[SandiC.]

My ten year old (almost 11) granddaughter has asked for the twilight books for Christmas. I'm just not sure they are age appropriate. I haven't read them, not really interested, but certainly don't want to get her going with something she's not ready for yet. She's a great little reader, but not very mature, still very naive. I would really value some input from some fans here.

[mbc72]

Well, I have read all the books and I would say probably not. My 9 yo ds has a girl in his class that read the first one and wanted to borrow the rest of mine and I told her no, then he wanted to read them since he has heard so much about them and I had to tell him no. I then discussed it with the school librarian, as they have the series in the school library and she agreed that it was more for the teen set and older. HTH

[KellyChron]

A good rule of thumb for all adolescent literature is that the age of the reader should be about the same as the age of the main character. HTH!

[SandiC.]

Thank you, that's about what I thought. This particular little girl is in a big rush to grow up, and I know kids do have to grow up faster than when I was a girl, but I don't want to push her off too soon, either. Thank goodness there are other books that she is interested in. Also thankful that she loves to read. In school last year (4th grade), she won the prize for reading the most books in her class and is well on her way to the same this year. Maybe I should email her teacher and ask what she thinks. I really appreciate the input.

[cherise]

I have not read them either, but have close family and friends that adore them. My 10 yo son also asked about reading them, and I got lots of input from friends and family about them. They all concurred that it is not age appropriate for my son. So I told him and he's fine with it. There are about a billion and one *other* books out there for him to read, so he just chose some different ones.

[Shelbi]

I have read all of them.
I would say that for sure the 4th book is NOT.
I would try and get her to wait a few years.

[sheriL]

I let my 11 yo daughter read them, but I definitely had reservations. I read them first so I knew what was in them. I wasn't too bothered by most of the vampire stuff (which was actually the reason I was concerned before reading them myself), but there was definitely a level of romance in them I was a little concerned with for a grade 6-er. To be completely honest, the biggest reason I let her read them was because I wanted to keep the lines of communication open. There are lots of kids her age reading them at school, so she would have easy access if she chose to read them without my permission. By saying yes, it gave me the opening to discuss them as she read, and answer her questions (yes, there were definitely a couple), rather than her either not asking those questions, or asking a bunch of other 11 year olds. I'd rather she got my answers!
Dh gave me a little grief about that line of thinking (so what, go ahead and have a beer, as long as you do it at home), but I think the scenarios a little different.

[April Showers]

I'd think 10 is a little young. My 15 (& 17- now 18) year old read them long before I did.

[Kori]

I agree with most everyone else. I wouldn't let a child that age read these books. I would tell them to wait a few more years.

[Becca]

My step-daughter is almost 10, and I would not let her read them. She's shown no interest in them either, though.