Weetzie Bat - Reception

Reception

Weetzie Bat won the 2009 Phoenix Award from the Children's Literature Association as the best English-language children's book that did not a major award when it was originally published twenty years earlier. It is named for the mythical bird phoenix, which is reborn from its ashes, to suggest the book's rise from obscurity.

Criticism of Weetzie Bat focuses primarily on the appropriateness of the subject matter for the young adult reader. Weetzie Bat describes gay marriage, children out of wedlock, abortion, common-law marriage, and the AIDS epidemic, in language that makes it accessible to the pre-teen and early teen reader. Alan Cart states “Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat (HarperCollins) is not only a classic of gay fiction but also one of the most memorable of all young adult novels."

Weetzie Bat was put on the banned book list by one group because they did not approve of Block’s "ideas and views on a variety of issues surrounding alternative lifestyles" according to the B.G. Censorship Watch of American Libraries.

Critics counter that censorship has a long history in the U.S., and that books like Weetzie Bat can provide a vital resource for lesbian, gay, transgender, and HIV-positive teens growing up in what is still largely a homophobic society. Critics such as Rebecca Platzner offer that, while the material is suggestive, the dialogue that it establishes about these depictions is vital to a developing young adult’s perspectives on difficult social issues. Platzer offers this as explanation:

"For what age do you think these books are appropriate?" asks our professor. "Thirty two," I whisper to my friend who sits next to me. "Twenty five," she scribbles back on my notebook. We think of these books as "a find," and imagine a time when we will be in a position to pass them on to just-the-right kids. For now though, we’ll share them with our friends. —Rebecca Platzner, Collage in Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat Books, The ALAN Review