The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella
By Stephenie Meyer

Copyright 2010, Published by Little, Brown and Company, 178 pages

So if you haven't heard of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga, you must be avoiding the subject with any teenage girl in town. The four-book series written by Stephenie Meyer has now become an epic movie pop-culture phenomena and is making millions of dollars for its cinema production company. Someone has to like these books because they are bestsellers AND the films cannot go wrong at the box office. (Even if the first movie was a total bomb artistically, loads of movie-goers still went out to see the other two, which are now available on DVD.)

It stands to reason that Meyer's "novella" which follows the experience of a character who debuts and meets her demise in Eclipse (Book Two of the Twilight Saga) will also see the same obsessed following as the previous novels. Some background info on Bree Tanner: she's a vampire...surprise, surprise. Bree becomes a vampire because she is unfortunate enough in her human existence to 1) take up residence in Seattle, Washington, where dangerous vampires flock because of the lack of sunlight, and 2) run into a vampire named Riley who is building a vampire army. Lucky Bree, she gets added to the ranks.

The book is fairly short and the reader who has read the book Eclipse or seen the movie of the same name is already certain of the end of Bree's story.  So the purpose of the novella is really to bring the readers into an understanding of Bree Tanner.  It is short because Bree's life as a vampire is short. However, Stephenie Meyer does suck the reader into Bree's story by explaining and describing very well her struggles as a newborn vampire. At the very least, the reader is exposed to the idea that at least one of the vampires on the opposing team in Eclipse isn't all bad.

Still, I will say about the Bree Tanner novella the same thing I say about the Twilight saga. I do think these books, including the novella, over-romanticize the teenage dating and love experience. I think these books encourage a co-dependent relationship between two teenagers in a dating relationship. In this book, Bree finds a love interest, her mate for vampire-life if you will.  And the moment the boy-vampire and girl-vampire decide they love each other, every decision and thought Bree has is tied to and depends on her vampire-love-interest. What I would love, love, love to see in the world of fiction is a book which shows teenage girls how to be patient and wait for that perfect, Jesus-loving mate.  I would love to see these fictional books that teenage girls so love to get their hands on include a storyline of two individuals in love with Jesus and growing closer to their Heavenly Father.  I would love to see a fictional book I can hand to a high school girl and ask her to read it followed by a discussion on how the actions of the book's heroine/main character are something we can mimic instead of having a discussion on how the heroine's actions are something to avoid. Alas, this has not happened just yet.

The book is a safe read, meaning the language is clean and there are no suggestive scenes in its content.  And as usual, Stephenie Meyer writes beautifully in her descriptions of situations and the conversations are very believable.  However, Stephenie Meyer's Eclipse novella is still not one we feel portrays healthy and godly choices in boy/girl relationships.  Sorry, peeps.  We don't recommend it.

Ree Reinhardt is a youth worker at First Baptist Church McKinney, Texas, and has worked with and ministered to teenagers for almost 11 years.  She also serves with SAGE's event team and contributes to SAGE's online resources.