Gr 6–9—Back in 1989, readers fell in love with a whimsical teen named Weetzie. But in the eponymous seminal young adult novel (Harper Collins), Weetzie was glamorous, open-minded, artistic, and whimsical. In Pink Smog, Block introduces readers to a 13-year-old Weetzie, back when her mom was still calling her Louise. When her dad leaves for New York, the young protagonist decides to start living differently. No small feat when you're living in L.A. with an alcoholic mother. She befriends two outcasts, crushes on a mysterious guy who seems to know a lot about her absent father, and suspects a creepy neighbor is doing some serious damage to her life through voodoo. The story has an ethereal feel to it, with the flavor of Weetzie's world taking precedence over the plotline. In the early '90s, Weetzie was Teen Lit's alternative princess, and Pink Smog aims to introduce a new generation to her fantastical world. It remains to be seen whether today's teens will be as enchanted with it.—Emily Chornomaz, Camden County Library System, NJ
…Pink Smog gleams, if not as brightly as its predecessor. This is the story of a girl learning to accept that she can change only herself. Ultimately, Weetzie decides, "the worse things get, the more you have to make yourself see the magic in order to survive." The Weetzie of Pink Smog has not yet become as magical as the girl in Weetzie Bat, but fans of the first novel should find plenty to appreciate in her evolution.
In this prequel to her genre-shifting 1989 debut Weetzie Bat, Block peels back the glittering surface of that hip teen fairy tale to reveal a heartfelt portrait of the artist as a grieving seventh-grader. After Louise’s father abruptly decamps for New York City, she must cope with her mother’s depression, a clique of mean girls, and the sinister family in Unit 13 of the Starlight Condominiums, where she lives. An attractive older boy—possibly a guardian angel—offers help and solace, as do two new friends from school, who are outcasts as well. As anonymous notes propel Louise on a mystery tour of her beloved hometown, Los Angeles, magic shimmers ever brighter. By the novel’s end Louise leaves her given name behind and begins to grow into Weetzie, the girl who can spin pain into gold by always seeing beauty, “no matter how bad things get.” Newcomers and longtime fans alike will find much to savor in this nuanced meditation on what is lost, and what is gained, in the process of becoming an artist. Ages 14–up. Agent: Lydia Wills LLC. (Feb.)
An intoxicating mix of mystery, fantasy, and romance told in her signature poetic style and peopled by guardian angels, witches, a goddess, and a demon.” — Booklist (starred review)
“Newcomers and longtime fans alike will find much to savor in this nuanced meditation on what is lost, and what is gained, in the process of becoming an artist.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Pink Smog sparkles and obscures; it’s a glorious mirage, like the city it pays homage to.” — Maggie Stiefvater, #1 New York Times bestselling author, for the New York Times Book Review
“This canny introduction to Weetzie is the perfect prep.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“Teens... will relate to the heroine’s universal feelings of being on the fringe. Louise’s uplifting example proves that only from the outside can one forge her own true path.” — Shelf Awareness
CRITICAL ACCLAIM for WEETZIE BAT and the DANGEROUS ANGELS collection: “Transcendent.” — New York Times Book Review
“Shimmering.” — New York Post
“Magnificent.” — Village Voice
“Sparkling.” — Publishers Weekly
“One of the most original books of the last ten years.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review
One of the most original books of the last ten years.
Los Angeles Times Book Review
Shimmering.
This canny introduction to Weetzie is the perfect prep.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
CRITICAL ACCLAIM for WEETZIE BAT and the DANGEROUS ANGELS collection: “Transcendent.
New York Times Book Review
Teens... will relate to the heroine’s universal feelings of being on the fringe. Louise’s uplifting example proves that only from the outside can one forge her own true path.
An intoxicating mix of mystery, fantasy, and romance told in her signature poetic style and peopled by guardian angels, witches, a goddess, and a demon.
Booklist (starred review)
Magnificent.
This canny introduction to Weetzie is the perfect prep.
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
One of the most original books of the last ten years.
Los Angeles Times Book Review
Shimmering.
This canny introduction to Weetzie is the perfect prep.
The Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books
"An intoxicating mix of mystery, fantasy, and romance told in her signature poetic style and peopled by guardian angels, witches, a goddess, and a demon."
Does this failed prequel to the Phoenix Award–winning Weetzie Bat (1989) at least succeed as a standalone novel? It's 1975, and 13-year-old Louise Bat is mourning the death of her parents' marriage. In a first-person voice that breaks any possibility of the magical realism that made the original Dangerous Angels series so powerful, Weetzie explores the scariness of her apartment complex. At school, she forms an outcasts club with anorexic Lily and (requisite for Block) gay best friend Bobby, having friends can protect her only so much from bathroom graffiti and gum in her hair. Worse, the mean girls of junior high have nothing on the scary witchlike inhabitants of unit 13: purple-eyed Hypatia Wiggins and her nasty, Jayne Mansfield–loving daughter Annabelle (any possible connection to Weetzie Bat 's purple-eyed, Jayne Mansfield–wannabe witch, Vixanne Wigg, is left undeveloped). But perhaps Weetzie has a guardian angel at both home and school: Winter, Annabelle's brother. Is it Winter who's leaving her the notes that show her L.A. at its most sparkly, mysterious and flavorful? Inexplicably, Weetzie's story concludes by cutting off any possibility of magic in this realism. A dreamlike tale of bullying and coping that owes slightly too much to nostalgia to work. (Fiction. 12-15)
