Block, Francesca Lia. Weetzie Bat. HarperCollins, 1989.
109 pages. Tr. $14.21, ISBN: 978-1-41554-548-5
Plot: Weetzie
Bat is an L.A. girl living with her mother, a gorgeous but brassy former
B-movie starlet. A girl with a strong sense of fashion (including Native
American headdresses), she meets a boy named Dirk at school. The two hit it
off, going to punk clubs and inhaling Hollywood, only Dirk likes boys. The two
spend time with Dirk’s grandmother, Fifi, who gives Weetzie a lamp. When a
genie pops out, he grants her some wishes, which results in the creation of
both her and Dirk’s fantasy partners, My Secret Agent Lover Man (for Weetzie)
and Duck (for Dirk). Fifi dies,
and the four move into her house, creating a happy alternative family.
Secret
Agent Man, like Weetzie’s father, makes movies. They shoot films and have fun
until Weetzie wants a baby. When My Secret Agent Lover Man balks, Weetzie finds
a way to get pregnant without him. Furious, he leaves. Dirk and Duck take care
of Weetzie until he returns, after having a dangerous dalliance with a witch. Creating
an unusual alternate-reality family in Hollywood, the four confront more dark
forces – Weetzie’s dad’s drug abuse, AIDS, and the witch’s return – that
threaten to destroy the happiness of the little family, which grows as time
goes on.
Critical Evaluation: This is a genre-defying book, part dream, part Hollywood fantasy,
part heightened love letter to Los Angeles. The main character, Weetzie, is a
beautiful sprite, a child’s dream of what being a 19 year old in Hollywood
might be like. Dirk is a teen dream – he’s like an airbrushed Elvis or James
Dean. Their companions are, in the world of the book, literally dreams, perfect
partners conjured out of their own hearts and minds.
The
two find perfection until Weetzie’s desires, her father’s disillusionment, and
the real-world plague of the time rear their heads.
The
way that the author uses fantasy in the book to capture a picture-perfect, if
unconventional family, is a real departure. It is original to the core, from
the way Weetzie follows her heart to the way the four of them experience their
city. Light and dark, cotton candy and punk rock alleys, the book captures the
sunshine and noir of the city – dipping into the noir and choosing to bask in
the sun instead. It is a YA book that only a young writer could have conjured.
Reader’s
Annotation: When Weetzie Bat, a feathered-headdress wearing punk sprite, meets
Dirk, she has a sense that anything is possible, and she might be right.
Author
bio: A devoted denizen of Los Angeles, which has factored hugely in her novels,
Francesca Lia Block wrote Weetzie Bat
while a student a UC Berkeley during the only time she has left the city. The
book became a phenomenon, and Block continued, writing screenplays, plays, and
more YA novels.
She
has seen her share of controversy; Weetzie Bat, with its alternative lifestyles
and embrace of Hollywood’s seedier corners, and Baby Be Bop in particular was met with the threat of a public book
burning. The city and her artistic parents have helped create Block’s
boundary-breaking style.
Genre:
Fantasy mixed with reality.
Curriculum
Ties: English
Booktalking
Ideas:
Describe
the characters and their desire to find love.
Talk
about the Los Angeles/Hollywood focus – LA as a place of dreams and noir.
Have
kids dress up and act out the scene of Weetzie meeting Dirk.
Reading
Level: 5
Interest
Age: 14+
Challenge
Issues: Homosexuality, surrogate families, alternative lifestyles, sexuality.
Challenge
Response:
The
alternative lifestyles in the book have provoked challenges, and anyone
defending the book against a challenge should do research and be very familiar
with the discussion and rebuttals to challenges.
Be
extremely familiar with both the content and subject matter of the book but
also with its tone, how the characters and situations are presented.
ALA
Notable Children’s Books, 1995
Margaret
A. Edwards Award 2005
Why
Included: Considered a groundbreaking YA book.
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