Dana’s Summer Book List

For my Summer Book List I will be focusing my recommendation on fiction. The books that I have selected for this list will either deal with feminist issues of have feminist undertones and themes. I am going to try and make my summer book list a series of posts that feature reviews and links that will go up over the next four months rather than as a one off list list.

My first recommendation is The Weetzie Bad Books by Francesca Lia Block. The first Weetzie Bat Book (Weetzie Bat) was published in 1989 and the sixth and latest addition to the series, Necklace of Kisses came out in 2005. These days the first five books are sold in a single volume that goes by the name of Dangerous Angels and it can usually be found at Chapters.

I discovered The Weetzie Bat Books a decade ago through an online interview that gurl.com did with Francesca Lia Block. I did a bit of Googling and came up with this, although I have no idea if it is the same interview that caught my attention a babillion years ago. The next time I was in Calgary with my mom after reading the interview I made her stop at Chapters and I picked up a copy of Dangerous Angles. I finished the books by the next day and I can honestly say that they are still some of my favorites.

Recently I was listening to Bitch Media’s newest podcast initiative, Read My Bitch when my beloved Weetzie Bat was mentioned. This podcast featured Kjerstin Johnson reading Monica T. Nolan article “Harriet and Claudia, where have you gone? Notes on the gender divide in children’s literature” that was printed in issue 15 (winter 2002) of Bitch Magazine. The article discusses the lack of good YA fiction that features female protagonist and cites The Weetzie Bat Books as being one exception to this rule.

The series is a sort of magical contemporary fairytale with beautiful imagery and a poetic writing style. While the books are feature this slinkster cool aesthetic they also tackle some heavy issues. If you haven’t read them yet I would highly recommend this series.

<3’s

P.S. I just got my hands on a copy of Necklace of Kisses and will post a review on it soon.