agrees.  "Each work of art is impeccably reproduced, the color and design are exceptional, and each poem is given room on the page to breathe. The art glows, the words reflect the images and create more light....If a picture book is defined as a marriage of word and art, then Heart to Heart is not only a wonderful poetry collection, but also a picture book of the highest quality."  The poems are grouped into four categories that are thoroughly explained in a well-written introduction by Greenberg:

• STORIES - poems that recall a memory or relate an anecdote
• VOICES - poems that assume the voice of the object or person depicted in the art
• IMPRESSIONS - poems that examine the elements of the artwork and present word pictures of what is contained there
• EXPRESSIONS - poems that explore aspects of the art and the artist

Other helpful features of this book include "Biographical Notes on Poets" and "Biographical Notes on Artists."  Each piece of art is captioned with the title of the work, the year and the medium.  Photographic credit for each art piece and poetry credits for each poem are printed at the end.

4.  Additional Resources

I created a book trailer for this book to be used during Teen Read Week.  This link should get you to the YouTube video.

Heart to Heart  Book Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twzZ4_llRJQ

readwritethink - a site created by the joint efforts of the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English have a lesson plan for high school students on ekphrasis that includes Heart to Heart.

readwritethink lesson plan
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/ekphrasis-using-inspire-poetry-1093.html?tab=1#tabs

Six Days in October - History, Biography and Nonfiction

1.  Blumenthal, Karen.  Six Days in October:  The Stock Market Crash of 1929.  New York:  Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2002.

2.  Overview.  Blumenthal takes readers through the first six days of the stock market crash of 1929.  She opens with an Introduction that covers the 1920s and goes up to Wednesday night, October 23, 1929, when rumors started to circulate of problems with the market.  Blumenthal then does an in-depth coverage of Black Thursday through Black Tuesday - October 24-29, 1929, by sequentially describing the events causing and following the crash.  A section on the immediate aftermath of October 30, 1929, is then followed by an Epilogue describing the effects from 1930 through 1933.

3.  Critical Analysis.  Many people, including myself, do not choose to read nonfiction for enjoyment.  However, this book goes on my list of one of my best reads of this year.  Some things I love about this book:

A.  I know very little about the ins and outs of the stock market, but Blumenthal's narrative made a very complicated concept mostly understandable.  (There are still some places where I'm fuzzy, but that's probably to be expected from someone who doesn't even do the home budget.)  Her tone is informative and geared toward younger readers (middle and high schoolers).  The narrative is sequential and logical. The style is energetic and helps readers feel the urgency of what was happening during the crash. 
B.  There are tons of support materials.  Reproductions of  documents, cartoons, advertisements, news clippings and photographs again help readers understand a very complicated concept.  The scope seems just right - the focus is on the six major days with the few years preceeding and following being discussed enough to provide context. 
C.  Text boxes that are separate from the narrative explain vocabulary terms/concepts in concrete ways.  Terms which have text box explanations include:  stock, stock exchange, bull and bear markets, opening gong, Dow Jones Industrial Average, bonds, brokerage house, plungers and pools, and stock split among others provide additional support for understanding terms that are used throughout the narrative. 
D.  Informational books can become dated very quickly.  However, because this informational book is about a historical event, it will not lose it's meaningfulness.  The information will not go out of date, and readers can gain better understanding of a major event in the history of the United States.  Understanding what happened in the past can help us understand the future as well.  As the stock market continues to experience major crashes, such as the ones in 1987 and 2008, understanding the original crash in 1929 can help us make sense of subsequent crashes that occur during our lifetime.

One thing that rather surprised me about the book is the way Blumenthal cites her sources.  Rather than internal citations or footnoted references, she presents a simple list of references, chapter by chapter, at the end of the book.  As Booklist noted, "Students using this for research may be frustrated by the source citations, which appear as an appended, generalized chapter-by-chapter listing of materials consulted rather than as specific notes that correspond to text passages."  It is impossible to tell what information came from where without looking up every source.  But this is the only weakness I notice in the book.

I'm old enough to have had relatives who lived during the stock market crash of 1929.  So reading about the actual facts of the events is interesting as I have heard grandparents describe what they remember as young people.  This was an event where they remembered where they were on October 24, 1929, much like 9/11 is for us today or the assassination of Kennedy for the generation preceeding mine.  The information presented in Blumenthal's book is a great addition to my knowledge as an adult.  For young people, particularly middle and high schoolers, this would be a great book to extend their learning after they see what their textbooks say on the topic.  Six Days in October is a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book, an honor bestowed on the best informational literature for children each year. 

