The book is targeted towards the young adult crowd, so much of the book is spent examining the relationships of Meg Pryor. She must choose between her college boyfriend who wants to date other girls, or her brother's best friend, lost because is brother is MIA in Vietnam, a place where Meg's brother JJ will soon be headed. The book also covers a lot of fashion and family relationships as well.

While this particular story did not take place in the actual series run of the show, this book still explores all the best elements of the show. There are multiple references to all the stars of the time including the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and of course there is an appearance by Bob Dylan, who is well connected with Roxanne's father's new girlfriend. And while there are very few appearances by the rest of the Pryor family, Meg does get herself into a few spots where only family can help.

At just under 200 pages, this is a very quick read, but is a book that is highly recommended to all youngsters who loved American Dreams or who just love to read about other teens from a different era. Pick it up for a beach read and you'll probably finish it in a couple of hours.

Young Readers Sink their Teeth into the Popular Literary Sensation

It's your basic teen romance novel, fueled by healthy doses of suspense and, well, vampires. Okay, I've changed my mind: this is not your basic teen romance novel.

No, it's Twilight, the 500-page first installment in a riveting vampire love saga, written by stay-at-home-mom Stephenie Meyer after the idea for the book came to her in a dream. Find it hard to believe? Just browse the countless fansites devoted to the book's addictive plot and stunningly believable (and fantastic) characters.

Plot of the Book

The story begins as our protagonist, Bella Swan, exiles herself to the dreary, waterlogged town of Forks, Washington, to live with her father after her mother remarries. While her new home, school and life seem incredibly dull, she becomes intrigued by her elusive yet blindingly beautiful classmate, Edward Cullen. Try as she might, she is unable to gain any information about him, his family of equally radiant and intimidating siblings, or the reason he is obviously avoiding her. After a series of questionable events occur, Bella begins to uncover Edward's secret: he is a vampire.

But by this point, they're already in love.

Luckily for Bella, Edward is a reformed vampire: he abstains from using humans to "satiate his thirst". However, for some reason unknown to Edward (and the reader), Bella seems to be much more enticing to him than the average human being. Throughout the book, Edward must struggle to repress the constant desire he feels to end her life for his basic vampire "needs". But will Edward's love be enough to overcome his true nature and save Bella's life when a more deadly vampire coven arrives in Forks?

While the very idea of a vampire love story has raised some eyebrows, parents, teachers and future readers can rest assured that the author's take on vampirism is almost innocent. Traditional characteristics-such as sleeping in coffins inside spooky, cobweb-filled mansions-have been replaced by more young-adult-friendly attributes (not being able to sleep at all inside warm, spacious and well-kept houses). However, this novel DOES include some fantastic and horrific properties; those with strong beliefs against such paranormal and potentially frightening ideas are discouraged from reading the book in question.

My Take

Twilight is, without a doubt, my favourite book of all time. It has romance without the sappiness, horror without the fright, and fantasy without the obvious implausibility. The novel is well-written, with a broad vocabulary, and is entirely enthralling. It has realistic characters and a realistic setting, mixed in with one of the most unrealistic plots. The dialogue is believable and thought-provoking. Bella's narrative voice is so descriptive and fluid that you practically melt into the supernatural world of Forks and forget that you are actually reading a fiction novel. And while many people characterize Edward as a bit of a martyr, one must sympathize him while he wages his inner battle to control the monster within. I do find Bella's character to be a bit lacking when it comes to personality, but I suppose that's the point: to illustrate how someone so ordinary could end up with someone as extraordinary as a teenage vampire. The sheer intensity of the book itself has created a page turner that has begun to carve its niche in the hearts of teen readers (and adult readers, too!). In reading Twilight,you'll smile, frown, gasp, cry and giggle uncontrollably. Overall: love it, love it, love it! And Edward…love him, too.

But wait! There's more: a whole Twilight series just DYING to be read! New Moon and Eclipse, the second and third novels in this captivating series, are available at a bookstore near you. The fourth book, Breaking Dawn, is currently in production, as reported on the author's official website. The release date for this fourth installment is August 2nd, 2008. Not only that, but there's a movie in the works as well: the public premier is set for December 12th. More information can be found on Stephenie Meyer's website.

It's romance, suspense, fantasy, horror, comedy and drama all rolled into one. It's Twilight, and it's got readers thirsty for more!

