Stephanie Meyer's Vampire Series - For What Age?
Tuesday September 30, 2008
From what I've read about Stephanie Meyer's vampire series, I always assumed it was for high school students and older. However, there has been a lot of publicity about the movie version of her book Twilight, and I have been wondering if middle school and younger kids are also interested in the books and the movie. I know that the series has a lot of adult fans, but I don't know any kids 12 and under who have read the books. Has anyone read them in your family? Would you recommend them? If so, for what age group(s)? Click on "Comments" below and share your thoughts about the books in the Twilight series: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn.
For more information, see:
Book Review of Twilight (About.com: Bestsellers)
Book Review of New Moon (About.com: Bestsellers)
Twilight: The Movie (About.com: Hollywood Movies)
Comments
My daughter is 11 and has no interest in the series but my friend’s 12 year old and all her friends are crazy about the series. I went to the midnight sale party for Breaking Dawn and saw quite a few prepubescent girls there so it seems there are 9,10,11 year olds reading it. I know a jr. high librarian who said all the jr high girls love them. It depends on the girl’s maturity level, I think.
I actually believe that the Twilight series really is more for older ages. I’m 21, and there are some issues that even I am uncomfortable with.
I am a youth services librarian from Connecticut. Most of the 12 year old girls in my town have read the series. However, since they love the book (Twilight), they are very skeptical of the movie. They have watched the trailers over and over and are already complaining about certain scenes. As with many people, they were less than enthusiastic about the last book.
My daughter is 14, started the series at 13 and loves them. She had even re-read them as have many of her friends. The last book had an ending most kids found unsatisfactory, but my daughter liked it. She is mad that the next book has been delayed.
But most of her friends reading the books are between 12 and 16. I plan to read the series too.
Oh and yes the kids are going to see Twilight the movie, but are pulling out all the things that are different. I did it with the Harry Potter movies. I wouldn’t have like Jurrasaic Park had I read the book first. Many times the movie doesn’t do the book justice and with Twilight these girls are in love with Edward and/or Jacob main characters, so its natural for it fall short of expectation (same happened to me with Interview with a Vampire and Queen of the damned, no actor could live up to the Lestat in the book).
My twelve years old daughter loves Meyer’s books. I’ve read them too and they are entertaining and plenty of that romantic thing we adore at that age. After having a look at the movie trailer both of us dissappointed about changes from the original, however we’re planning to have a look at the full piece.
As others have said, it honestly depends on your maturity level. I could easily see a ten or eleven year old reading them, and I thoroughly enjoy them.
These books are very inappropriate for kids. I mean, the fourth book is a glorious celebration of sex and pregnancy.
Fanny, I totally agree wit habout lestat. anyway i have a friend that is 12 and he says the books are awesome. I haven’t read the book but i plan to.
My daughter is 13, soon to be 14, and loves the books. So do I, for that matter.
I totally agree with Matthew. The Twilight series is not appropriate for children. It glorifies a kind of romantic love that is not only unrealistic but sets the stage for abuse.
Literary speaking, reading The Twilight series is like eating a marshmallow. It is fluffy and sweet and addictive, hardly nutritious and, in excess, bad for you.
hey i am younger than 12 and read twilight and i am on the second one. I know a lot of kids that have read the book and i think it is a great book for all ages.
I purchased three copies of each book for my shelves in a middle school library last year and they constantly stayed checked out. This year, my new library only has one copy of each but at least 10 holds for each!
I haven’t read them for myself because they are constantly checked out. I have asked three teachers who have read them about their content and they all felt it was appropriate.
Looking back on my middle school days, I was checking out V.C. Andrew’s books!! As I get older and more prudish, I need to take a step back and remember what it is like to be a young teenager. If you feel uncomfortable with your children reading it, but know that they want to, then read it with them and talk about the books. Allow moments as these to open a dialogue that can often get stifled between parent and child during the teen years. Otherwise, these books are good for students because he gets them to read! If you take it off the shelves, students will only want to read it even more and borrow it from someone else — they want what they can’t have.
Just a suggestion.
I have a nine year old desperate to read these but I also think they are inappropriate for her age. As some commenters have mentioned these books are fluff- and sexist borderline abusive fluff at that. As an adult I read them and could see them for what they are typical helpless woman/forceful man nonsense- but I’d hate for these books to be any preteen’s first intro to romance. flip open to any part of the book and check out the language used for Edwards dialog- He “comands” “orders” etc, he never just says anything. Contrast this with Bella. Also,at the end of twilight Bella awakes in the hospital needing to lie to her parents about what happened so she asks Edward what she should tell them, to which he says something like, tell them you fell down the stairs, you are so clumsy, they’ll believe it, and she felt comforted by his taking care of her.
