Weetzie Bat

Annotation: Imagine you're a quirky, eccentric teenage girl from the magical city of Losa Angeles and you're granted three wishes by a genie from a magic lamp that all come true; only not the way you expected! So begins the tale of Weetzie Bat who, along with her unconventional family, struggles to find and hold on to love, in the face of all the darkness and pain in the world.

Review: Weetzie Bat is a book for anyone who has ever felt different; whether it’s because of how you look, where you come from or even who you love. Weetzie leads a magical life, cruising around L.A. with her best friend Dirk, hitting all the coolest punk shows and iconic LA hot spots. Any girl would be crazy not to crush on Dirk, and and yet, he has a secret that explains why he doesn’t feel quite the same way about Weetzie. This is one of the first of many challenges that life throws Weetzie’s way and throughout the story, she faces them all head on, though often in less than conventional ways! When Weetzie is granted three wishes from a genie in a magic lamp, they all come true, only not at all in the ways that she imagined!

Just when Weetzie thinks she’s solved all her problems and has created a happy home with her best friends Dirk and Duck and boyfriend “My Secret Agent Lover Man,” life throws another wrench in Weetzie’s plans and she takes a risk that tests the strength of the groups’ loyalty to each other. Tragedies like AIDS, homophobia and the destruction of the environment are just as relevant now as they were when the book was first published in 1989, and they weigh heavily on Weetzie’s family. Even Weetzie, with her seemingly limitless positive energy, struggles with the unraveling of her parents’ marriage. But Weetzie Bat is a story about fighting demons, taking charge and giving in to the magic that is all around. The magic is love and it’s worth fighting for, especially when you can do it with best friends, a sultry boyfriend and your own rules that you figure out along the way!

*Fans of Weetzie Bat will likely enjoy Block’s subsequent stories about the same characters, which have been published as a collection titled Dangerous Angels,as well as in two separate collections, Goat Girls and Beautiful Boys. Also available is Necklace of Kisses, which revisits Weetzie and company twenty years into the future, and the forthcoming prequel to Weetzie Bat, Pink Smog, slated for January 2012 publication.


Watch a live reading of a Weetzie Bat screenplay the author adapted from the novel! 

"Francesca Lia Block Weetzie Bat Reading Part 1" Online Posting. YouTube, 14 September 2010. Web. 1 December 2011.

Awards:

• ALA Best Book for Young Adults
• ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults
• ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
• 1989 Parents’ Choice Gold Award
• 2005 Margaret A. Edwards Award
• 2009 Phoenix Award

Block, Francesca Lia. Weetzie Bat. Anniversary ed.
    New York: Harper, 2004. Print.


Image courtesy of http://printmag.com/