And now we come to what I believe is the most grievous problem with the Twilight series: the tween Twilight reader. The following is a real conversation I had with my 11 year old recently:
Susan: One of the girls in my class at church read Twilight.
Me: Hmmm. I see.
{Pause for dramatic affect}
Me: And how old is this girl?
Susan: I’m not sure. I think she’s ten.
Friends, Twilight is a YA novel. As in: Young Adult. Emphasis on the adult. The pre-teen reader is too young for the complex relationships, love triangles, make-out bedroom scenes, and Bella’s hot and heavy pursuit to bed her vampire boyfriend. Twilight is not for young kids.
I suspect my opinion is not the majority. Unfortunately, I think a lot of parents mistakenly believe that as long as their child is reading something, anything at all, then it’s better than nothing. We all want our kids to read. I get that. Remember how excited I was when Susan discovered the world of a page-turning novel? I love it that she loves to read.
But no way do I want her reading Twilight – or any other fiction with a heavy emphasis of sexual passion and pursuit – no matter how G-rated it is for a YA novel. And Twilight certainly is mild when it comes to those bedroom scenes. Twilight has nothing graphic that I can point to as evidence to say, “Ah-ha! See! Bella and Edward in bed with detailed description of fornication!!” No, there isn’t anything like that in the series.
And yet . . .
The problem isn’t so much what’s IN the book, it’s more who’s READING the book.
This is the problem with American culture; we expose our children too early to adult ideas, concepts they are not mature enough to handle. It’s in the music, television, movies, advertising, Internet, and books. Human anatomy and biology is fine, I’ve no problem with teaching our children how their bodies work, babies made. My concern is for the young reader being exposed to sexual desire, sexual passion. These are concepts our tweens need to hold off on until more mature.
Answer me this question: Why the rush to end childhood innocence?
Think about what the tween – the 9, 10, 11 and 12 year olds – are reading, and thinking about, if they read the Twilight series.
Bella’s continuous attempts to bed Edward – what does that teach the tween about dating relationships and sex?
What about Bella’s poor self-esteem?
And I shudder at the tween reading these books without any parental input. Bella is a horrible example for an impressionable tween girl.
What say you? Do you agree with my conclusions or am I way off the mark? Let’s discuss.
Up next: Final Twilight thoughts
As an author, I’m not sure why there are designations such as YA, adult, horror, fantasy etc . . . if there’s no authority in place to decide if a book is eligible.
And there really isn’t. Most of the time it just depends what books are selling at that time.
When I saw some of the books my daughter was reading at ten and eleven and actually looked at them, *gasp* I realized right away I was going to have to
pay attention. I then realized, after she read some of the books I felt she might not need to be reading for maturity sake, that she faired just fine. Most of the time it just opened doors for us to talk.
I see your problem. Kids under 10 don’t need to be reading this book, but some kids already know what happens. No matter how hard you try to stop your kids from reading to book other kids will tell them. They will feel this passion sooner or later. This is just a book. It really can’t happen in real life with all the vampires and stuff. I think Bella is a really good example. She is really mature,and when you fell in love could you not have and urge to have sex with that person you fell in love with? I think you are way off the mark.
Is it really JUST a book?
I say it’s more like a door.
Thanks for commenting, Sydney.
Sue, talking is great. I’m glad you do. We need more moms (and dads) talking to their kids about what they are reading, why they are reading it.
Right … it’s just a book. No one EVER learns anything or gets ideas from books, right?
:roll eyes:
Monica, I have to qualify this by saying that I haven’t read the book, so I’m answering in general rather than in specific …
I agree. We push kids into knowing all kinds of adult things, instead of letting them be kids. Kids don’t have the maturity to handle certain issues and thoughts, yet we recklessly throw them to those wolves.
Absolutely, we need to watch what our kids are reading and know it. I read the same books that my 13-year-old son reads … partly because I love YA and kidlit, but also because I want to make sure that if there are issues I can either nip it or at least be ready to talk about it (depending on the issues).
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I would worry more about how your kid’s future is being sold down the river by this government than whats in some book.
Elric66, how about we concern ourselves with both Books and Big Brother? Each dangerous in different ways…
Well dont worry, once this government is done robbing your kids, they wont be able to afford books.
I understand what you’re talking about Monica and I agree that there’s pressure for kids to read books that they’re not ready for in many ways.
I’m pretty open-minded about what my daughters read, but I haven’t hesitated to tell them when I think they need to wait a year or two or more before they read something, even if it is popular and their friends are reading it. This doesn’t really happen now that they are in they mid and late teens, but it did happen when they were younger.
I started a mother-daughter book club with each girl when she was nine, so we read a lot together. The most successful discussions we had were always with the age-appropriate books, because the girls in the group understood those more. They had a frame of reference for what they were reading, and they were able to form their own opinions about it as well as listen to their mothers’ opinons.
What worries me about young girls reading books that are too mature for them, is that they may believe the characters are acting normal. A high school girl reading Twilight can see it as fantasy and enjoy it as an escape into a fantasy world. An elementary school girl probably doesn’t have enough life experience to question what she’s reading.
And it isn’t hard to find great, age-appropriate reading for younger kids. Many authors are writing great middle-grade novels that are enjoyable to both kids and adults. There’s plenty time for girls to work into young adult books.
I give a lot of thought to the age recommendations I make in my own book reviews at my website, http://www.motherdaughterbookclub.com and my blog http://www.motherdaughterbookclub.wordpress.com and well as in my book, Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs. That’s because I think there’s real value for our kids to enjoy the stage they are in without constantly looking for entertainment that’s more appropriate for an older set.
Brilliant, Cindy. Thanks for adding to the discussion. I’ve heard of your book, it sounds like my kind of read.
If there is one thing I hope everyone takes away from all this Twilight talk is that we need to TALK to our kids about what they are reading. Don’t assume because it’s in print that’s it’s lining up with what we believe.