The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening ¦ The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle ¦ The Vampire Diaries: The Fury

L J Smith has carefully crossbred two varieties of teenage fiction - 'Point Horror' and 'Sweet Valley High' - to produce this curious and disturbing trilogy.

Elena, queen of Robert E Lee High, is irresistibly drawn to Stefan Salvatore, a mysterious and handsome newcomer - and a vampire. This underworld becomes more heavily populated when Damon (Stefan's brother and fellow-vampire) appears and Elena also joins their ranks. The Diaries reveal the source of the brothers' feud (the love of a girl, of course) and demonstrate the price Elena must pay for becoming involved with, and eventually reconciling, them.

What's most disturbing about these books is the tawdry combination of stereotypes, cliches and thinly veiled eroticism which they deliver to young and impressionable readers. If they are to be considered for library or book box use - and I would recommend them for neither - then they must first be read by teachers. If we choose to put this sort of fiction before young people, we must be very sure of our motives for doing so.