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I just finished reading all five Weetzie Bat books by Francesca Lia Block. I read lots of young adult fiction so I am used to its common themes. Teens who experiment with anything alternative--from style of dress to sexual preference to chemical alteration--usually have one of two things happen to them. They either learn the error of their ways or they stand up for what they believe in and end up judged and shunned by many, but left with a small group of supporters. (I'm generalizing here, of course, but you get the idea.)

Block's books, on the other hand, are pure fairy tale. There's even a wish-granting genie. The characters live beautiful carefree bohemian art-filled lives. Leaving behind usual teen concerns (approval of parents and society, clashes with religion, highschool politics) Block is free to explore love--what love is and what love is not, what love will do for you and what you should not expect love to do for you. She mixes art and love together and talks about the healing power of art.

After reading the first book in the series, I flipped to the copyright page and read that the book came out in 1989, when I was ten years old. I pictured myself as a ten-year-old, picking up this book and having my mind blown away. I probably would have found it too disturbing to continue (I always had a problem with things that I personally found acceptable or even beautiful, yet my upbringing told me otherwise) but I would have read it anyway and carried a morsel of this guilty beauty around inside me for years.