Blogging YA Lit with a Bite

I have now read 18 chapters of Twilight, the first novel in Stephenie Meyer’s novel about vampires in high school.  I have to admit that it appeared little more than a high school romance with the extra intriguing twist of the abstaining vampires, until I got to the part where Bella meets Edward’s family.  Now there is more of a cohesion to it, with an added thrill of real danger, which I won’t say more about, in case anyone who reads it hasn’t read the book yet!

Some of the pictures from the upcoming movie that can be seen, for example, at Twilighters, one of the fan websites, are interesting, but, as so often happens, the vision of the characters you have in your head is very different from what we’ll see on the screen.  When you’re used to Robert Pattinson as Cedric Diggory, it’s hard to see him as Edward Cullen. 

Chevy Pickup

However, the picture of Bella’s pickup on the official Cullen Cars page is exactly how I pictured it!

Welcome to the teacher’s blog for LIB 617 Research in Young Adult Literature!  The aim for this blog is to provide some thoughts about YA literature as we are discussing it in the class and as we all read the Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer.

Our theme for this semester, as it is every time I teach this class, follows the Young Adult Library Services Association’s Teen Read Week theme.  Here’s an extract from YALSA’s FAQ for Teen Read Week:

What is Teen Read Week?

Teen Read Week is an national literacy initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association. It’s aimed at teens, their parents, librarians, educators, booksellers and other concerned adults.

The main theme for the Teen Read Week initiative is “Read For The Fun Of It,” and a sub-theme that changes each year serves as a basis for developing programs in schools, public libraries, and bookstores. This year’s sub-theme is “Books with Bite @ your library®,” promoting a variety of books—from vampire stories to cooking to technology (byte)—as a tool for getting young adults to read.

 The little guy who’s freaking out is my own addition to the TRW logo; he comes from Animation Factory.