Twilight
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What age is too young to read this series?
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Claire
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Mar 02, 2009 10:33AM
I am asked by many friends who are parents of young people, "Is my child old enough to read Twilight?" I share my opinion and my thoughts, but I want to know what others feel is the age range for this book. All kids are different and so are parents, but certainly the content of these books warrants careful consideration when deciding how to handle the question from your 10 or 11 year old child, "Can I get the books in the TWILIGHT series to read?" What do you say?
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I think that 10 and 11 is too young, but each kid needs to be viewed individualy in determining if they are ready to read Twilight. I would not be letting my children read these books until they were at least 16 or older. (I say that now, but they are only 4 & 6)
im 14 and have read all of the series, and personally i think the first 2 r ok for 10, 11 year olds. the 3rd and 4th books might not be, especially BD. @_@
Unless the child is relatively mature and level headed or has a parent who will read and discuss the books with the child so they can gain a more realistic perspective, I would wait until high school. I say this because the overall tone of the book and the series is incredibly, unhealthily, obsessive. Teenagers are going to obsess too much anyway so they are a safe enough audience. They are also better at separating fantasy from reality. I thoroughly enjoyed the first three books but I also certainly hope no daughter of mine ever takes the same attitude toward a boy that Bella took toward Edward.
your right alicia, the child reading the book has to be relativly mature. i said 10/11 is a fine age to read it, but thats for me. at 10 or 11 i could handle adult fiction with more mature content than twilight. other kids might not be able to handle it. if u want to know if your child should read twilight u have to take into account their maturity level(mental, not physical) and their ability to seperate reality and non-reality.@_@
Lisa wrote: "I think that 10 and 11 is too young, but each kid needs to be viewed individualy in determining if they are ready to read Twilight. I would not be letting my children read these books until they w..."How did you feel about reading Breaking Dawn at your 14 years old?
I've implemented a kind of standard rule with my kids: you need to be no more than 3 years younger than the narrator/main character. (This would put her about 14 for Twilight.) My oldest loved the first Harry Potters but was frightened of #6...but after a year off she came back and was fine. There's so much good YA literature out there that I never fear she'll run out of things to read.
As a teenager myself, and having a 10 year old sister who read the books, I would recomand for 13 up. The thing I've noticed is that fellow peers of mine have become literaly obsessed with the idea of twilight. They love the idea of a hot, sweet boyfriend who is "fighting his inner demon".They completly miss the fact that Bella lets Edward pretty much do anything he wants.
What I really mean is, Twilight gives some pretty unrelastic veiws on life. Its a cute book, but the level of relationship between the characters is pretty intense. In a way, its like giving a 10 year old a modern-day romeo and juliet to read.
Also, another big thing i've noticed. You would think that reading, and loving, twilight would encourage people to read more books? Well, the relatity is the people have never read, then read twilight, try to read some other teen chick-flicks. Then, said book, doesn't live up to the "awsomness" of twilight, and they pretty much go back to reading twilight again. For like the tenth time.
I think 10 and 11 are good. I have a lot of frenz that are 10 and 11 and a lot of them have read at least 1 book of the twilight series. I love the books. I really don't think age really matters for these books. It actually depends how mature you are.
I love this rule -- it makes a lot of sense. I'm going to see how this plays out with my 8 year old because there are things he CAN read that he's not necessarily READY to read.
Mandy wrote: "As a teenager myself, and having a 10 year old sister who read the books, I would recomand for 13 up.Mandy, can you tell me what differences you noticed between your view of the books and your sister's view of the books? What differences were there in the way you both responded to the books?
Also, your level headedness is wonderfully refreshing. I hope when my daughter is your age I will be able to say the same about her.
My daughter is about to turn 11 on the 17th and would like to go see the movie Twilight with a group of friends. She has not read the book yet as I have seen teenagers become obsessive about the book series reading it 12 times over. Knowing that books that turn into movies, are usually far better than the movies, do people think it better that I allow her to see the movie with a group of friends over reading the book? Can anyone tell me what the movie is like compared to the book? Would you allow your 11 year old son or daughter see the movie? Thanks.
ok, i think she should read the book first, for a couple of reasons. number 1, the book is better than the movie and u should always read a book first. number 2, while the book is about teen 'love' its not very "racy" or anything like that. the movie is a bit more....inappropriate.@_@
jenn {green day luva}, are you jsp? those are intitials. did you use to have a dog named Jeremy
no sorry, im jrd with a dog named durango. @_@
First, it depends on the maturity of the child for Twilight and New Moon. I would say as young as 10 for those kids. Eclipse is still fine for anyone over the age of 12, but Breaking Dawn is for a more young adult audience, like 14-15 in my opinion. But it all has to do with the child's maturity.
