By Juan Manuel Nievas, Ricardo T. Rivas

    BUENOS AIRES, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- Argentine teens are now totally smitten with the "Twilight" series of vampire novels depicting the forbidden yet unstoppable love between a human being and a vampire. The broodingly handsome vampire has become the new idol of teenage girls, and everyone wants to be Isabella, the girl the vampire falls in love with.

    "I have read all four books: 'Twilight,' 'New Moon,' 'Eclipse' and 'Dawn,'" said 15-year-old Eliana Britez, who lives in Ituzaingo, a satellite town of the Argentine capital Buenos Aires. She added that she had also watched the movie version of "Twilight" three times.

    Britez dresses all in black and even flashes black painted fingernails. Only a couple of red streaks in her hair add some color to her goth appearance.

    "This is how it is. The kids love all vampire stories," said Luis Ortiz, head of sales at the book store Yenny Ateneo, which has branches across the nation. The chain's bestseller chart lists "Eclipse," "Dawn," "New Moon" and "Twilight" as the top four novels.

    The vampire series, written by U.S. author Stephenie Meyer, have all appeared on bestseller lists in South American markets.

    In the four books, former housewife Meyer tells the love story of 17-year-old Isabella and Edward, a vampire who lives in Forks, a village close to the U.S. capital Washington. The couple cannot even kiss because it would trigger the blood-thirst of Edward, whose vampire instincts are sometimes beyond his control.

    "I love Twilight. I love Robert Pattinson (actor for Edward)," gushed Daniela Maggi, 16, who lives in Villa Devoto, a suburb in northeastern Buenos Aires.

    "Edward is great, Pattinson is divine, and I would like to be Isabella," Carla, 15, exclaimed as she was drinking coffee in a popular bookshop with her friends in Buenos Aires suburb Alto Palermo. She reads this series as well as Harry Potter books and biographies.

    The book market for teens is one of the most lucrative for Argentine publishers, which published more than 1,260 titles out of the 20,000 in the nation last year. This makes it fourth in size after adult fiction, education and law books.

    In October last year, 300 young Argentines gathered in the Cuspide bookshop, in Buenos Aires neighborhood La Recoleta, dressed in the fabulous garments described in Meyer's books. Thereare more than 33,000 websites dedicated to the series, all created by Argentines.

Special report: Global News Day for Children