I have already recommended this book to others.  Interestingly, the others I've recommended it to are all adults.  The topic is so specific that I'm not sure I would think to recommend it to my high school students as just a general suggestion unless the topic came up.  However, with a little thought and a good book talk, the topic might be of interest to young people who love to read nonfiction.  Unfortunately, my school library does not have this book, so I will not be able to try out my theory any time soon.  But I personally feel much more informed for having read this book myself.

4.  Review Excerpts.
Publishers Weekly:  "This fast-paced, gripping (and all-too-timely) account of the market crash of October 1929 puts a human face on the crisis.  Blumenthal ably chronicles the six-day descent and exposes the personalities, backroom machinations and scandals while debunking several popular myths about the crash (e.g., that it caused mass suicide and the Great Depression). A compelling portrait of a defining moment in American history."

Booklist:  "But this still offers a riveting history, along with the basic terminology needed to grasp the events and to draw parallels between the volatile, sometimes corrupt, market of 1929 and the market today."

It's Not About the Bike - History, Biography and Nonfiction

1.  Armstrong, Lance, with Sally Jenkins.  It's Not About the Bike:  My Journey Back to Life.  New York:  G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2000.

2.  Overview.  Armstrong tells the story of finding out that he had cancer, and weaves the story of his fight to overcome the disease that threatened to kill him with a description of his rise to becoming the biking legend of the Tour de France.

3.  Critical Analysis.  This memoir/autobiography (I've seen it called both) tells the combined story of how Lance Armstrong became the world-class cyclist of legend while simultaneously battling testicular cancer which metastasized to his brain and lungs.  The focus of the book is on his life with cancer - from his diagnosis through the treatments and surgeries to his survival to become the greatest cyclist of all time.  The stories are told with amazing candidness.  It may not be a book for the squeamish as he describes medical treatments and side effects in detail.  Interwoven with the cancer treatment is the story of his rise through the ranks of the cycling world to become the world-class cyclist that would win the Tour de France seven years in a row after surviving such overwhelming odds.  His determination is admirable.  His dedication to the single mother who raised him amidst much hardship is beautiful.  Written in 2000, with only one tour win under his belt, he would go on to win six more, and the determination that he will do so is evident throughout the second half of the book where he discusses his treatments and then his experience in the first race. 

Many reviewers remark about how this book will be inspirational to coaches and athletes alike.  Amazon.com, for example, says, "Athletes and coaches everywhere will benefit from the same extraordinary detail provided about his training sessions--every aching tendon, every rainy afternoon, and every small triumph during his long recovery is here in living color."  I agree that athletes and cancer victims/survivors alike will find many things to like about Armstrong's honest telling of his story. 

However, unfortunately, perhaps, reading this memoir changed my feelings about Armstrong.  I was one of the millions of people who watched the Tour de France and cheered Armstrong on during the years from 1999 to 2005 when he won those seven consecutive races.  However, his halo tarnished a bit during that time when he and his wife divorced in 2003.  She seemed so devastated by the dissolution of her marriage after five years while he did not.  Then this past spring of 2011, reports began to surface about the fact that a grand jury had been convened to investigate allegations of doping among Armstrong's team during the years of their competition in the Tour de France.  What a deeply disappointing thing to discover that this dream team may not have been competing fairly.  Then this memoir revealed to me a man who is and always has been self-centered and critical.  For example, his continuous criticism of Plano East High School as being an unaccepting, horrible place if you were anything but rich began to grate.  (I'm a long-time resident of Garland, Texas, a neighboring Dallas suburb to Plano, and both my nieces graduated from Plano East.  They're not rich, but they didn't see the school in the same light).  The fact that he becomes angry and then simply refuses to speak to the person again for years, such as his falling out with Richardson Bike Mart owner and sponsor Jim Hoyt points to his overwhelming need to be right even when he's not.  He was extremely critical of his birth father, and his step-father, and with good reason, but at some point I just wanted to tell Armstrong, "OK, but enough's enough.  Time to let it go."   Perhaps this is just the way focused athletes are.  Artists of all kinds tend to the be same way.  But not everyone falls into the trap of self-centeredness, and being an athlete or artist seems to be an excuse for bad behavior.     In spite of his work with cancer patients and setting up his foundation to fund cancer research, I found him to be someone I don't think I would really like if I knew him in person.  So all in all, the memoir was interesting, but I don't plan to read any other books by him.