That’s sure not what I want my kid to fantasize about.
hi,
My name is chloe and i’m really looking forward to seing the twilight movie! im twelve years old and have read all four books, and i loved every single one of them.!
im hopin we could all find out about the film seing age asap so i can see it for my birthday when it comes out in november!
I am a 24 year old business woman/model. I read the Host… and have been hooked on Stephanie’s books ever since. If one can read, understand, and enjoy a piece of literature, does it truly matter how old the reader is? The content is not difficult to process… I think it depends on personal interest rather than age.
I read the first three Twilight books when I was eleven years old, and I loved them. I didn’t find them to be above my maturity level at all. Even the fourth book was an easy read and the sex is never explicit. It does depend on your maturity level I suppose, but many tween girls I know love Twilight. Then again, my mom and aunt love tham and they’re in their forties! The movie looks like it will be disappointing and it strayed away from the book. However, I intend to see it.
these are very fun to read,cause most of them are very instering to read thank you for letting me to comment this..
brittany renae roy
well to depend on these little girls that are reading the book and expire on the characters. Im starting to read twilight and i am loving every second of the book. The hopes and dreams these children have and the excitement in the novel is ove welled and i think you should write more of the storys cause im ready to read lots of them. Me and my child. Thank you for putting smiles on my childs face and keep writing them they are really good.
I am half way through Eclipse and am 30 and I wouldn’t want my 12 year old daughter reading he series. Strong issues in it, great read but would wait for 15yrs and over…
I’m 31 and I love the series. There is no way I’d let my 9 year old daughter, who is a very advanced reader, read them though. Her maturity level just isn’t there. Yes, Breaking Dawn does involve some adult topics, including sex. I find nothing wrong with it though, as it doesn’t go into detail. And what’s wrong with it portraying sex as glorious? I have no problem with my daughter reading the series, just not at this age.
I’m seven I’ve read the first book and I loved it.
I’m 10 I read the first one but my parents won’t let me read the 2nd one. Do u think I should read it?
I loved all 4 of the twilight books, and am siked for the movie, I am 13. I skipped around a lot in the 4th book, a little too… grapic 4 me, and most other kids, I’d say, under 15. If your mature enough to handle them, and remember that they are VERY fiction I think they’re great! I also would totally recomend The Host also by Stephenie Meyer!
I think these books are appropriate for anyone who can udersand & appreciate them. The kissing & sex is never explicit, as someone else commented earlier, and they were married, so theres nothin wrong there. As for Edward being controling u oviously misenterpreted the book and the fect that hes just very protective. These are my fav. books ever, and thats sayin something because I’ve read alot of amazing books.
I am shocked that parents would want their young children to read such books. I am currently in the middle of Twilight and have friends who have read the entire series.
As for my children…not one of them will touch this book until they’re at least 13 (and ready for such content), for the content is definitely not appropriate for younger children and their stage of development.
Somehow I feel we want our kids to grow up too fast. As for the movie, It’s PG 13…for a reason. And from what I’m seeing from the trailer, it’s not going to fit the bill…I’m sure Pattinson is a good actor…but he certainly doesn’t appear to be the Edward I pictured. In fact, I think he looks like the typical 1930s vampire stereotype.
I just finished the 3rd book-I am an adult with small kids. I don’t think these books (as fluffy as the first was) were meant for 10 and 12 year olds. I think Hollywood and society has done a great job on spinning them to kids.
The scenes of desire/passion (not sex), sneaking around her father, sneaking her boyfriend in her room, etc. are not the best things for young girls to read. The problem in society is we have become so relaxed on what is appropriate for kids.
I think the complex decisions Bella needs to make and the irresponsible ones she does make are above many kids at this age. I think they will see all the hype with the books/movie and of course want to read them. But as a parent it is our decision to make on whether to allow them to read it or not. My advice would be to read it first and then decide.
For me, personally, I wouldn’t let mey 10 or 12 year old read it. I think 13 (min) and above might be fine for book 1. Books 2-3 become more complex and dark.
I believe these are for people from the ages of 16 and up…..I would not let my 12 year old read them……..but when they are old enough I highly recommend them, best reading I have had since the dragonlance series.
I think the twilight saga is prefect for tweens. I’m 12 and am a total twi-hard!I read Breaking Dawn the night it came out and had no problem reading it and for those moms that think as I quote “this is NOT suitialbe for girls under 17″ then you havent seen the mobs of twi-hards at my school(2 out of 5 girls to be clear!) or any were else in the world that are in grade school and read Breaking Dawn without blushing! I think that if your dauhter (or son, their are boys reading twilight) wants to read twilight or see the movie, you have to let them! This book series is perfectly fine for ages 8 & up through book 3 and ages 10 & up for book 4. for a last word if your child doesn’t like reading, they will like reading after Twilight(it worked for me!)
