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In 2006, a new phenomenon began: the Twilight phenomenon. A previously minor sub-genre of the vampire novel, the vampire romance, suddenly became big among teenage girls. Harry Potter was coming to an end – the final volume was published in 2007, only a few months later – and there was room for something new.

The author, a Mormon housewife and mother of three, was suddenly being compared to J.K. Rowling. Well, they’re both women who wrote something that appealed to millions of young people and their parents, although I doubt if Twilight will ever be winning any prizes for children’s literature as Harry Potter did, and if there were separate covers for adult and teen editions, I haven’t seen them yet. I suppose they have that in common.

But many folk have her to thank for the fact that they are now able to sell books in the YA fantasy genre, as long as there are vampires or werewolves in them – hey, I’m one of them! Thank you, Stephenie Meyer, from the grateful author of a YA werewolf novel!

I confess that when this book first arrived for me to review, I hadn’t read any of the Twilight novels, mainly because they’re always out. However, I felt that I shouldn’t be reviewing a book to which I had no background, and as a teacher-librarian, I really ought to be reading what the kids were loving so much. I went to Reader’s Feast in Melbourne, where I found the books in the YA section, right next to Foz Meadows’ new novel Solace And Grief (see my review below) which was facing out. Lucky Foz Meadows!

I read the first book and started on the second. It was easy reading as I had expected, because one of our ESL students read it in a weekend and her reading level at the time was about Grade 3. Other readers of the same level made their way through the entire saga without much trouble.

I found the novel pretty slow-moving, with nothing much happening till about three-quarters way through the book, but it certainly told me something about kids’ reading habits that I had never known after all these years of observing their reading: they will be patient if they are hooked early on. (Or maybe what I found slow, they found romantic?) I wasn’t hooked, alas, but I have no problem with anything that gets my students not only reading, but being excited about reading. And they are excited – the girls, anyway. I have seen them sitting curled up on steps and under trees in the schoolyard, noses deep in the adventures of Bella and Edward, and lending personal copies to friends - "Look what I've found!".

Besides, I think I may be able to “sell” Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights to students who have finished and enjoyed this series. The hero of Jane Eyre is even called Edward! (Edward Rochester, that is) He has a Deep Dark Secret, a tragic past and a good woman who wants to help him. Time to head for Collected Works bookshop with an order form in hand - the wonderful Kris Hemensley has already checked and he does have them both …

I had never heard of Marc Shapiro, so Googled him and found that he has written a fair number of biographies and was not necessarily the

Let's give a warm welcome to young author Melissa Burmester! Melissa has been writing about vampires and the supernatural since the age of twelve. Her first novel, Ginger High, is Book I in a series of books about vampires and she's already working on the sequel. She is presently attending Westhampton Beach High School, and is planning a career as a writer and a teacher. For more information about Melissa, please visit her website and her blog.

Thanks for the interview, Melissa! Were you an avid reader as a child?

Yes, I always loved to read. My mother would read to me every night. Sometimes she would tell me ghost stories, and that was when I got hooked on reading horror, mystery and fantasy.

When did you first start writing stories?

When I was in middle school, I had so many wonderful ideas that I started a journal. There were so many characters that I had developed that I was able to write many short stories. I started my first novel Ginger High when I was twelve, and it was published when I was fourteen.

I am happy to report that Cyn (who owns the award-winning author site Cynsations) agreed to let me interview her to go along with the posting of her new book, ETERNAL, on my site under “Good Books to Share.”

I enjoyed reading ETERNAL. The pace is swift, and the set-up interesting from the get-go. Miranda, the teenage heroine, has a guardian angel. He messes up and she is turned into a vampire. Now her angel has to make amends. But is he committing the ultimate no-no for guardian angels? Is he falling in love with her? ETERNAL kept me turning the pages through a single sitting. For anyone who likes a good love story, as well as for fans of vampire tales.

Cynthia Leitich Smith

How old were you when you first started seriously writing?

I guess it depends on what you call “serious.” By fourth grade, I was writing poems in my bedroom more evenings than not. I even “bound” them in a homemade book with the help of my mom. By junior high, I was editor of the school paper-a position I had again in high school. By my sophomore year of college, I was spending my summers working in newsrooms. By my third year of law school, I was teaching legal writing. At 28, I quit my “day job” to write fiction for young people.

How many rejections did you get before you got your first acceptance?

I honestly don’t know, but with regard to writing for young readers, my apprenticeship was about two-and-a-half years before my first sale.

How do you make up names for your characters?

With JINGLE DANCER (Morrow, 2000), most of the names are family names. The one exception is “Jenna,” which I simply thought sounded musical with Jenna. Quincie P. Morris in TANTALIZE (Candlewick, 2007) is named after Quincey P. Morris in Abraham Stoker’s classic novel Dracula (1897). But beyond that, I often look for variety in terms of syllables, vowel and consonant sounds, first letters, etc. or meanings. The name “Miranda” from ETERNAL (Candlewick, 2009) means “miracle.”

When you write do you like quiet, music, or lots of activity around you?

Increasingly, I prefer sort of neutral music-no lyrics, which I generally tune out. It works like “white noise.”

What’s the earliest childhood memory you can think back to? Does it appear in any of your writing?

I remember burning the silver plate off a gold spoon with a candle flame. I think everyone else was eating pie in the kitchen. And no, not so far.

What age child do you have in your head? Is there more than one child there?

It’s very crowded-I have a four, ten, fourteen, seventeen, and a nineteen-year-old.

Do you have any regrets about writing for young readers?

Nope.

What do you have hidden in a dresser drawer? (We won’t tell, will we, everyone?)

Nothing too interesting, I’m afraid. My iPod and the key to my treadmill.

What do your favorite pair of socks look like?

They feature tiny Texas flags.

Given that you won’t sunburn, and you have lots of water . . . would you rather walk through Death Valley or Mall of America? Why?

Death Valley-scenery and peacefulness.

If you woke up in the morning and found someone’s shoes in your refrigerator, what would you think?

That the cats were growing more sophisticated by the hour.

Have you ever been abducted by aliens? If so, did they wear socks? What did they have hidden in their zormorpholater? And did they tell you the titles of any of their favorite books?

No aliens, faeries perhaps.

Will you name a character in your next book after me?

Maybe, but I can’t promise he/she will be a good guy.

Finally, let’s end up looking toward the future. What’s up next for you? Anything you want to tell us about?

I just finished (I hope) text revisions on the graphic novel adaptation of TANTALIZE, which will be told from the point of view of Kieren, the werewolf hero. I’m also jazzed about the short stories I have coming out this year. “The Wrath of Dawn,” co-authored by Greg Leitich Smith will appear in GEEKTASTIC: Stories from the Nerd Herd edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci (Little, Brown, 2009) and “Cat Calls” will appear in SIDESHOW: Ten Original Tales of Freaks, Illusionists, and Other Matters Odd and Magic, edited by Deborah Noyes (Candlewick, 2009).

Thanks, Cyn! 

Now to all of you . . . go forth, and read!

Ciao!

Shutta