Yet I can say that the chapters are well-written.  Sally Jenkins, his co-author, may be the one to take the credit for that.  She is a veteran sports reporter and author/co-author of several sports books and autobiographies.  The writing style is conversational and easy to follow which makes for a quick read.  Sixteen pages of photos in the center of the book provide interesting visual support for the text. 

Would I recommend this book to my high school students?  Definitely.  Just because I find that I probably don't like the man doesn't mean I don't admire the athlete and respect his tenacity in fighting for his life in more ways than one.  I believe many high schoolers would be inspired to stick it out when the going gets really tough, and many, many of the high schoolers I work with have a very rough go of it, albeit in different ways than Armstrong experienced.  And while the jury is literally still out about the doping allegations, I hope they aren't true; although, I wonder if we'll ever know for sure or could ever really be without a nagging doubt about it. 

4.  Review Excerpts.
Amazon.com:  "People around the world have found inspiration in the story of Lance Armstrong--a world-class athlete nearly struck down by cancer, only to recover and win the Tour de France, the multiday bicycle race famous for its grueling intensity."

Publishers Weekly:  "The book features a disarming and spotless prose style, one far above par for sports memoirs. Bicycle-racing fans will enjoy the troves of inside information and the accounts of competitions, but Armstrong has set his sights on a wider meaning and readership: 'When I was sick I saw more beauty and triumph and truth in a single day than I ever did in a bike race.'"

School Library Journal:  "This fabulous tribute to the strength of the human spirit is an inspiration to everyone."

Booklist:  "Readers will respond to the inspirational recovery story, and they will appreciate the behind-the-scenes cycling information."

King of the Mild Frontier - History, Biography, and Nonfiction

1.  Crutcher, Chris.  King of the Mild Frontier:  An Ill-Advised Autobiography.  New York:  Greenwillow Books, 2003.

2.  Overview.  In this autobiography of young adult author Chris Crutcher, Crutcher takes us through many of his memories growing up as the middle of three children.  Told in the same humorous style as his novels, this autobiography is engaging as he takes us through episodes involving his family, particularly his older brother John who convinced him to do "neat" things such as be the decoy for a life-size shooting gallery while the brother aims at him with a BB gun, or pee down the heat register grate that is in the middle of the living room floor one cold winter day when the furnace beneath it is hot.  Chris recounts the story of the year John convinced him that "esus" was the older, secret brother of Jesus after the J fell off a plaque that read "Jesus Saves"  along with many others that will have readers chuckling throughout the book.

3.  Critical Analysis.  Autobiographies are interesting - on one hand, we may have the idea that maybe we'll get the "real truth" for a change since the person who is telling the story is the person to whom the events actually happened.  However, the person telling the story may want certain people or events to look "better" than they actually did, or they may leave some things they consider to be unflattering out altogether.  But in the case of this particular autobiography, the author makes no claim to be telling "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."  In fact, on the copyright page, Crutcher makes the following claim, "Memory is selective and by nature faulty.  That statement is probably doubly true for my memory.  Add to that my penchant for exaggeration and the fact that I have changed some of the names for obvious reasons, and you have a memoir that may not stand up to close historical scrutiny.  So be it."  And that disclaimer is the first clue that the text the reader is about to enter is one filled with absolutely wonderful storytelling, with the great part being that most of it is at least mostly true. 

Crutcher tells his stories in great storytelling fashion.  In fact, Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville, IL published a review that stated, "Move over Garrison Keillor, David Sedaris ... An honest to goodness gut buster!!!"  Humor, always one of Crutcher's strong suits, is plentiful in this collection of reminiscences.  The people are portrayed as characters and the plot and setting are described in ways that draw the reader into the stories.  I would guess there would be few people who are from multi-sibling families who would not read Crutchers descriptions of the events of his childhood and not think of similar stories regarding their own brothers and sisters, while laughing along with the Crutcher boys' antics.  While some of his sentences are convoluted and difficult to follow (I stopped several times to reread sentences that didn't make sense on the first time through them), the writing overall is easy to follow.

So how much of the stories can be believe are true?  Who knows.  Perhaps we would need to talk to his older brother John to try to start figuring that out - and then it would be a task of guessing where in the middle the "truth" really lays, I'm sure!  But as readers, we don't really have to care how true the stories really are.  The beauty of this autobiography is in the knowledge that one of the best storytellers of Young Adult fiction is going to regale us with stories from his own past, and that we are going to gain some insight into where the ideas for several of his novels and short stories have come from.