I think it is okay whenever a child asks to read it because:-he/she is alreadyfamiliar with a plot. might have heard it from her friends, seen a trailor, saw a candy bar wrapped in twilight advertising, someone has an action figure and plays out a story line.
I belive that childs craves it for bigger purposes even though it is not a brilliant piece of literature as far as Bella goes. That girl/boy wants to be in on something bigger than the plot. They want to use it to connect with other children.
i think above 15 is perfect age to read the twilight series!...:)
OK, so I read this series when I was 10. Well, technicaly 11 but I read it literally on my 11-th birthday, so barely that.Anyway, I think that it's OK for 10-year-olds to read Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse. The Twilight Saga added SO MUCH to my volcabulary and worked WONDERS for my writing as well as entertained me beyond any other book that I had ever read.
HOWEVER, Breaking Dawn doesn't really have any material that the average 10-year-old doesn't know about but after I read it I kind of regretted it and felt sort of...guilty afterwards.
It's not like I hadn't read or seen anything of that sort on TV or in books before, but it still felt kind of...
Anyway, I'd say from 10 you could read up to Eclipse and not read BD. Then when you're 13 you should read BD.
I say that because when I read BD I started planning in my head that I would have sex at 17 like Bella and such. But now at 13 I know better.
That's just my opinion.
:)
OR, a parent could just rip out the "innapropriate" pages and just tell the child that "Edward and Bella have sex and Bella gets pregnant with his child that turns out to be a vampire, like Edward." to save too many details being shared. But it really depends on what kind of child you're talking about. But I was a REALLY sensible 10 year old, so...
I have 10 yr twin daughters that are very well read. I allowed them to read the first three books and they loved them all, however, I will not allow them to read BD. Even though they are mature for their age, it's not appropriate for them right now. Now, me saying that~ we have the movie coming out soon. My husband and I will watch it first to see how graphic it is. I doubt we let them watch it just yet even though they roll their eyes in disgust and say.... and I quote... "Ewww! We KNOW it isn't real! And you let us watch the zombie movies." That's my kids~ lol... then again, they also read a college textbook on anthropology for FUN... to see if they would like it.
I also have 10 yr girl she reads the books. In BD I tell her to skip some of the chap. and she does. And also Bell was 18 when she had sex not 17, it was her 18 bday that she got the paper cut.
I think it depends on the maturity level, but in my opinion I would say high school is an appropriate level of age. I think kids in high school might be able to relate more to the plot of teenage love.
I think 13 in an appropriate age.
I am eleven and I read the whole series a year ago. I think it depends on maturity level and what they have already read. For example, I like Stephan King, Stefanie Meyer, and Cassandra Clare, and my parents are alright with that. But if my older sister picked up Twilight, or The Host, my parents would freak.
Lisa wrote: "I think that 10 and 11 is too young, but each kid needs to be viewed individualy in determining if they are ready to read Twilight. I would not be letting my children read these books until they w..."I disagree. I read twilight at the age of 10 and i loved it. It was one of the first books i ever read. However i was mature for my age and no other kid my age read it. At this point kids start reading it at the age of 11 and 12. In my opinion 11 is a reasonable age to begin reading the first 2 books but the 3rd and 4th book are so not for kids. Especially Breaking Dawn. But it depends on the kids reading level and parental approval.
Lisa wrote: "I think that 10 and 11 is too young, but each kid needs to be viewed individualy in determining if they are ready... I would not be letting my children read these books until they were at least 16 or older..."I agree with you 100%.
It depends on that child's maturity level, and how strong-willed that child is since a book can deeply influence them. (Especially the protagonist which, in this case, is a VERY annoying girl who makes stupid decisions and should not be looked upon as a role model). I read this series when I was, I think, 10 and I'm glad I read them, because they were the first real books I read and provided the foundation for my passion for reading.
I think from 8-11 is too young to read it ..
I think it depends on the person and their level of maturity and thier taste of interst
Depending on maturity, 10 may be OK, but the parent should read the books also, to be able to discuss it with the child. There are many parts/themes that a 10 YO may find confusing without guidance.
OK. I have a 10 year old sister, who has read all the books. Is that BAD?
Allysa wrote: "OK. I have a 10 year old sister, who has read all the books. Is that BAD?"No, but I would talk to her a bit, to make sure she got the right messages out of them, such as Bella not being a perfect role model.
If your kids know what sex is then by all means.
Doha wrote: "I think from 8-11 is too young to read it .."When I was eight I was reading Superfudge by Judy Blume!
ok people i am 12 and i read those books with all of my friends like 2 years ago my dad got them for me we know that it is just a storie so i say whenever they tink they are ready let them read the books
Smiles, 15 is when I let my daughter start the book. She is not a reader, so when she asked to read it, I was happy she was finally interested in one! And I didn't think she would finish it anyway!
