Reading group gathers before school to discuss vampire novel before movie opens this weekend

LIVERMORE FALLS – It’s about 7 a.m. Tuesday and more than 50 students, staff and community members have squeezed into the Livermore Falls High School library an hour before school starts.

The Bagels & Books reading group was discussing “Twilight” by Stephanie Meyer.

A movie adaptation of the book about modern-day love between a teenage girl, Bella Swan, and a vampire, Edward Cullen, hits theaters Friday. And, many of the students plan to see the PG-13 rated movie as early as midnight Friday.

SAD 36 media specialist Cathi Howell led the group.

Howell received a grant from Oak Grove School Foundation to cover the cost for the group that meets every six or eight weeks to discuss books provided to them through the grant.

“I knew this book was such a popular book. I wanted to do it as a Bagels & Books read and fit it in before the movie comes out,” Howell said.

Readers offered thoughts on why the book cover had colors of red, black and white. To some, white represented the good or the Cullen family, red represented blood or the bad, and black the evil or night.

They speculated on what people liked about Edward. “He’s so sweet.” “He’s a fantasy.”

Some readers hadn’t known Edward was a vampire until getting deeper into the story. Others read the back of the book or had been clued in by someone else.

Several thought Bella’s parents were oblivious to what was going on.

The apple offered up in two hands on the cover of book meant forbidden fruit, temptation, deeper insight into a character or a fruit waiting to be bitten.

Those are interpretations of some of the readers of the love, action, horror, fantasy story.

As debate continued, the responses dipped into the second book of the four-book series, breaking the ground rules of sticking to the first book.

One teenager thought the description of vampires totally inaccurate. But teacher Michelle Merrill Brann said she read that Meyers had done a lot of research on different vampires and made it so they could live in society.

Principal Shawn Lambert said he brought the book home, and his wife took it and read it in about 14 hours. He couldn’t get past page 250.

Senior Chris Gray said he liked the book.

“It gave a different view on the aspect of vampires,” Gray said.

His friend, Kristine Nyhan, a junior, described it as “awesome.”

“It kept me hooked. Everything was changing constantly in the book,” Nyhan said. “It’s Edward’s and Bella’s love for each other and how they’re going to make it work.”

Freshman Andrew Bernier said though he enjoyed the book, the plot that had Bella so in love with Edward she kept saying she wasn’t good enough and Edward kept saying he was too dangerous for her was kind of annoying .

Another freshman, Micaela Baron, said the story could be confusing if you didn’t pay attention to the small details.

“That’s what really made a difference. I kept going and read all four books, and if you didn’t read the first book, you couldn’t read the second book because you wouldn’t understand it,” Baron said. “It really shows love and the struggles you go through to get to it,”

Senior Dawn Lee said out of all the books she’s read, it was really catching.

“I like fantasies,” Lee said. She liked the ending as well, even though it is different from other love stories.