Crutcher is my current favorite young adult author.  I reviewed his novel Ironman in the October 22, 2011 blog, and I have also read Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes and Athletic Shorts.  Because his characters tend to show up in more than one story (they can be the main character in one novel or short story, and a supporting actor in another), it is great fun to find out where he got his ideas for some of them.  What it doesn't answer very well - as he addresses in the Epilogue - is how he went from wimpy kid to athlete, and why he uses sports as the backdrop for the settings of all his stories (but not so much so that those who aren't big sports fans would be put off).  Nevertheless, reading about his childhood is a perfect way to spend a dreary, wintry day while curled up under the comforter in a favorite chair. 

On the inside flap of the front cover, the last line says, ". . .you will close this book, close your eyes and hold it to your chest, and say, 'I, too, can be an author.'  Hell, anyone can."  Which is not the feeling I was left with.  As an English teacher and former student writer, I was left with the thought, "I have nothing to write about. Heck, nothing interesting like that ever happened to me!"  And that is a testament to the storytelling expertise of one of YA's best authors.  He can make even the events of a boy's every day life into interesting fodder for a book I didn't want to put down. 

However, near the end, Crutcher shifts gears and provides insight as to how his work as a therapist with abused and neglected children as well as abusive parents has influenced his writing, including why he has been willing to write in a manner that has placed him in USA Today's top-ten banned authors (along with Kurt Vonnegut and Mark Twain).  He also describes what a hero is based on that work.  "I think heroes aren't defined so much by what they do 'right' as by how they respond to what they do 'wrong.'"

Crutcher finishes up on the last page:  "In my youth I could never have imagined seeing my name on a book unless I had carved it there with a sharp instrument," but lucky for us, his name is now on many.


4.  Review Excerpts.
Booklist Starred Review:  "This honest, insightful, revealing autobiography is a joy to read. Crutcher's fans will relish this intimate glimpse of the author, and the book may win some new readers for his fiction."

Publishers Weekly Starred Review:  "Readers will clasp this hard-to-put-down book to their hearts even as they laugh sympathetically."

School Library Journal:  "Tough and tender reminiscences focus primarily on family, social, and school conflicts, but lessons derived from his career as a teacher, therapist, and writer are also described. Hyperbole lightens the mood as the author portrays himself as a young crybaby, academic misfit, and athletic klutz, utterly without self-aggrandizement. Abrupt transitions, some convoluted sentences, and nonlinear progression may challenge some readers, but the narrative holds undeniable appeal for the author's fans and demonstrates the power of writing to help both reader and writer heal emotional/psychic wounds."

Twilight - Fantasy and Science Fiction

1.  Meyer, Stephanie.  Twilight.  New York:  Little, Brown and Company, 2005.

2.  Plot Summary.  Bella Swan has moved in with her father who lives in Forks, Washington.  As she tries to settle in and get used to moving from sunny Arizona to rainy, overcast Forks, she notices the Cullen family at school - an odd group of siblings who seem to stick to themselves.  Bella has a class with Edward, the handsome youngest son of Dr. Carlisle and Esme Cullen, and he has taken special notice of her.  As she gets to know Edward, Bella's obsession with him grows until she can't stay away from him.  She has also begun to figure out how Edward and his brothers and sisters are different; although, she can hardly believe it's true.  Edward does everything he possibly can to repel Bella, knowing it's what he needs to do to keep her safe, but he's obsessed, too, but for a very different reason.  Edward and his family are vampires, and Edward is drawn toward the scent of Bella's blood in a way he has never experienced before.  Even though Edward and his family are "vegetarians" and only drink animal blood, it's not safe for her to be with him, but neither of them can resist the attraction that pulls them together.

3.  Critical Analysis.  I long ago read The Vampire Diaries series and enjoyed it well enough; however, I felt that they had provided enough vampire reading for a lifetime.  Then one friend, and then another, and then another, asked if I'd read Twilight.  After I'd said no repeatedly, just to be told how much I would love it, I decided it was time to give it a try.  Those friends were right, I loved the book, and proceeded to read all four volumes in the course of a few days over a long holiday weekend. 

