Reese's Review of Twilight

New York Time Bestseller’s List

                It seems that every female student who walked in my eighth grade classroom in the last few years has read or is reading Twilight.  Though it has been much acclaimed by both my students and my daughter, I have fought the need to read it until now because I quite simply had no desire to spend time reading about vampires. But now I understand.  Stephanie Meyer doesn’t just write about vampires, instead the story is the dark forbidden romance where Bella’s internal conflict between her heart’s desires reigns supreme. Though she suspects (and later confirms) Edward’s true identity, she is still drawn to him despite the warnings of others about possible danger to herself. Bella embodies the fears of every teenager when moved to a new community and tries desperately to fit in, but she also shows the strength of learning to judge people for herself without depending solely on the opinions of others. In my own life, this last idea of judging people without depending on the opinions of others is the ideal that I most relate to, especially since I work in a school where there is a very high mobility rate.  Often students and even adults have difficulty learning who and what to listen to as we try to blend into new communities.  To me, walking through Bella’s struggle with her in this way makes this a worthwhile read.

Meyer, S. (2005). Twilight. New York: Little, Brown, and Company.