I had no idea how quickly I would become attached to the Stephenie Meyer books when my homeschooler first introduced them to me. She began with the first of the Twilight series, she's one who absolutely must read in sequence. I've learned to appreciate and tolerate her demands that I read in sequence as well. Sometimes we have to give our kids a chance to teach us something, instead of always demanding to be the teacher ourselves.
We discovered soon after beginning the third in the Twilight series, Eclipse, that there would be a book release party at Books-a-Million for the next book “Breaking Dawn”. My daughter was ecstatic. She all but begged me to take her to the party. I admit to getting caught up in her excitement, enjoying that she looked forward to doing something different on the weekend rather than just watching a rented movie at home.
Friends Join Us in Adoration of Bella and Edward
We discovered a couple of her public school friends also loved the Stephenie Meyer collection. We asked them to join us at the book release party. I was merely curious to see what that sort of party would be like, and I wanted to chaperone the girls. Once we arrived at the party, the girls almost burned a hole in the ground getting into the bookstore! I was relieved that they were excited to visit a bookstore instead of some of the other dangerous places teens choose to go on weekends. The girls had even gotten into the spirit and dressed for the prom theme of the party.
Bella Contest Takes Us by Surprise
Surprisingly, my daughter won the contest for dressing like Bella! She was happier than I'd seen her in awhile. We hadn't known there would be a costume contest. She just dressed in something she thought Bella would wear. She had mentioned that she wanted to dress up because it might be the closest she would ever get to attending a prom. While that made me sad, I kept quiet about it. After all, she is a teenager. We all know how moody and dramatic they can become at times. I wanted to say, “How do you know you'll never attend a prom?”
We both enjoy following the exploits of the characters in the Twilight series. Bella, with her love triangle between Jacob and Edward, keeps us a little frustrated, but she is charming as well with her personality quirks and insecurities.
The girls and I enjoyed the party, walking around to admire the others who had dressed for the occasion, listening to the many comments of the other guests, joining in the trivia contest about Stephenie Meyer books, and browsing through the selections while we eagerly awaited the release of “Breaking Dawn”.
Meyer is Tops on Our List of Authors
Even the Harry Potter books didn't capture our attention as the Meyer collection has. It's been so much fun to be able to discuss the characters with my daughter and her friends. It's great that the story line is on a level they can enjoy as teenagers in the process of becoming young adults. Stephenie has done a fine job on these stories. To be able to bring teenagers and a middle-aged mother together in a mutual respect for an author and her characters is awesome to me.
Not only are the books worthy of our attention and devotion, her interest in Bella has encouraged my daughter to willingly search for and read a classic called “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte'. How great is that? I am so excited about this, I've decided to read it, too!
Stephenie Meyer definitely has a fan club here in our homeschool.
