WEETZIE BAT
​
Novel Rationale: Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block (Published by HarperCollins, 1989)
Summary: This installment of the Dangerous Angels series follows the friendship of Weetzie Bat and her best friend Dirk as they search for love and a place to belong in the bright city of L.A.. Weetzie’s three wishes from a magic genie bring her My Secret Agent Lover Man, Dirk a boy named Duck, and a home for her unconventional but closely-knit family. As Weetzie Bat grows, she continues to prove love and support for her family and, by the end, becomes a mother while still able to maintain her own individual identity.
Themes:
Family
Coming Out
Gay
Relationships
Friendship
Gay Best Friend
Romance
Magical Realism
​
Connection to the Curriculum: Weetzie Bat is a good example of a book that portrays a positive friendship between a teen with a gay friend. While she and Dirk search for their true loves, their adventures bring up many issues teens face in their daily lives, among then the use of drugs and alcohol, varying forms of sex, family loss, and parental relations. The wideness in scope of these experiences would provide a topic of discussion for every student and connect to the other novels in the curriculum. In addition to the content, Weetzie Bat is also uniquely written. Block’s cinematic style blends genres such a fairly tale and post-modern fiction as well as mediums as much of her novel reads like a film. Studying these aspects will bring up connections to previous and future genre and form discussions.
​
A Note on the Text: (The best way to evaluate and understand a novel is to personally read the book in its entirety)
While Weetzie and Dirk traverse the diverse and sometimes dangerous world of L.A., they encounter a number of problems that are common to teens. This novel includes references to drug and alcohol use, unconventional sexual practices and situations, loss of parental control, and the deaths of loved ones. The difference is how the characters deal with these issues and, in Weetzie and Dirk’s case, they successfully wade through these issues and the book ends with them and their family living happily.
