Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga and the movies that have ensued have teen girls fawning over the brooding Robert Pattinson and hunky Taylor Lautner. Okay, so maybe Bella Swan is more of a blank slate than an actual character, but today’s generation of girls has indeed gained something from this vampire madness – a love of reading.
Yeah, most people roll their eyes whenever the preview for the newest Twilight movie comes onscreen during the commercials of their favorite late-night TV show. But is Bella’s love affair with the sparkly Edward really all that bad? (Besides, underneath all of that glitter, I personally think Eddie is quite the looker)
Meyer has started a new trend with her vegetarian vampires, the Cullen’s. She (along with Summit Entertainment) has made reading look cool again. With the Harry Potter journey finally at an end, teenagers – well, the girls anyway – are thirsting for something new, with that old, familiar bit of magic. Twilight has resulted in a plethora of series books all about vampires, werewolves, and the supernatural, and they seem to be flying off the shelves faster than you can say, “You better hold on tight, spider monkey.” Some Barnes and Noble stores even have entire sections dedicated to the new genre.
Maybe Meyer’s writing style isn’t up to par with J.K. Rowling, C. S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and all of those other initials, but she has gotten girls to walk into a library again, and that is a pretty wonderful thing.