1. I am a serious Christian.
2. I am not worried about books like this or Harry Potter or whatever, assuming one’s child is aware of the difference between fantasy and reality and a generally well-balanced person.
3. Fantasy stories (including science fiction) are useful for allegorical purposes. C.S. Lewis’s Narnia stories -— now classic Christian allegories -— are filled with witches, magic, and even a nasty vampire or two at the end. Obviously, like any secular tool, this can be used to a bad end (the Golden Compass, for example, which pushes atheism).
That’s why parents should read the books.
4. These books are generally moral, much like the Harry Potter books. Good vs. evil. That’s a good thing.
5. The one issue I have is that consorting with evil spirits is a real thing, and not to be toyed with. To the extent a child is silly or stupid and decides from reading Twilight books that it is “OK” to go piddle around with “real” witchcraft or paganism, that’s a bad thing. Again, this falls under the category of parents knowing their children. If a child is that stupid, it’s not the book’s fault, it’s the parent’s fault.
Good points, I am actually directing my comments to parents as well as to young readers.
Except who are the "good guys" and who are the "bad guys" in Twilight?
The vampires who drink human blood are bad.
The vampires who drink animal blood are good! Even the 110 year old vampire who preys upon an emotional teenaged wreck, sneaking into her house to watch her sleep, listening to her friends thoughts in order to spy on her, and taking her through this, "I could kill you Bella, I'm so dangerous Bella, but I just can't stop myself Bella!" nonsense.
Yeah, he's the good guy alright...
“C.S. Lewis’s Narnia stories -— now classic Christian allegories”
Not by my definition of “Christian” - what’s yours? Mine is “a little Christ”.
Can you see Jesus curled up with an occult novel? Would he say to the twelve, “Hey, guys. I read this really cool book about this fantasy place called Narnia. You oughta read it, too!”.