It falls to parent therefore to acquaint them with this transition period. In order to help their children through it; they need to be constantly ready to make a helpful remark, to give needed assurance, and to provide answers to delicate questions. Perhaps the most striking of a threshold period is the child rapid growth. Within a few months a youngster will shoot up several inches in height. The feminine characteristics of young womanhood become apparent.

The capacity to grow constitutes one of the greatest gifts God has bestowed upon His creatures. Growth is vital to human existence. The infant must grow in order to become a child. The child must grow in order to become a youth, and the youth continues to grow until becomes an adult.

Success in life depends not only on physical growth. In order to live abundantly a person must also grow intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. Physical growth is usually completed before age of twenty. Intellectual, emotional, and spiritual should continue, however, throughout life.

Girls usually reach their growth spurt when they are between nine and thirteen. During this period a girl becomes a young woman. By the end of the growth spurt, she becomes just about as tall as she will ever be.
A girl in the threshold period has reason to be happy when she is no longer a child. However, if she is not informed on the changes that take place within her body, she may become worried and anxious over what these changes means. It is in this situation a kindly and sympathetic mother can be of great help to her daughter. As the mother explains the events that take place in a girl's body her daughter will feel reassured that she is normal and will develop a poise and self-confidence that will even improve her personality.

During childhood, a girl's body contains certain organs different from those of a boy. Those are the organ that will enable her later, to become a mother. During childhood they do not function simply presenting a miniature, they await the time when womanhood arrives.

Chief among the organs in a girl's body which brings about the changes of this threshold are the ovaries. There are two of these, one on the top right and one on the left, in the lower part of the abdomen. The ovaries perform two duties. First they produce a chemical substance, estrogen, which circulate throughout the body and influence the various tissues to follow the feminine pattern of development. Becoming active for the first time during the threshold period, the ovaries are responsible for stimulating rapid increase in height, for bringing about a broadening of the hips, for stimulating the development of the breasts, for prompting the growth of hair under the arms and in the pubic area, and for causing a maturing of the uterus (womb). The second function of the ovaries is to produce the female sex cells, called ova. The purpose of the cell is to help in producing a new life to furnish a tiny bit of material that assist in forming a baby. But a baby has two parents-a mother and a father.

The creator therefore planned the life of human beings in such a way that a baby comes into being only when a female sex cell, produced by one of the mother's ovaries is joined by a male sex cell, produced by the baby father. When the union of these two sex cells occurs within a woman body, a new life is started and the woman is said to be pregnant. The mother should be able to educate the girl child being wise enough not to tell the whole story at one sitting. She should tell her daughter little at a time.

Educating the girl child therefore, on the primary basis of her developmental process into entering adulthood is simply unavoidable; this certainly will go a long way in making the mind of the growing girl child be at peace.

While Tick works on solving the puzzles in these mysterious letters strange things start occurring to him. He meets some very unusual characters who turn out to be partners in this great puzzle. As friendly and helpful as they are to Tick, they only serve to add more frustration to things for a while because they're no allowed to answer some of Tick's questions. They do help though in telling Tick about some of the dangers he's faced and what they are as well as what they could do to him. Tick also notices that something unusual is going on because he knows that a certain even had occurred, but the people and objects around him all point to that the event never happened (You'll know it when you read it!)

There are a few unusual things about the book though which I feel only add to the appeal in the end. The first is that Tick is up front and honest with his father and looks to him for guidance and support throughout the ordeal. In return his father does whatever he can to help his son succeed, but not once does he out and out give Tick any other the answers (Not that dad would know all of it anyway). This is such a refreshing relief from other young adult books now where all the adults are to be avoided, not trusted, and many times just downright nasty. Another item that I was very pleasantly surprised with was the mention and use of quantum physics interspersed throughout the story. It's a short introduction to some of the basic concepts, but it's there nonetheless. Maybe it's just the scientist in me that was thrilled by this, but it's nice to see that despite the fantasy world(s) that exist(s) within the story, science is accurately used as a key part of the plot.

A few of the characters and plot lines are probably not as built out as some people may like, but there's plenty of room for future books in the series to fill in all the holes. In the mean time though there's still plenty of action and adventure

The Thirteenth Reality is a relatively fast paced book that readers of all ages should enjoy. I had trouble putting it down, even though I knew I had to get some sleep to be able to make it through work in the morning. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.