And BW, here is why I feel the way I do about this issue:

Would I be thrilled if my students got into some of the classic children’s literature that I love? Of course! I’ve been reading them my old favorites and Newbery winners as much as I can and some of them have grabbed ahold of it, but honestly, it really is a great thing for them to read anything at all.

Here comes the teacher in me, so get ready!

Reading anything, regardless of quality, helps increase fluency. If the students have a high frustration level because they are lacking said fluency, then there is no way they will ever be able to appreciate quality literature, even as adults. I encourage my parents to let their children read them the grocery list, read comics, whatever, because simply having practice increases their abilities. As a teacher, it makes me happy to see them read something that they take an interest in, can comprehend, and develop higher level thinking about. You don’t know how hard it is to get students to think beyond what is black and white in front of them, so if there is something that they are willing to theorize about, make inferences, predicitions, whatever, I’m thrilled!

Now, that being said, I do understand why it is frustrating to see certain novels do well, while other great books do not, but you also have to consider their genres. These are young adult books written for those developmental levels (let’s ignore the fact that these are my favorite types of books and what that says for my maturity, ok? lol).

If it makes you feel any better, I was at the store the other day and they had some Jane Austen, Emily Brontë, etc. displayed next to Twilight because Bella’s favorite book is Wuthering Heights. Interestingly, the covers really resembled the Twilight series’, but hey, whatever works, right?

And sending you a beer from Georgia (though what you have there is probably a ton better)! : -P

I know it isn’t gonna happen, but seeing a kid reading something better written and more stimulating (Hemingway, perhaps, maybe even a little Joseph Conrad) would cheer me up no end. Is their exposure to Twilight going to be the defining book which sets them off on a life of reading? Can’t see that as being entirely a good thing. As a passing phase before a child finds better books they are important, but as a reading experience in isolation of the truly great achievements in the written word the Twilight saga is lacking.

The market dominance issue has moved away somewhat from Harry Potter to Twilight (and the dreaded D** B**** paperbacks), yet there is still a feeling from most of the people I harrass that the overexposure of certain key authors and their work is damaging people’s ability to make informed decisions about quality. It is generally seen by nearly everyone I corner that having a book in the bestseller list equates to quality. That argument can be pricked by one very salient fact:

Mr Blobby (a terrible character which consisted of a fat suit and a vocoder) got to #1 in the UK singles chart. Does that confer a degree of quality? No.

I’m banging my head against a wall here, I know, but I get so annoyed at the lack of imagination inherent in the books which consistently get promoted and reviewed because of popularity at the expense of wonderfully written novels which are completely ignored. I’m not holding up the “literary” card either, because “literary” is a (very recently) made up term to denote books which make people miserable. It’s just a matter of quality I’m concerned with.

#999th attack on Twilight in disregard for the continuing fall-out from the “agents hate negativity” bomb, blatantly annoying the rest of the world in the process. *sigh* I need a beer…

My favorite vampire is Alice, btw, despite the godlike powers. She and Jasper make a lovely couple.

Except in the Team Edward sentiment, in which I feel compelled to yell “Team Jasper!”