Twilight (novel series) facts for kids
The six covers for the Twilight novel series.
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| Author | Stephenie Meyer |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy romance, young adult fiction |
| Publisher | Little, Brown and Company |
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| No. of books | 5 (with 3 companions) |
Twilight is a series of four fantasy romance novels, two companion novels, and one novella written by American author Stephenie Meyer. Released annually from 2005 through 2008, the four novels chart the later teen years of Bella Swan, a girl who moves to Forks, Washington, from Phoenix, Arizona and falls in love with a 104-year-old vampire named Edward Cullen. The series is told primarily from Bella's point of view, with the epilogue of Eclipse and the second part of Breaking Dawn being told from the viewpoint of character Jacob Black, a werewolf. A novella, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, which tells the story of a newborn vampire who appeared in Eclipse, was published on 2010.
Since the release of the first novel, Twilight, in 2005, the books have gained immense popularity and commercial success around the world. The series is most popular among young adults; the four books have won multiple awards, most notably the 2008 British Book Award for Children's Book of the Year for Breaking Dawn, while the series as a whole won the 2009 Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Book.
As of November 2011, the series had sold over 120 million copies worldwide with translations into at least 38 different languages around the globe. The four Twilight books have consecutively set records as the biggest-selling novels of 2008 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list and have spent over 235 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list for Children's Series Books.
The novels have been adapted into The Twilight Saga film series by Summit Entertainment. The film adaptations of the first three novels were released in 2008, 2009, and 2010, respectively. The fourth novel was adapted into two films, the first film being released in November 2011 and the second film in November 2012.
Origins and publishing history
Stephenie Meyer says that the idea for Twilight came to her in a dream on June 2, 2003. The dream was about a human girl, and a vampire who was in love with her but thirsted for her blood. Based on this dream, Meyer wrote the transcript of what is now chapter 13 of the book. Despite having very little writing experience, in a matter of three months she had transformed that dream into a completed novel. After writing and editing the novel, she signed a three-book deal with Little, Brown and Company for $750,000, an unusually high amount for a first time author. Meyer's literary agent, Jodi Reamer of Writers House, discovered her only because the inexperienced assistant who received Meyer's original letter did not know that young adult books are supposed to be 40,000 to 60,000 words in length, not 130,000 words. Megan Tingley, the Little, Brown editor who signed Meyer, said that halfway through the reading of the Twilight manuscript, she realized that she had a future bestseller in her hands. The book was released in 2005.
Following the success of Twilight, Meyer expanded the story into a series with three more books: New Moon (2006), Eclipse (2007), and Breaking Dawn (2008). In its first week after publication, the first sequel, New Moon, debuted at #5 on the New York Times Best Seller List for Children's Chapter Books, and in its second week rose to the #1 position, where it remained for the next eleven weeks. In total, it spent over 50 weeks on the list. After the release of Eclipse, the first three "Twilight" books spent a combined 143 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List. The fourth installment of the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, was released with an initial print run of 3.7 million copies. Over 1.3 million copies were sold on the first day alone, setting a record in first-day sales performance for the Hachette Book Group USA. Upon the completion of the fourth entry in the series, Meyer indicated that Breaking Dawn would be the final novel to be told from Bella Swan's perspective. In 2008 and 2009, the four books of the series claimed the top four spots on USA Today's year-end bestseller list, making Meyer the first author to ever achieve this feat. The series then won the 2009 Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Book, where it competed against the Harry Potter series.
Film adaptations
A screenplay for Twilight was written by Melissa Rosenberg and has been adapted into a film by Summit Entertainment. The film was directed by Catherine Hardwicke, with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in the leading roles of Isabella Swan and Edward Cullen, respectively. The movie was released in the United States on November 21, 2008. Twilight: The Complete Illustrated Movie Companion, written by Mark Cotta Vaz, was released October 28.
On November 22, 2008, following the box office success of Twilight, Summit Entertainment confirmed a sequel, called The Twilight Saga: New Moon, based on the second book in the series, New Moon. The film was released on November 20, 2009. The Twilight Saga: New Moon was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 20, 2010, through midnight release parties. That same day, Summit Entertainment released Twilight in Forks, a documentary about the primary setting of the Twilight series, Forks, Washington. Topics Entertainment released its own documentary about Forks and the Twilight series on March 16, called Forks: Bitten by Twilight.
The third installment in the series, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, was released on June 30, 2010. The fourth installment, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 was released November 18, 2011. The fifth and last installment, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 was released November 16, 2012.