I read the whole twilight series and then decided to share it with my 10 year old daughter. The book is very popular with girls her age. She wasn’t the only one in her class to see the movie, although she was probably the only one required by her mother to read the entire book first! Now that she’s finished with the series I’m scrambling for something else to read with her.
I LOVE this book!!!I would suggest it to any girl of any age.It was soooooo adictive that no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t put it down. Everyone should read this amazing book!!!
These books are am-azing. Yeah, they might be innapropriate, but so .. your kids are gunna have to learn it SOONER or later. Why not now ? Just tell them vampires are mystical creatures and you shouldn’t have sex until you’re at least 21
im 10 and im almost done with the series.there great!
I think anyone that can be mature about a fantasy love story can read this series. I am 12 and i think the series got tweens, like me, learning that they can enjoy a book. Me and my bff dont like reading but when i read the series now i want my mom to take me to the book store like every week. Twilight showed me the path that reading is not a bore, that it is just the begining of the rest of my life. If it were not for bella and edward i would still be watching t.v. with drool sticking out of my mouth all day. so i would say if you are mature anyone over 10 can can read it.
im 11 and read the first 2 books mixed reviews on the last 2 books .i am mature and wondering am i old enough ?
p.s.first 2 books rock
Wow, those comments from 12 year olds so aren’t, just poor attempts at posing as one to promote reading young. I loved the books, and believe that Stephenie did a wonderful job keeping morals in a vampire themed book targeted to modern day people/youth. I don’t have teens or preteens yet, and am not sure what I’ll do for mine, but I know that even with vague descriptions of scenes that I do not want my young girls to be entertaining sexual fantasies and thinking it’s okay for boys to stay over even when nothing is going on, etc. Does this mean they can’t read them, perhaps no, but I think it means actively discussing the content with them and helping them understand where their morals should be, and what is appropriate, etc. As for the actual sex in the books, I was shocked that when it came time for it, it wasn’t described but skipped right over. Yes, things were talked about later, but never in great graphic detail, and yes after marriage. So, Stephenie has already set the stage for a nice discussion about sex being a wonderful good thing in marriage. I think there are ways to be a person of morals, and teach children to keep their morals, but still enjoy the series. It will just take being an active parent discussing the mature themes with your children, and also choosing an appropriate age/maturity level for them to be ready to read and engage in discussion about the topics. And I love the chivalry and protective nature of Edward, and Bella’s delicacy. I don’t think Edward was manipulating her at all, the books are all about her defying his every wish for her to have a normal good future. They were just meant to be together.
I am a school librarian and I have read the books. I will be getting the books for the library and I will have them available for the eighth graders. I have had fourth graders and older ask me for the book and am surprised that some of them have already read the books. I don’t feel the books are appropriate for anyone younger than eighth grade.
im 11yrs old and i’ve raed alll the books not
to brag but i read them in 5 days all 4 of them and yes i would recomend them 4 11yrs and up
Im 17 going on 18 and i love the twilight saga. I read all the books 3 times each and i have seen twilight 5 times in theaters. The books are really great and the movie is amazing.
I`m only nine and ive read them all. It is definetly not apropriate unless your machore but i no 7 year olds who read it and 46 year old and i definetly recomend it
Im a 10 year old girl and Ive read the 1st and 2nd books and i wanna read the 3rd and 4th!my mom said i could read the 3rd but not the 4th!i need to proove to her its ok to read both!UUUGHHH!Its hard being a kid!
I am 12 years old and I know a couple 8 or 9 year old girls who have read them. I am actually rereading the books. I LOVE Edward Cullen!!!! He is so HOT!! I loved the movie. I can’t wait for the “New Moon” movie to come out!!!
My daughter borrowed these from her friend and read them, and someone suggested to me she not read the third book due to it being, “All about sex…” But then another college aged woman told me that the books were appropriate for my daughter (12 yrs old). So, I told her she could read the last book. Then I decided to read posts about it. I cannot sit down and read fiction anymore, for the life of me (10 yrs of college destroyed my love for reading) so I won’t read the books as all fiction bores me. But I will say — when I was 12 I read VC Andrews like another poster above, and remember reading about a brother and sister falling into sexual love with one another, a love that lasted into their adulthood after being stuck in an attic, and I loved the stories. I don’t think they “messed me up” in any way, in fact I think it opened my mind to a strange sexuality in a way that my parents would never discuss with me. I believe there is all sorts of abuse in fiction — look at Stephen King’s books, I read The Stand when I was 16 and got hooked on horror novels. When you think of it everything can be banned, like earlier books that contained racism, even the Bible is full of sex, look at the Song of Solomon, and the violence in that book is extreme. Killing every child in a city??? So what books are we going to ban next or stop our kids from reading? I think we have to consider the fact that fiction is something (and stories) that have existed for 10s of 1000s of years in human history and it intrigues people. So, I’ve decided to let my daughter read all of the books. I think its a parent’s obligation to talk to one’s children about sex, violence, abuse, etc. and let them know the difference between right and wrong, that will make them stronger than attempting to ban this or that piece of media that might mentally destroy them. We could, after all, be Amish and then when struck with “reality” just not be able to function in it, so that is the alternative.
