Novel Novice, the Twilight themed website, started by a teacher who got her class into reading because of Twilight has undergone a new look. Check them out!

Speaking of getting kids to read, we’ve also heard back from Elena at First Book who writes:

Thank you for once again mentioning us on the site. The response has been incredible, with more than 3,400 readers visiting our site. Every little bit helps to share our mission and reach more children in need.

We’re often met with skepticism– what we call the "Tooth Fairy" complex– when programs don’t believe an organization like ours can really exist. Over the last 16 years, we’ve distributed more than 60 million books, and yet many of the programs we’ve served waited until a trusted source told them about us before they took any action. Your support will surely help us reach new communities and children.

Now I’m not holding my breath on this one because it’s not controversial, it’s not full of angst, it’s not pitting one side against another, etc….you get the idea. Wouldn’t it be something if the media who has paid so much attention to all the negativity out there might actually post about a good news story about a great organization like this? 

 I again ask people who liked or liked Twilight  to do something positive that actually makes a difference. There are two ways you can do this:

1. Tell what book inspired you to read and vote to get books sent to needy kids in your state of choice. You are allowed to vote more than once. This is absolutely free. Make your opinion count!
2. If you have the means, for as little as $10.00, you can give the gift of four books to first time readers.

Time Magazine has a follow up on their "Ask Stephenie" poll from about a month ago.

The Seattle PI has an article on fans rallying in support of Breaking Dawn.

CNN Headline News has a Twilight Saga phenomena video.
Thanks to Nikki for pointing this one out.

The Reelz Channel has an interview with Stephenie Meyer.

The Wall Street Journal has an article entitled "True Love Waits,"  which discusses how moral Stephenie’s characters seem to be.

Another spoiler filled review of Breaking Dawn is found over at The Post.

Greetings from Twilight has posted a Comic Con video retrospective.

We think we now have the new forum fully functional; however with anything new there are bound to be glitches so bear with us as we fix those.

If you want to participate in the forums you need to do the following:

1. Register again. Please use your former name, or come up with a new non-Twilight related one. The reason we say new non-twilight related one, if you want to go that route, is that there are a ton of twilight related ones already taken.
2. Wait for the approval to hit your inbox (check out your spam box sometimes the approval goes there). We’ll try to approve within 24 hours.
3. When you get approved, introduce yourself in the New Kid in Town forum, and then join in where ever.

We’ve copied and pasted a bunch of the most popular threads over as well as created a bunch of new ones. If we missed one of your favorites, let us know and we’ll create it.

We also expanded and reorganized several sections. Thanks to a number of people who wrote in and made some good and helpful suggestions.

If you want to see the old forum, you can see it here. As it appeared just prior to our re-opening on August 5, 2008.

If you have any detailed questions not covered in the above, email us.

A big thank you to all the mods who helped configure this and put everything back. This is not anyone’s profession. No one is paid. They did it in between shifts at work, while stealing a few hours online while on vacation, while packing boxes for a move, and while getting kids ready for their first day of school.

Lastly thank you to the forum posters who have patiently waited for this.

There seem to be media outlets, perhaps because it’s a slow news week and they feel the need to create some type of story, that are harping on a book war and now a character war between The Harry Potter Books and the Twilight Saga. We are not linking to this type of lunacy anymore because all it does is give credence to what we consider to be a non-issue.

Taking a quick look around the fandom, it seems there are several other Twilight sites that are also as mystified as we are. Is there a team Gossip Girls vs. a Team Princess Diaries, vs a Team Traveling Pants? Is there a Team Gandalf vs. Team Aslan?  Is there and Anne of Green Gables vs. Little Women showdown death match? The answer is a pretty resounding "NO"!

As far as we can tell, they are two great book series that have inspired people to read and have racked up some pretty impressive sales numbers particularly in the teen market. After that, they don’t have a lot in common in that they are different genres of loosely Romance/vampire/fantasy vs. Quest/coming of age/fantasy.

Sure there are people who prefer either book who will partake in a nonsensical war as to which is better. However we don’t think they are indicative of the fans of both books as a whole. So here to leading a charge and recycling an old slogan we used back awhile ago:  WHO SAYS YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE!

There are plenty of real issues in the world to get riled up about,  making much ado about nothing and fighting over books is certainly not something this website has ever advocated and frankly we think it’s just plain stupid!

I am now going over to the First Book site where I can actually do something positive and meaningful regarding reading. I’m going to vote again and get some underprivileged kids some books. If you feel the same way. I encourage others to do the same.

Pel
(Who proudly typed this while wearing her Ravenclaw watch and Jacob’s bracelet.)

Borders has a new series a of videos up with the Twilight cast.  We hear they have some other items coming out relatively soon.

The Normal Mormon Husband is back with his post Breaking Dawn blog.
He talks about his powers of perception and if his predictions came true.

Red Orbit has an article quoting blogger Kaleb Nation, AKA The Twilight Guy. Kaleb is now currently reading New Moon and blogginghis regular, off-beat reaction. You can see his latest that was updated yesterday here.

It seems that there is an athlete from Brazil named, Isabel Swan. How much you want to bet she eventually gets asked about her name along with all the Peter Parkers, and Harry Potters out there?  Thanks to Jordie for pointing this one out.

There is a more direct connection to the Olympics. American, all-around gymnastics gold medalist Nastia Luikin is a Twilight fan.

Twilight may be the catalyst for change in India, or so says an article on the Bookseller.

If you are looking for a good way to track books there are two online groups that are leading the charge:

 Shelfari lets you actually build a virtual book shelf, among other features,  that you can then incororate on you your blog (software permitting). 

Goodreads, like Shelfari, lets you track friend’s recommendations and more.