Introduction
Children’s literature has long been a part of a child’s early development and can trace its roots all the way back to the very first time in ancient history when a parent told a child a story based upon his actual activities of the day. A parent would usually self-edit the parts of his story that he or she deemed inappropriate or too complex for a child to understand. Eventually, man discovered the written word and began to write stories that eventually came to be known as literature. However, children’s literature can be considered a new comer to the came as it only came into recent existence alongside its adult literary counterparts. The job of children’s books is actually to present a very adult story, theme, or topic, in a method or manner of story telling that is feared for a particular age group’s interests and comprehensive abilities. The stories that children remember the most therefore, are those which mimic the adult counterparts in a sanitized way.
Main body
Children by nature have a craving to feel like mini-adults and try to emulate the reading tastes of their role models. Since most people tend to enjoy the escapism offered by the science fiction, fantasy, and romance genre, it is only proper that the most popular children’s books to date mimic such interests in children. That is one reason why author Stephanie Meyer has seen an excessive popularity for her book “Twilight” over time.
According to Sarah Debraski, president of the Young Adult Library Services Association, there has been an increasing trend of vampires and dark fantasy books over recent years. (Kennedy, 2008.) Oftentimes, this is because a particular book series becomes popular with the adult readers that publishers see as having a potential niche in the young adult book market. Writers who tend to write the water downed versions oftentimes see publication in the aforementioned market. This explanation brings to mind a comparison of Stephanie Meyer and Anne Rice in terms of their vampire chronicle books.
Stephanie Meyer can be considered to be the prepubescent to adolescent version of Anne Rice thanks to the popularity of her vampire book series. Twilight is quite similar to Anne Rice’s vampire book series such as The Vampire Le’stat and Interview With A Vampire. In fact, having read the first book in the series, I would say that Edward Cullen shares some similarities with Louis de Pointe du Lac from Interview with A Vampire as they both are unwilling vampires who crave the normalcy of human life and the ability to love without endangering others.
This leads me to one of the main reasons that Twilight is such a popular book series. Beginning with the fact that it is a watered down version of Ms. Rice’s Vampire book series. It presents us with a general patronage point of view of what would otherwise be a gory, blood letting, vampire creating love story. Edward and Bella have a forbidden love story that, in adolescent terms, see fruition and overcome obstacles. It is a story of true love triumphant which is a very popular scenario for adolescent books.
Readers like James Bess from Logan, Utah give some very compelling reasons for the books popularity (Grzella, 2008.) He explains it in terms of familiarity with the characters:
The Twilight saga is my favorite for many reasons. First it combines romance, drama, relate ability, and most of all hope. Second, Twilight draws me into the story and keeps me wanting more. Stephanie’s writing is the perfect blend of everything a book should be. Third, they bring all all types of people into the stories themselves. You can always find a character to relate to.
The reasons stated above are actually basic reasons for the popularity and timelessness of a children’s books. A children’s book becomes a timeless tale, a classic if you dare call it that, when it can manage to relate to generations past, present and future because it tells a tale of adventures that are constantly being experienced in daily life.
When viewed in such terms, children’s literature then becomes a sort of surrogate child psychologist, helping children and developing adolescents understand the complex changes that are going on in their lives and sometimes, offering indirect advise to the reader as to how to handle such situations such as bullying and peer pressure. By offering the reader’s a diverse cast of characters, there will always be one character or another whom the reader will identify with and look to for advise in one form or another.
Perhaps, another reason that the Twilight book series shall remain a popular trend for young adult readers is the fact that it takes a vampire tale and gives it a new spin. From the very start of literature, vampires have been given horrifyingly bad reputations. From the vampire films of Bela Lugosi, all the way to the Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles, they have been portrayed as evil human hunters on the look out for prey. Twilight on the other hand, shows us that vampires, if they had existed in reality, could actually have been sad and pitiful creatures of the night instead. Longing for acceptance in society and normalcy in life that can allow them the freedom to love and make friends without being feared by the humans nor shunned by their peers.
However, since Twilight deals with such mature topics as forbidden love, teenage independence, and more importantly, abstinence, I foresee this book becoming a very popular choice for parents whose children are just entering the dating and sexual discovery ages for years to come. Since Meyer is an open Mormon, she adheres to the policy of abstinence before marriage. However, her writing allows for her characters to explore their sexuality in a safe and indirect manner that, I am sure, parents who have read the book series have come to applaud.
However, just like all the fairy tales of olden times, Twilight also serves as a warning to the young readers about the dangers of a young love, a puppy love, if you will, that turns obsessive and dangerous for the lives involved in the story. Bella’s obsessive love for Edward is leaning towards her seemingly willing to become a vampire herself if only to be able to stay with Edward. A tale long seen in many a romantic novels that have happy endings. But in this case, the reason the book series has become popular among the teens is because of its message of sacrificing oneself for true love. This story has been heralded by some as the Romeo and Juliet of its generation. Just like Romeo and Juliet, Edward and Bella’s story seems destined to become a historical classic as well.
Having dealt with all the positive aspects and reasons as to why Twilight shall continue to see new generations of readers imbibing the love story of Edward and Bella, I feel that this paper would not be fair unless I also present the reasons why the book will continue to be a popularly debated children’s book as well. Just like everybody knows, anything that is debatable remains popular. And Twilight has just many detractors as it does fans who shall insure that the book series shall remain popular with future readers as well.
