Vampires may live forever, but their rock star status in pop culture can rise and fall as quickly as the breath of a schoolgirl as she watches her secret crush walk toward her table in the cafeteria.

“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2,” the fi fth and fi nal film in the series based on Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling young adult book series about Bella, a teenage girl who falls in love with a vampire named Edward, premieres Thursday night at theaters across the country, including those in Fayetteville, Rogers and Bella Vista. The oftcial debut date is Friday.

The first book in the series was released in 2005, and one book followed each year for the next three years.

The films have been released one per year since 2008.

“The generation of teens who read the books when they fi rst came out are older now, and it’s not as cool to read the books,” said Hotspur Closser, teen librarian at Fayetteville Public Library.

“There still is a (teen) audience of the series - a readership and viewership - but they don’t like to advertise it because they are embarrassed by it.”

Some teens may be legitimately excited about seeing the fi nal fi lm, Closser said, but others likely want to see it out of obligation to finish the series.

One thing that has damaged the cool factor of the “Twilight” seriesfor teens is its popularity with adults, Closser said.

“If you go to the premiere of the new movie, I would venture to guess the majority of the audience will be middle-aged women. They are the true fans at this point,” he said.

The “Twilight” books are in the top fi ve among series checked outat Fayetteville Public Library, but Closser said “I don’t know if it’s a sign that it’s remaining popular with teens or with just some kind of audience.”

He added the teen fi ction collection is browsed by adults as much as it is by teens.

The books haven’t been checked out as much lately at Springdale Public Library.

“It’s a cyclic type thing,” said Sharon Christian, young adult coordinator at the Springdale library. “They check out for a while, then it goes dead. Then they start again after a few months. I’m sure as soon as the film comes out, they’ll start checking out again.”

The films supplement the books for fans, Closser said, but Hollywood does introduce books to a new audience that comes to the library seeking the source material.

PARENTAL UNITS

Sometimes that new audience includes the parents of the teenage book fans. Not all teens are embarrassed by their love or their mom’s love for the series, though.

Daydrena Gilbert, an 18-year-old homeschool student from Springdale, said her aunt introduced her to the series, which she’s read four times. She has seen all of the fi lms with her mom and two aunts and said it’s a time of bonding for the four.

“We try to go to the midnight premiere,” she said. “My mom and one aunt are Team Edward and me and my other aunt are Team Jacob.”

In the series, Bella’s best friend, Jacob, a werewolf and mortal enemy of vampires, wants to be more than friends. This love triangle with Bella, Edward and Jacob has led most readers of the series to identify themselves as supporters of either Team Edward or Team Jacob.

Other parents, though, are a little less enthusiastic about their children reading the paranormal romance tale that includes the marriage of Bella and Edward and the birth of their child.

Gwyneth Deshommes, a 15-year-old student at Fayetteville High School, has read the first three books - “Twilight,” “New Moon” and “Eclipse” - and has seen those films, but her mother wouldn’t let her read the last book, “Breaking Dawn,” or see Part 1 of that film “because of that one part,” she said.

The book and the film both have a scene detailing the first night of Bella’s and Edward’s honeymoon.

“I know everything that happens,” Gwyneth said. “I read up on it online, and my friends have told me about it.”

THE NEXT BIG THING

Gwyneth said she’d likely go see the final film even though she’s “sort of getting over the whole ‘Twilight’ thing.” She still enjoys reading paranormal romances,she said, but has moved on to other genres, such as post-apocalyptic/dystopian books.

“‘The Hunger Games’ is definitely taking the place of ‘Twilight,’” she said. And it followed a similar trend as “Twilight” with adult readers.

“You have such a wide readership and people of all ages, all backgrounds, are into the series,” Closser said of the books by Suzanne Collins.

“The Hunger Games” follows 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers to take her sister’s place in the annual Hunger Games, atelevised fight to the death among 24 children from the districts of Panem, a postapocalyptic nation where the United States used to be.

Gwyneth said she’s not so sure about adults reading young adult books, though.

“When my dad read ‘The Hunger Games,’ it was very weird for me.”

She said she wondered why he was reading a “child’s book.”

She was glad he liked it, though, because they saw the fi lm together.

But, she added, “there are some books I just want to be for me.”

Life, Pages 6 on 11/14/2012