im 12 and it is the one and only best book on this earth! u gotta read it!! even tho there are some mature content in it…its still a great romance and adventure book to read and it introduces ur mind to using more imagination
I am a 13 year old.(I am on my grandmas computer). I have read the whole Twilight series and I loved it so much that I went out and bought all the books… I think that the age groups for this series would be about my age because alot of the students in my seventh grade class are stick in the Twilight books.(I finished before them along with two friends which I am not giving their names.)It only took me three to four days to read each of them except New Moon because of it being sad… but anyways my cousin is only 10 and she wants to take my Twilight book home already… I believe that you should be alittle bit older for Breaking Dawn though.. you should know why if you have read it…Well I am using my grandmas computer and email address but you can comment or message me if you want.. just ask to speak to Taylor Hill… I figured since you were trying to figure out what ages you thought should be reading these books I would give you my opinion because I am just a young teen who just discovered the miraculous books…
I’m 11 years old and i thought it was absolutely AWSOME!!! I know it is a little innaproprate but i think they are just great.i red then all in less then a week and sure i thought it was a little gross and disturbing with the whole breaking dawn thing, but I didn’t think it was such a big deal because all us fifth graders have had the talk and sixth graders(like me) have had it at least twice in school and a little bit with our parents so yeah i think it’s best for grade 5 and abover but i still think it was okay for us to read.
After reading all the posts and talking to some parents, I’ve decided to read the book with my 11 yo daughter. Since all of her friends have read it and are already talking about it, I’d rather be the one she goes to if she wants to discuss a mature topic, not here 11 yo friends. I will post back after the read.
I am 14 and i love the books
10 and up
You are kidding yourself if you think younger readers have not caught on. In our school, it started to run wild among the middle school, and now is very popular in the 5th and 4th grade. I don’t think parents are aware of the story, they just buy it from scholastic book club because their girls want it.
Well, I came looking to see what opinions other parents had about letting their child read this book. I have 13 year old and I was not too sure, until she pointed out the book is on the AR (Advanced Reading) list..
While this does not really tell me anything concretely, I would “hope” that the individuals responsible for adding books to the AR list actually read the books to see if they are age appropriate.
With this, I will let my 13-year old read the book..
My two cents..
Hi, I have read the 1st and 2nd book and i thought they were absolutely great! I dont feel that you have to be in 8th grade i think if you feel mature enough to read it then go ahead. Ofcourse if you are any younger then 11 maybe not so much but otherwise it is GREAT THAT YOU WANT TO READ SUCH A MATTURE BOOK!
I sincerely believe that these books do not promote anything harmful. Of course, they are unrealistic (hello, vampires?) If a child is interested in reading the books, and continues through it, then they should be allowed to. If it is above their interest or maturity, they’ll stop. And to the librarian who is censoring for the sake of kids’ innocence: putting an age limit on a book only makes it more tempting to kids, by the way. If they’re interested in books about romantic love, they’ve got an idea about sex already. And these books introduce it in a consensual, loving, married environment.
I am 11 and all the kids in my call are CRAZY about the series. i think the book is for all ages that can understand the book.
I LOVE TWILIGHT!!! It is my favorite book and all the girls are crazy about it. Some Of the boys in my year like the books and loads have seen the film and liked it. We are all 12/13. My brother was nine when he read twilight and liked it. He then read half of new moon and got a bit bored. I think they were a bit mature for him. However that doesn’t count for everyone who is below 11.
i’m 15 and i’ve read all 4 books multiple times. personally, i love the series, and this was the first full series i’ve actually read. My little sister is 10 and she is reading the books, and my little cousin is 9 and she just finished reading them. I would recommend them to my friends who haven’t read them, but again, it depends on what kind of books they like to read. I don’t think that i would recommend the books to kids under 12 though, because of some of the scenes in the fourth book.
im 11 and ive read the whole seriesand my little sisters have read at least twilight but the youngest one in my family(7) has read twilight new moon and is on eclipse
Well i am 12 and i think the series is great and i would totally recromend it! =)
Well… I am 10 years old going on 11 in a month. And i dont think they are unnipropriate unless your not very egicated in sex ed. The books are very well written. And dont be looking for comedy in these books because their the kind of seriouse romantic tipe of things. LOVE THE BOOKS THOUGH!!! PLEASE STEPH KEEP WRITING!!!! =)