-
Why I’m Not a Fan of Twilight Anymore – Part Two
(See Part One here.) Vampires have no choice: The Twilight books started a trend that I find utterly disturbing. You see, the vampires in this series had no choice about whether they should live or die. Many of them don’t want to really be vampires and they live this horrible tortured existence, but they are unable to do anything about it. The choice is out of their hands. They must live this way and for the most part, they’re emo and tortured about it. But Bella makes their lives better. She’s everything that they needed. She rescued them from a difficult and miserable existence. She gave them a baby and peace and hope…
-
Why I’m Not a Fan of Twilight Anymore – Part One
Recently, in one of our articles about 50 Shades of Grey, I mentioned in passing that I’m no longer a fan of Twilight. This one sentence got an interesting response with several emails and comments asking me if I’d go into why I made that decision. Before I start, let me say that this was something sent to my heart. I’m not out here beating a drum and telling everyone that they need to heed these words. I’m only sharing what I know and what I’ve learned and asking that people make their own choices once they’ve read what I have to say. A little over a year ago, I was very…
-
The Revelation Generation
I’ve already discussed the growing trends you can see in Young Adult Fiction these days, but what do these trends really mean? What’s the big picture if a couple of teenagers are reading books about vampires or werewolves or, in the case of Fifty Shades, explicit sex? Well here are a few things that we should consider regarding the current trends in YA. As I already mentioned in a previous article, the popular topics in YA reading revolve greatly around supernatural aspects. Usually it’s vampires, werewolves, demons, fallen angels (different than demons in most YA novels), or some other such supernatural creature. Much like Frank Peretti’s Darkness series did so many years ago, these books are opening our children’s…
-
Fifty Shades of Indecision
A few weeks ago I nearly hyperventilated when I walked into the grocery store with my 13 year old daughter and found a pyramid of books dominating the central area of the store. Usually this space is reserved for current dvds or toys for summer fun. That sort of thing. This display of books must have been close to nine or ten feet tall and it was comprised of hundreds of copies of the Fifty Shades series. I found out later that they had copies of each book at all 25 checkout lanes too. As I stood there gaping, I watched a young girl of about 14-15 years old run up to…
-
Do You Know What Your Kids Are Reading?
In the 70’s and 80’s there was a public service campaign that asked the question “Do you know where your children are?” Remember that? It saturated the every day vernacular to the point that it became a parody of itself before finally dying out. But now that I’m a parent, I’m thinking that question is still a really good one. Do you know where your children are? But right now I’m going push it one step further. Do you know what your children are reading? That might make you laugh and shake your head at me. Sounds like I’m going totally overboard – I admit it. But before you write me off…
-
Fifty Shades of Jill and Lori
So unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon right? Huge breakout bestseller that everyone’s reading and/or talking about? Jill and I have both received emails, messages and lots of questions about our thoughts on Fifty Shades in the past few weeks. We thought maybe it was FINALLY time to stop putting our heads in the sand and hoping it goes away. Let me be honest – you may be surprised. Lori’s Grey: First of all, I’ve got to warn you that because of the subject matter of the book, it’s hard to talk about it without putting out a warning.…
