I will be expanding my reviews to include juvenile literature written for older children and teenagers. I believe that what we read (especially as children) affects the moral imagination and thus is of extreme importance. Parents sometimes are nervous to allow their children to read anything later than the early 1900s due to objectionable content. To address these concerns, I will list both positive and negative elements in my book reviews so that parents can make decisions on that literature based on their own literature philosophy. Good juvenile literature should also be enjoyable for adults (think E. Nesbit and C.S. Lewis), so maybe some of my adult readers will discover new books as well!
Today I want to share with you my friend Susan’s new blog Athena’s Library. Susan is reviewing mostly non-fiction with an emphasis on critical thinking. She recently posted these two articles on The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer:
The Twilight Saga: Book Summaries
Book Review: The Twilight Saga
I have not personally read The Twilight Saga: I don’t like romance novels, I am squeamish about blood, and I never allow anyone to touch my neck. So, definitely no vampire romances for me! I did ask a close friend who had read the series what she thought about Athena Library’s review. She agreed with the review with the only exception being that she would not classify Edward’s relationship with Bella as an abusive relationship (in the interest of not watering-down the meaning of the word abuse). Update: see the comment section for a helpful clarification from Susan.
This week or next, I will be featuring two recent popular juvenile chapter books: The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright and When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.
Thanks for the link! For clarification’s sake, I’d like to say that I chose the word “abuse” carefully and with some trepidation. I am defining abuse here to be any action perpetrated by someone in a position of power which brings harm to the victim. I realize this is a broad definition, and some might add additional qualifiers. My purpose in using the word to describe Edward’s physical relationship with Bella is to highlight the dilemma many teen girls face today when they truly love (or think they love) a guy, yet he still hurts them either physically, emotionally, or verbally, whether he intends to or not. Because this series has proved so popular among the teen girl demographic, it’s important that they understand that Edward and Bella’s relationship cannot and should not be emulated. They also need to understand that physical injuries such as those sustained by Bella are neither normal nor acceptable in any kind of relationship.