As the sequel to one of the most successful movies of this generation rapidly approaches, many older children, teens and even some adults are racing through the second, best-selling vampire-romance novel by Stephenie Meyer.

To be released in November, “New Moon” features Isabella Swan, Jacob Black and Edward Cullen overcoming a new fiasco, perhaps as outrageous as the first.

While roaming the halls of my high school last year, days before “Twilight” was screened in theaters, swarms of teens accumulated piles upon piles of homework because they “just had to read the book before the movie came out.”

Although this behavior is typical when films based on books come out, I was bewildered by the chatter.

“Oh my gosh, Edward is so hot.”

“He and Bella are perfect for each other!”

It was as if Edward and Bella were real people – and not fictional characters.

I was also astonished to see how fans were obsessed with whose “team” everyone belonged to, depending on which heartthrob was right for Ms. Swan.

As conversations became more frequent, the arguments between teams degenerated:

“Well, Edward is ugly.”

“Jacob isn’t nearly as famous as Edward, so nobody cares about him.”

Even at the peak of “Twilight’s” popularity, the actors were still being referred to by the names of their fictitious characters, as if the vampires themselves were real and coming outside to “sparkle in the sunlight.” 

To learn that the revenant corpses didn’t melt when in direct contact with the sun, but instead glittered like a Disney fairy, made me wonder how disgraced Bram Stoker would feel.

And even then, I didn’t realize how popular the saga had become until much later, when every store I walked into sold “Twilight” backpacks, “Edward” headbands, “Bella” makeup and “Jacob” T-shirts.

Upon searching for information about the movie on Facebook, I discovered 1,500 pages and 38,000 groups dedicated to the movie-and-novel combination. Some detested the phenomenon so much, they had such titles as, “You Know You Hate Twilight When…,” or “I bet I can find 100,000 people who hate Twilight.”

Having not been able to sit still long enough to read the first chapters of the book or watch five minutes of the first film, I can only wonder about the reaction to the newest trials and tribulations of Edward and Bella.