New Moon

Author: Stephanie Meyer
Publishing Info: Little, Brown and Company, 2006
Suggested Reading Level: grades 9 and up

Synopsis:
New Moon is the sequel to Twilight. At the begining of New Moon, Bella, the heroine, and her vampire boyfriend, Edward, are extremely happy and in love, but things take a downward turn after a mishap at a birthday party thrown for her by the Cullens (Edward’s vampire family). Always prone to clumsiness, Bella gives herself a paper cut while opening one of her birthday cards and Jasper tries to attack her out of reflex. (Although the vampire family has sworn off human blood, not everyone has mastered their ability to resist it when it’s fresh.) Edward saves Bella from his “brother” by throwing himself on her, but in the process manages to wound her even worse, as she falls on a glass bowl that shatters. Edward, being the gentleman that he is, sees this incident as proof that he is dangerous to Bella by virtue of being a vampire. He decides she will never be safe if she is in love with him because she will want to be around him. So he tries to get her to stop loving him by pushing her away and then leaving. He even convinces the rest of his family to go along with this plan and they relocate as well.

Bella, however, takes this turn of events as badly as possible. After he leaves, she is basically a walking zombie, not allowing herself to feel the pain or anything else. Finally after about three months, she faces her feelings and decides that she needs to get back at Edward for hurting her. Since one of Edwards biggest fears is that she will get hurt, she believes the only way she can get back at him is to endanger her own life. On a whim, she picks up two dilapidated motorcycles and asks her Quileute friend, Jacob Black, to help her fix them up. Jacob, who has always had a thing for Bella, happily agrees. As they spend time together fixing the bikes and hanging out with other friends from his tribe, the two of them become really good friends. Bella still feels really hurt by Edward’s betrayal, but when she is around Jacob, she can be happy, and the pain is lessened.

Without notice, Jacob, one day, months down the road, starts acting strangely and won’t tell her why. When he starts ignoring her completely, her depression almost overwhelms her again, but she finds the willpower to find out what is going on.