Help! My 5th Grader Wants to Read Twilight!

As an elementary school librarian I get asked one question almost more than any other, "Where are the Twilight books?" My answer is always simply, "Not in this library." I am not putting down the Twilight series or Stephanie Meyer's writing (unlike many others I know in my field). In fact, I am thrilled that the Twilight series has the juvenile section of many libraries hopping and kids truly wanting to read these books. I do not, however, believe that Twilight has a place in an elementary school library. Perhaps there are some 5^th grade students out there with the maturity and social understanding to handle Twilight (though I have yet to meet one). But the school librarian certainly isn't the one to make this decision. So what do you do when your 5^th grader wants to read Twilight and you don't think she's ready for it? Suggest some other great books along the lines of Twilight! Here are some great reads, completely appropriate for upper elementary readers, to help satisfy that Twilight hunger.

Shug by Jenny Han. A first book suggestion for a 5^th grader that wants to read Twilight is Shug by Jenny Han. Shug is by no means "kiddie" however it does center around characters of the appropriate age for a 5^th grader to read about. Blogger-librarian, fusenumber8, describes Shug as being a book that somehow truly emulates how a 12 year old feels. No, 5^th graders aren't 12, but they will be soon and this book has just enough maturity to it to keep a 5^th grader interested and also feeling grown-up, without being too grown-up.

The Chronicles of Vladamir Tod: Eight Grade Bites by Heather Brewer. Many elementary school and children's librarians that want to safely jump on the vampire bandwagon look to this series. While the covers to these books look very young adult, they are indeed rather mild and the books are dotted with humor, unlike the Twilight series making them even more appropriate for your 5^th grader.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. If you are familiar with the Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney then you are probably wondering how on earth this series made my list of suggestions for when a 5^th grader wants to read Twilight. In reality, at the 5^th grade level many girls just want to read Twilight because everyone else is reading it, or because their middle school siblings are reading it. Diary of a Wimpy Kid is being read by everyone too, is very popular among middle school readers, but is totally appropriate for a 5^th grader. Just get your 5^th grader to read the first book and she will probably be itching for the other three.

The above books may give you a great springboard for suggesting titles that are new and interesting for your 5^th grader, but not too old for her like the Twilight series. I did not include a "romance" book suggestion for 5^th graders because, honestly, I just don't see a reason for a 5^th grader to be reading about romance just yet. If you have a 5^th grader dying to read the Twilight series and you just don't think she is ready, try these librarian recommended titles instead to keep encouraging that love of reading without sacrificing your parenting.

Sources:

School Library Journal

fusenumber8 blog