Stephenie Meyer: The Queen Of Modern Day Fairytail

Once upon a time, you are a housewife sitting down with your kids playing Legos and Barbie dolls. Now once upon a time 3 years after that, you are a multi billionaire with 4 top charting books, 4 blockbusters movie adaptations, and countless fangirls obsessing over the fictional characters you made. Would you believe that?

Stephenie Meyer's life sure is a real life roller coaster. Before her first book Twilight was finally published, she was rejected by 14 publishers. Now, its an international sensation, with all 4 books chart topping the New York Times Best Selling List, and all the 5 movie adaptations hitting number 1 spot in box office. Now she just need to sit back, relax, and have the time of her life with all the money she has. Damn, I wish I was her...

And... Guess what I found at Sunnyvale's Toys R Us yesterday:

Tried to find Edward Cullen's or Jacob Black's Barbie but I guess all the Twihards got them first. This one is the last two on the shelf.

Will the Twilight fever rule the toys industry too? We'll see...

Should Twilight Saga Be Banned?

Seems like not many parents and teachers love the vampire werewolf love story as much as teens do.

Twilight Saga revolves around the love triangle of Bella Swan, the vampire Edward Cullen, and the werewolf Jacob Black. The Twilight fever began on early 2008 when everyone is all about #TeamEdward or #TeamJacob. The real-life town of Forks, Washington has been packed with literary tourist from all over the world.

Despite that, Stephenie Meyer's 4 books came fifth on the American Library Association's list of books which people tried hardest to ban in the last year with complaints about both their level of sexual explicitness and their "religious viewpoint".

The British Conservative Party politician and Secretary of State for education, Michael Gove, also happens to be against the vampire love story. In a speech at Brighton College on Thursday (05/09/2013), the education secretary told his audience: "Too many children are only too happy to lose themselves in Stephenie Meyer. There is a Great Tradition of English Literature, a Canon of transcendent works, & Breaking Dawn is not part of it,"
The same thing happens on the other side of the globe. In many Australian middle schools , Stephanie Meyers Twilight saga has also been banned. The Australian schools viewed the widely popular novels to be inappropriate, containing sexual content. 

I personally believe that everyone has the right to read everything they want. In fact, Twilight books has managed to build interest of young adults to finally read books. I think that fantasy novels are meant to be clearly fictional, so the idea of vampires can be expressed in fictional works just as any other fictional or mythical creatures. In that case, should we ban children from learning about ghosts and goblins on Halloween?

Literary Standards vs. Fans

"People will hate you, rate you, shake you, and break you. But how strong you stand is what makes you." -- The Twilight Saga sure stands strong!

Many critics argued that the most Twilight Saga's reviews have focused on Twilight's popularity, rather than actually praising it for literary standards. They include Stephen King; fellow famous American author of contemporary suspense, science fiction and fantasy. King allegedly compared Twilight Saga and Stephenie Meyer to Harry Potter and J.K Rowling, saying:

"The real difference [between J.K Rowling and Meyer] is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer, and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good. Harry Potter is all about confronting fears, finding inner strength and doing what is right in the face of adversity. Twilight is about how important it is to have a boyfriend"

In addition to King, many other critics such as Elizabeth Hand of The Washington Post and Laura miller from Salon.com among many graders of how Twilight is written based on literary standards.

Clearly though, the fans don't care. Based on the figures released from Little Brown Publishing on November 2012, the franchise has earned $1,660,500,000 simply from book sales alone.

Personally, I don't think literary standards is a big deal. I think that books are good when they are enjoyable to read. But then again, haters will hate, and lovers will love.

Twilight Makes Reading A New Trend

Twilight fever has made reading 'cool' for everyone.

Clearly, carrying 4 thick black books, among other young adult books is now the 'it' trend. Figures from Nielsen BookScan states that the young adult fiction market is booming, with book sales of £36.1 million last year, an increase of 11 per cent on 2011.

The rise may be due to the last appearance of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, in addition to another rising young adult trilogy, The Hunger Games.

It is true though, that the Twilight Saga has the ability to keep readers at the edge of their seats all day, immensely absorbed in the love story of Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. As a Twilight reader myself, I do feel that reading the roughly 500 paged novel (times 4 to complete the saga) feels like a breeze, that finishing it in a day or two feels like a flash. It is intriguingly page turning that makes reading a whole new exciting experience to both book lovers, and to first time readers. 

With translation rights sold in nearly 50 countries, Meyer’s Twilight Saga has sold 116 million copies worldwide.  Meyer has received many positive critiques; as described to be a "the world's most popular vampire novelist since Anne Rice" by Entertainment Weekly.

TWIHARDS, a.k.a Twilight Die Hards

14 publishers have made the worse decisions of their lives when they rejected Twilight. Wondering why? Clearly, these 4 thick books has successfully made vampires and werewolves the hottest addition to modern world of young adults literacy --- and teenage girls' imaginations!

Twilight Saga clearly has made itself special in the heart of fans, or 'TWIHARDS'; as they call themselves. As quoted from John Hiscock on his published article on The Telegraph:

"They're a tough bunch, these [Twilight] fans . No wonder they're called Twihards. For the past week they've been camping out in their thousands at a specially prepared "fan camp" set up outside the L.A for the premiere of the last installment of the saga."

Little Brown publishing is beyond blessed.