Weetzie Bat

Block, F. L. (1989). Weetzie Bat. New York: Harper & Row. 

Weetzie Bat is a girl living in Los Angeles CA.  She meets a boy named Dirk and they become best friends.  Dirk tells her he is gay and she is so excited to go “Duck Hunting” with him.  They are both having a hard time finding decent “ducks” so Dirk’s grandmother gives her a lamp.  As Weetzie cleans is a genie appears and grants her three wishes, but she can’t wish for world peace or infinite wishes.  She wishes for a “Duck” for Dirk, her Secret Agent Lover Man, and to live in a house happily.  All her wishes come true!  Dirk finds his Duck, she finds her Secret Agent Lover Man and they inherit Dirk’s grandmother’s house to live in.  Weetzie then decides she wants a baby, but Secret Agent Lover Man doesn’t.  Weetzie has a plan to get a baby with Dirk, Duck and even Secret Agent Lover Man.  During her pregnancy Secret Agent Lover Man leaves and encounters a “Witch Lady”.  The Witch Lady ends up pregnant as well and leaves the baby on the doorstep.  Weetzie has a little girl named Cherokee and Dirk, Duck, Secret Agent Lover Man, and Weetzie also decide to raise “Witch Baby”.  

It was a very fast read and I finished it in about an hour.  The story just seems very surface and there is not much depth to the characters, which makes sense because of the briefness of it.  This book reads very disjointed as the story is told is in a weird third person.  There are realistic elements, but also bits of fantasy, such as the genie.  The realistic elements of Weetzie and Dirk looking for partners, Dirk being gay, living in a house all together, Weetzie’s parents being divorced and living across the US from each other, and having a baby together seem plausible, but they are not relatable to myself.  With some of the topics covered I would place this more in a high school library. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FIxpKaljfU   book trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBUkT-m1axw author interview…where weetzie came from

Block, F. L. (1998). Dangerous angels: The Weetzie Bat books. New York: HarperCollins.

http://faculty.education.ufl.edu/Pace/English_Ed/Genre%201/Untitled.pdf lesson plan pg. 10-11