First of all, the psychological effects of Twilight among teenage girls has become a very hot topic for debate. Since Bella seems to have a very dependent relationship with Edward, it brings in to question sexism and the lack of sexual equality in the story. Two very important female rights that have long been fought for by women.
As a children’s book, it paints the picture of an independent woman who becomes solely dependent on the male in her life to the point of obsession and suicidal tendencies. The story is the exact reverse of womens fight for equality. Indeed, this will be a highly popular children’s book among the women who have daughters in the future. The book can be used as a tool in teaching young women the not necessarily good side of female dependence on males.
How can it be possible for a book series with such a huge social and moral flaw to become a book series hit that oftentimes is likened to the Harry Potter book series? The answer lies within the fact that the story, although originally not intended by Ms. Meyer for publication, caters to an audience of simplistic and easily impressionable minds. That of the 12-17 year old child reader bracket. At these ages, children view life as an adventure and somehow see all the books they read as an extension of what they consider to be a humdrum existence, lived vicariously through the pages of a book.
In an interview, Stephanie Meyer was quoted as saying that she never intended for this book to see publication and that in fact, she only wrote the books as a release method for her personal use. She herself cannot understand nor explain the reasons why her book series has seen a popularity that rivals Harry Potter on American shores (Fisher, 2008):
I don’t know. It’s hard for me to answer that because for me it’s an absolute mystery… So when one book takes off it’s why, why does it ever happen? I don;t know why people respond to these books the way that they do. I know why I do: because I wrote it for me. It’s exactly what I wanted to read, so of course, I’m really hooked on it. For other people, it’s kind of bizarre actually.
Unwittingly, Ms. Meyer has given us a clue as to why Twilight has become a very popular book series. Now and in the future, readers look for writer’s who write stories that they too want to read. Regardless of the time or era it was written in, a good story, a good children’s literature tale, will always withstand the test of time.
One of the reasons that a children’s book tends to remain highly popular these days also pertains to the fact that writing and reading tastes have changed over the centuries. Gone are the days of children’s books being simple stories of adventure, the big bad wolf, and the wicked witch chasing down princesses and little girls in red. These days, children have evolved into complex readers as well and the writer’s choose to cater to these story lines within reason. But children of today do not like being told condescending stories that treat them like dim witted people without an ounce of comprehension skills within.
So, the story lines are written with a tinge of maturity that also seems to be picking up and tweaking the interest of the more mature and adult readers. With this most recent development in the writing habits of authors and reading inclinations of both the child and the parent, we have seen that it has become possible for children’s literature to transcend age differences where adult fiction novels cannot. This is why Twilight can be downloaded on Kindle by a mother who then shares an in-depth story and discussion analysis with her daughter who is reading the paperback.
Books like Twilight tend to bring the parent and child closer in terms of understanding each other and developing a more friend based, instead of parent figure based relationship. After all, children appreciate it a lot when their parents make an effort to try and understand their interests. More so when the parent actually makes the effort of sharing the interest of the child such as in the case of entertainment and reading materials.
Yet another reason why the book series will remain popular is that parents tend to share their reading habits with their children. Oftentimes, this is done by dusting off the old book collection, and either reading it to the child or suggesting it for alone time reading. This creates a new set of interested minds for the book story and often translates into the rereading of the book series by a new generation of readers. A supposition strongly supported by the fact that parents and children often mimic each others interest in reading topics and story genres.
In the case of Twilight though, the emotional and intellectual maturity of the young adult reader must be considered. The popularity of the book lies in its complex tale of forbidden love, love lost, found, horror, tragedy, and the beginning of a new life. Topics not easily understood by the young but with proper guidance, it is actually the type of story that all children crave to read about.
Since the Twilight book series has recently been released as a series of Hollywood films based upon the books, it will be even safer to say that Twilight shall continue to live on, not only on film, but in print as well. This is because the films will always leave more of the story and the explanations found in the book out of the final film print. Thereby driving the present and future generations of viewers towards reading the complete book series whenever possible. That will not be hard to do in this age of e-readers, RSS, and Kindle.
Conclusion
In the end, the reasons that Twilight and the children’s book genre will continue to live on in the future is all based upon the fact that books will only continue to reincarnate in form as technology continues to advance. As the stories get released on more and more newer reading formats for more people to access, there will only be a steadily increasing trend towards reading as many books as possible. As such, the children’s books and adult books difference will continue to blur until such a time when the two genres will perhaps merge into one new story telling genre for children to enjoy.
Work Cited
Catalano, Michael. “Book Review: Twilight”. Heretical Ideas. 2008. Web.
Fisher, Paul. “Interview: Stephanie Meyer For “Twilight”. Dark Horizons. 2008. Web.
Grzella, Paul. “Reader’s Give Their Thoughts About The “Twilight” Series”. 2008. Web.
Hewins, C.M. “The History Of Children’s Books”. The Atlantic. 1888. 2008. Web.
Kennedy, Elizabeth. Teen Reading Trends: 2008-2009 (An Interview With The YALSA President). Web.