About two weeks ago Joeprah stated a small group of fathers from dad blogs. This group was going to review the book/movie “Twilight” and determine whether or not we thought it was a book we would mind if out daughters. My wife and I have seen the trailers for the movie. I thought it would be a decent movie, but we never went out of our way to see it. When this group started to get together I thought, “Why not, I did just finish my other book.” This was also an opportunity to start using my new Library and Movies plugins for the site.

I started out reading with the preconceived notion that this book would be out of the question for young adult readers. Knowing it is basically a love and suspense story, I thought there would be the obligatory love scene, but I never did find it. The  book itself is written very PG. There is no bad language, no real adult only content, and only mild hind ( and not often) about sex.

The story is about a seven-teen year old girl from a broken home moving from Phoenix, AZ to the small town of Forks, WA to live with her father. She was doing this so that her mother could go to Florida with her new husband

She Started to school in this small town that she despised with the fear that she would not fit in and no one would like her. To her surprise she instantly made friends. During her first lunch she takes note of a group of students sitting off by themselves, and was told they were all brothers and sister. I her Biology class she meets one of them first hand. He reacts very strangely, apparently  hating her with out a word passing between them. Later she finds him trying to change his classes so that he would not have to sit by her.

Latter after he saves her  from almost being hit by a car, he continues his strange behavior toward her, avoiding her  and distancing himself as much as he could. After a few weeks he gives up on his attempts to avoid her and befriends her instead, the whole time trying to convince her that he is a very dangerous person to be near.

At a beach party she meets up with the son of a family friend, who tells her  a story about the strange family and how they are Vampires. Even after realizing the truth, she did not want to be with out him. She had fallen in love and she did not care if her was a monster.The story centers around a theme of “Love Transcends all, even natural instankt.

I would be willing to read this book to my eight year old daughter, or even let her read it herself  if she was in her teens.

In contrast the movie is almost completely different, as most book-based movie. I would not let my 8yo see them movie, but if she was in her teens I would be willing to watch it wither. If you go by what is in to movie, and never read the book, you are missing great story. They changed major key elements of the story. The movie and book share only a few pivotal scenes. If i had not read the mook first I may have liked the movie better than I did.

The movie is not a family movie night prospect, but I could see the book as a family reading book if you kids like fiction.

Check out the other Twilight posts I have:
Twilight – New Moon

For more of what dads with daughters have to say about Twilight check these links:

The Bloggers:

Ron Mattocks of Clark Kent’s Lunchbox — “Twilight” For Girls? Dad Bloggers Share Their Thoughts

Justin Howefitz of Howefitz blog – Twilight: One Father’s Ramblings On A Phenomenon

Ciara of Ciara’s Ramblings and What not –Is it safe? Twilight and Teens

Joe Schatz of Joeprah — A Dad of Daughters on the Twilight Phenomenon

National Fatherhood Examiner (still Joe Schatz) — Dad and Mom Bloggers react to “New Moon” & “Twilight” series

So, what are your thoughts? Has the book been brought up as an issue in your house? How about the movie? Is there any reason to censor this book from kids, or do you think it is appropriate for most kids?

Tags: books, dad blogs, movie, reading, Review, Twilight

Summer is over and the new school year is in full swing. The mornings are starting off with the “I don’t feel well” and “My tummy hurts”, and the day ends with “But I am not tired”. The TV goes out for home work and the youngest does not understand what her sister can not play right now. All things are as they should be.

This year they have told Angel to read at least twenty minutes a day and write about what she read. About a month ago I was talking about reading with our girls. We started her off on the book series called “Magic Tree House.” Starting it somewhere in the middle, we had picked up a book that my Wife thought was interesting, “A Good Night for Ghosts.” The series, by Mary Pope Osborne, is about two children and a time traveling tree house.

We started off reading the book to her at night. Since then she has picked up another “magic Tree House book” at the school library and has been reading it herself. It feels great to watch her reading on her own like that.

Although the “Magic Tree House” was not the first book she tried to pick up and read on her own. She had picked up a book that was well beyond her current reading level, because it looked neat. It was a book for the “Warriors” series. These are books about cat clans and their wars. It was a set I was looking at the other day in the book store. That is when my wife pointed out the age level signs on the shelves at the books store, and brought both of us over to the books that were written for her age.

Maybe schools should take this idea into their libraries. She was upset when she was unable to read the book herself. If the school library, lick the books store and some public libraries, labeled the books with suggested age levels, or organized them in age range categories, we would not have had to console her with the fact that the book, though it might be good and enjoyable, was just to hard for her to read right now.

All that aside, I love to see my child reading and enjoying stories the way I did when I was younger. I remember being part of the Book-it club and reading to get free personal pan pizzas. I wonder if they still have that program. I will have to look into that, because I love to see her read and she loves pizza.

Read a book with your kids. It is fun.

Tags: books, children, family, Fatherhood Fridays, FatherhoodFridays, KIds, magic tree house, reading, school