Though Meyer has a light touch, Nicole Selhorst, owner of The Red Canoe, a Baltimore bookstore specializing in children's literature, thinks the series tackles serious issues beneath the surface.
"Stephenie Meyer knows how to spin out the moral perplexity of growing into adulthood and making decisions you'll have to face the rest of your life," Selhorst says. "And she knows how to write a lot of adventure. I was flipping pages, wanting to find whatever happens next."
The Borders in Timonium had planned a slew of theme-related activities for its launch party. Bravely, the store decided to designate a "graffiti wall" on which teens can scrawl slogans from the book in magic markers. Many will dress up as favorite characters - Hannah spent hours on the Internet trying to locate not one, but two pair of contact lenses that will change her eyes to the golden brown that, according to Meyer, is a hallmark of the Undead.
The Park School sophomore has designed about 10 shirts featuring catchy slogans for different characters that she proudly wears to school, to the mall, and to parties. Her favorite proclaims her allegiance to Jacob, the werewolf.
On the front, the shirt reads: "Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf?" The back says, "Team Jacob" and is adorned with paw prints.
But the climax of the party surely came at 12:01 a.m. yesterday, when Hannah, Julia and their friends finally got Breaking Dawn and began reading through the night. No matter how tempted, the girls swore blood oaths that they wouldn't skip ahead to the end. With occasional breaks for veggie burgers and batnaps, they ought to be winding up the saga today.
Get out your earplugs.
mary.mccauley@baltsun.com
It's been a full year since the final book in Harry Potter series was released, and the publishing industry is searching eagerly for another author to capture the imaginations of young readers. So far, at least two children's fantasy series have been touted as possible successors to Rowling's series:
* His Dark Materials: Philip Pullman's trilogy is a coming-of-age story in which the author explores the age-old conflict between innocence and knowledge. It was published between 1995 and 2001. Two pre-teens, Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, are aided in their quest by such fantastical creatures as armored bears and witches. A film of the first book in the trilogy, The Golden Compass, was released last winter.
* The Inheritance Cycle: Christopher Paolini began writing his fantasy series about dragons, ancient races, elves and dwarfs, at age 15. On Sept. 23, Brisingr, the third of four planned books in Paolini's cycle, will be published. Two years ago, Fox released Eragon, a movie version of the first novel in the series.