I am mixed... I agree with the maturity level thing. For example I know people in high school that are just ridiculously immature and naive. Especially in comparison to others the same age. I do think that 10 and under is too young to be reading this series but I guess if a child is mature enough they could read it at 11/12. I wouldn't recommend reading it till at least 13. HOWEVER... being the age I am now. I don't think parents should be too strict on forbidding their child read this series. I believe if you let them read the first book, that it is kind of wrong to forbid them to read the last installments.
Also...
1. All parents should know that when you forbid something it just makes the child want it more. Reverse psychology.
2. in my experience the book was good for me. My parents don't have that much influence in what I read so I was/am able to experiment on my own. Finding this book on my own(before movie and hype) and reading it had opened the door for me. I did have my fan stage but soon after reading the book... I went on to continue reading other better books.
So in conclusion... you must ask your self how mature your child is and make up your mind. This book may prove as good for child like it did for me or it may be too much. Either you let them or you don't. Also if you don't be gentle how you tell them because it may just light the fire.
In another forum we had one poster say that in her family the rule was if you can read it go ahead and read it.I think I would concur with that.
There's little point in trying to regulate what your children read, although I guess if my children started to read several books about WWII and The Third Reich in a row I would carefully stub them to see if they just grew an early interest in history or if they are about to cut holes in their bedsheets and burn wooden crosses.
So, reading "twilight" is not something I would see as a problem, no matter what age (naturally I would prefer to see them read "Dracula" first, though).
I'm 14 so i'd have to say 11 years old is to young but then i have friends who are 11 and have read the whole series with parent permission.
I think age 16 and above is the right age but age 13 might be fine if they are mature enough it depends. But parents should explain to their child why she can't read the books, give them a real reason not just "your too young"Like if a girl wants to read them at 13 but her mom wants her to wait because if she gets into them she would natually want to read the others right after she finished the first ones but her mom doesn;t want her to read breaking dawn until she older. So she could explain to her that eclipse and breaking dawn talk about topics that she doesn;t want her daughter reading about until she's older.
Explaining why will help your child understand why you don't want her reading these books until she is older and she will probably be less likely to read the books in secret
I read Harry Potter when I was 8 and loved it. Harry is very child friendly at the beginning and to be honest never really gets too dark for a kid to handle. I think the only problem with the Twilight series, age wise might be breaking dawn. I read it when I was 16 but I started the first book when I was 12/13 (can't remember) and I was fine with it. The problem with breaking dawn being that it starts to get 'sexy', when I was younger (8/9) and I read the princesses diaries I felt embarrassed just because it mentioned testicle cancer. When you are younger (at least for me, depends) things to do with sex can be very embarrassing and make you feel unconfortable just because of the culture a lot of us are raised in. I don't think a young girl or boy would get anything out of BD with, especially when she's all bruisedbecause it might givee them misguided ideas about sex as well as be uncomfortable to read.
Of course everyone is different and if I had a kid and they wanted to read it they could, to be honest by that time not as many people will be reading twilight so it won't be as much of an issue.
I think it depends on the maturity level of the individual child. There are some 12 years olds that can handle it and then there are some 16 yr olds that become obsessive in fandom and plaster everything in their world with Twilight. Those are the ones who probably shouldn't be allowed to read the series, imo.
i think 8 - 12 is too young for twilight because I feel kids should be just kids and not know about sex until thye are at least 13. Yes some books for 8 - 12 age range do have sex and things in them thats why parents are concered about the newer kids books because really kids souldn't be reading that kind of thing that young. So parents get the info before your kid reads a book.
i think any age is applicable. i read it at the age of 8 soooo yea
FREEBIRD wrote: "Sex education is taught in fifth grade, which is ages 10-12."really wows that's young
But I don't think a 10 - 11 year old should be reading teen books there is a reason the books are for teens but thats just my opinion in the end I think it's up to the parents.
My daughter is fairly mature for her age but I really don't think I'd let her read it at 10 or 11. I love the Twilight series but I agree with the people who suggest 14. I read a lot of YA fiction and you can not assume that because it's in that category that it's appropriate. I started a book quite awhile ago that was in the YA group but it had a lot of F words and sex. I had to put it down. I know it may be realistic depending on where you are, but I wouldn't want my child (no matter how old she gets) reading it when I won't even read it!
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I read the first two books when I was eleven... but it depends on the maturity level... i'd say 13 for an average person.
13 is the appropriate age for YA Adult novels. So, probably 13. Since this book is all lovey dovey and such. It'll probably pollute or something the minds of children.
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