December 27, 2008

The Twilight Zone

My youngest daughter has been reading avidly for a couple of years now. Prior to that we brought home a variety of books for her to read but nothing seemed to hold her interest. I figured the Nancy Drew series would be perfect for her but that didn't seem to work. A few months passed by and we tried it again. That was all it took. Just a little time. Once she started reading them she couldn't put them down. She started out reading the series from the very beginning -- books 1 thru 4 -- and then moved on to the next set. Before long she was on book 30 and then book 40.

I asked her one day if she was ever going to read anything else. I told her that I thought she should probably think about expanding her horizons and that there were a lot of other good books out there. She informed me that she had tried other books but that she was enjoying what she was reading so why bother. Okay, I thought to myself. She'll run out of books soon enough and then we'll talk about it again.

My other daughter has been a different story all together. Reading has not been her forte. We have given her countless books to read and nothing has sparked her interest. I thought, 'A Wrinkle in Time' would be perfect for her, but that wasn't to be. L'Engle was not the right call. Harry Potter stayed with her for a while, but he even seemed to disappoint. And then a month or so ago my wife said something in passing. She said the oldest really wanted to read Twilight. It was all everybody was talking about.

"I have Twilight." I said.

"I'm not sure she really needs to read that," my wife said.

"There's nothing wrong with it," I told my wife. Thinking to myself at this point I'd buy her a Jeff Foxworthy's Daily Redneck calendar if that's what it would take to get her to read something. Hell, I might even buy her a South Park comic book if there was such a thing.

"Well," my wife said, "I guess there are a lot of teenagers reading the book."

Anyhow, I was right in the middle of reading Twilight when my wife brought this up. A few days later I had just finished reading another chapter when I realized it was going to be a while before I ever finished it. It's not because I didn't like the book. That wasn't it at all. I just tend to read slow sometimes and I thought if my daughter started reading it and she found she liked it, then that would really be a plus. I also realized that if there was a book that she was going to read then this was it. I was most certain that this was that book.

It didn't take long. By mid-evening she had read over 50 pages. Fifty pages of anything was astounding. It was incredible. It was flipping amazing. I didn't care if it was about vampires. Or if it was about werewolves. I didn't care if it was about pigs flying in the rain. None of those things bothered me. It was a damn story.

At first I thought about the content because of all the hype. But only because a lot of other people were talking about it. But I just didn't get it.

Vampires.

So...what?

...what is the big deal?

Two months ago she was reading about witches and warlocks; along with 25% of the other children in the world. I didn't really see what the big difference was. Right now my daughter was reading and that was one of the best things in the world in my eyes. I mean...it's a story about vampires...

...who don't want to hurt any body!

Little boys have been reading stories about super beings for the past 70 years. Iconic figures who have amazing powers and a dark side to them. Batman, Spiderman and The Green Arrow. What's the difference?

Right now I will pay Meyers to write books for my daughter. But if she comes home from school one day wearing bright red lipstick and punked out hair I will probably freak.

4 comments:

Lorrie Veasey said...

Love your masthead Beaux!

I'll take any suggestions for my 7--soon to be 8 yo son. I thought Goosebumps would work; but they just keep him up all night. What age did your daughter read Harry potter?

Something Happened Somewhere Turning said...

The oldest started Harry Potter when she 9 going on 10.
I really liked the Hardy Boys. But then I was reading That was Then, This is Now and Little House too.

Linda S. Socha said...

Great Post!.Good Idea!
Linda

Chelle said...

Twilight is pretty tame, you needn't worry about her running into any nudie parts etc.

It's like Sweet Valley High- with vampires.

Good blog!

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