As the idea of vampires would suggest, Twilight is a fantasy with fantastical beings mingling among the humans without their knowledge.  Vampires and werewolves live undetected with the humans, and other than the fact that they're a little different from everyone else, no one seems to really take note of just how different.  So as with any fantasy tale, the reader must suspend belief in what makes sense to appreciate the story.  But that's not difficult in this series.

So for a reader who will consistently say that fantasy is not my cup of tea, what made this novel noteworthy? 

1.  For a story that involves the supernatural, the characters are completely believable and engaging.  Edward is the mysterious stranger; Bella the naive girl-next-door.  Meyer does a nice job of making their pull toward each other very believable.  The plot is easy to follow, unlike much of "high fantasy" that is filled with weird, unpronouncable people and places with strange characteristics that sometimes make fantasy hard for me to follow (I just don't want to work that hard when I read for pleasure).  She deftly sets up the meeting between Bella and Edward, and does a smooth job of laying out the clues Bella uses to figure out the mystery of Edward.  (And just when the reader thinks that the vampire characters are far-out enough, she plops in the werewolves in the form of Jacob's clan, Bella's Native American neighbors in Book Two New Moon).

I enjoyed the twist on vampires that Meyers incorporates into her stories.  They don't live in coffins during the day; they don't dissolve in sunlight; they aren't all blood-sucking demons.  Come to find out - much to my enjoyment - vampires sparkle in the sunlight which makes it obvious that they are seriously different, so they must avoid it.  To kill a vampire, one does not need silver bullets, crosses, stakes, or garlic - one simply needs to pull it apart and burn the pieces before they have a chance to pull themselves back together.  She incorporates similarly different characteristics for her werewolves.  These differences make this series not just another vampire story, which I found refreshing and fun.

Edward fills the role of a fantasy hero nicely.  He and his family operate within a framework of morality with compassion for their human neighbors and a need to "make up for" their nature.  Although they do not drink blood from humans, they still feel responsible to their human friends to go beyond what is truly necessary to look after them. 

2.  The plot is exciting.  As in classic fantasy, Twilight centers around a quest - Bella's quest to have the relationship that seems to be starcrossed at every turn.  The plot involved flux - the characters are involved in a world that is turned upside down by the deeds of a group of bad vampires that the Cullens must fight in order to protect their community and Bella in particular.  But even with the implausible events, the action is ongoing and creates tension and apprehension. 

3.  The setting "makes sense" - it's not on some unheard-of planet with unexpected properties.  It's Forks, Washington, a real live place where generally the reader can expect the expected.  The setting is described in detail enough to make sense why the Cullens would choose to live there - it's the city in the U.S. with the least number of days of sunshine.  And since it turns out that vampires do not die in sunlight, they simply can't reveal themselves in it, living in a perpetually cloudy, rainy city is perfect.  They can participate in the daily life of the community this way which makes the story much more enjoyable than if the only action could be at night.

Young adults love the story.  Of course, as would be expected, it's a story that will appeal to girls. Many young reviewers shared their feelings about the debut novel on Stephanie Meyer's website (http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight_reviews.html). "Stephenie Meyer's first novel Twilight is a gripping journey through the united worlds of fantasy and high school. As soon as I started reading Twilight, I couldn't stop. The plot is the thing that led me to the book in the start. Boy meets girl, girl likes boy, boy turns out to be a vampire. The characters are so vivid, so intense, that you feel like if you look up from the pages Isabella or Edward or Alice is going to be staring at you. This suspenseful novel leaves me with one question... Is there going to be a second?"  Kelly, 15  Now that the four books are out, I'm sure Kelly would join me in saying that once you start, chances are you will not want to put the books down until you have finished the series.  Book 3 Eclipse was my favorite of the four, with the final installment being a disappointment, but that's a different blog!  It doesn't deter me for joining my friends to ask, "Have you read Twilight yet?  You should!"

4.  Review Excerpts.


Amazon.com:  "Meyer has achieved quite a feat by making this scenario completely human and believable. . . .The precision and delicacy of Meyer's writing lifts this wonderful novel beyond the limitations of the horror genre to a place among the best of YA fiction."

Publisher's Weekly starred review: "The main draw here is Bella's infatuation with outsider Edward, the sense of danger inherent in their love, and Edward's inner struggle—a perfect metaphor for the sexual tension that accompanies adolescence. These will be familiar to nearly every teen, and will keep readers madly flipping the pages of Meyer's tantalizing debut."


Entertainment Weekly:  "The world's most popular vampire novelist since Anne Rice."