The all new 50 Books Challenge!
Title: Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books by Francesca Lia Block
Details: Collection copyright 1998, HarperCollins
Individual copyrights:
Weetzie Bat, 1989
Witch Baby, 1991
Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys, 1992
Missing Angel Juan, 1993
Baby Be-Bop, 1995
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "LOVE IS A DANGEROUS ANGEL...
Francesca Lia Block's luminous saga of interwoven lives will send the senses into wild overdrive. These post-modern fairy tales chronicle the thin line between fear and desire, pain and pleasure, cutting loose and holding out on a world where everyone is vulnerable to the most beautiful and dangerous angel of all: love."
Why I Wanted to Read It: From my young teens on, I adored Francesca Lia Block. In the previous years of this challenge, it's been hard not to compare a lot of work, particularly YA work, to hers.
Her stories have stuck with me through the years, although I hadn't really thought to actually revisit them in the years since. I honestly can't remember the last time I read one, but I'm going to assume probably my late teens, maybe.
My favorite was Girl Goddess #9, a collection of short stories. One of my favorites was a story about a girl raised by two moms who goes on a quest to find her dad, only to find out that one of her mothers is trans and reunites her mother with her estranged parents for a wonderful happy ending.
....All of that in a book published in 1996, a young adult book no less!
So needless to say, when I discovered this volume, I was too eager to revisit Block and see if she was as good as I remembered. I hadn't ever read what is apparently one of her most beloved (and apparently controversial: they've been banned numerous times, presumably mostly for the Queer themes) universes, the Weetzie Bat books.
How I Liked It: There's been some talk lately of the perils of revisiting media from your younger years. While it's true for any generation, those in this century have seen a seemingly swifter shifting evolution of social consciousness (and the fact the early 2000s were awash in post- "political correctness" -that was the term in use at the time- backlash combined with the wake of September 11th made for an "edgy" style that was bound to age extremely poorly, as most of it has).
So revisiting books that were (or felt) revolutionary in the 1990s and early 2000s, particularly from an author I loved then, was a surprisingly daunting task.
First, let's break down all five books! I'll try to keep my summaries as brief and as mostly-spoiler free as I possibly can!
Weetzie Bat tells the story of the eponymous character who we meet in high school. Weetzie seems to defy categorization, but close probably is that she's a quirky punk rebel who doesn't seem to fit in until she meets her friend Dirk, a fellow-outsider rockabilly punk who shares her love of Los Angeles, vintage things, old Hollywood, and punk music.
Weetzie is the only daughter of Brandy-Lynn, a former starlet raising her alone, and Charlie Bat, a horror screenwriter who couldn't stay in Los Angeles and fled back to New York City, who occasionally visits California to see his daughter (Weetzie doesn't like visiting New York City, since it makes her anxious).
Dirk is raised by his grandmother, Fifi, in a charming cottage where the kids end up spending time. Dirk's parents died in a car accident when he was little.
Just when it looks like this might be a standard (if well-written) YA romance, Dirk comes out to Weetzie as gay. She assures him it doesn't matter, hugs him, and promises they'll look for boyfriends together.
After having no luck, Weetzie is given a golden "thing" by Fifi which apparently contains a genie, and three wishes. Weetzie wishes for true love for both her and her friend, and a place for them to live "happily ever after."
Grandma Fifi passes (it's revealed she was dying when she gave the "thing" to Weetzie), leaving her house to Weetzie and Dirk. Dirk then meets and falls in love with a beautiful surfer named Duck. Weetzie's working as a waitress and still hoping to get her last wish when she meets and befriends Ping Chong, a Chinese fashion designer, her partner Valentine Jah Love, a Jamaican artist, and their baby son Raphael.
She then meets a film director, My Secret Agent Lover Man, incidentally the name she gave in her head to her true love, who starts trying to cast her in his next movie. They start making movies together and she meets Coyote, a Native friend of My Secret Agent Lover Man's. Soon, she, My Secret Agent Lover Man, Duck, and Dirk, are all living together in the cottage.
Weetzie wants a baby, but her partner is resistant and it causes a rift between them. Determined, she asks Dirk and Duck for help and they decide to have a baby together. Weetzie has a baby girl named Cherokee (more on that name later) and though he struggles with it and leaves her for a time, My Secret Agent Lover Man eventually accepts Weetzie's decision and their child (whose biological father could be any of the three men).
But he falls ill and a strange woman comes banging on their door. Turns out when he was separated from Weetzie, he had sex with this woman and now she wants money for an abortion. It's revealed she put a spell on him and after he gives her the money, he heals.
But there's more. Months later, the woman returns to put the baby she apparently had (along with the Barbie and Ken dolls she used in the spell work, as a peace offering) on their doorstep. My Secret Agent Lover Man wants to give the baby back, but Weetzie loves her instantly, and despite calling her Lily, "Witch Baby" is what sticks.
So Weetzie, Dirk, Duck, My Secret Agent Man, and the two very little girls, Cherokee and Witch Baby, form a happy little found family and enjoy life with their circle of friends, and Weetzie reflects that this is happily ever after.
Witch Baby is now the main character, a little girl struggling to find her way and feel like she belongs in their family. She's frequently misunderstood, and her contributions seem like they're ignored. She has a crush on Raphael, but it's clear he likes her older "almost-sister" Cherokee.
Witch Baby discovers a little boy named Angel Juan on her father's movie set and they seem meant for each other and spend all their time together-- right up until he and his family are deported back to Mexico.
Frustrated, Witch Baby runs away several times trying to find herself, snapping photographs as always. She runs to an enchanted curiosities shop complete with a genie that informs her when she asks that she belongs at home and sends her off with a lamp.
She runs away again to stow away (unbeknownst to them until she climbs out of the car) with Drake and Dirk as Drake visits his family (and she accidentally outs him to his mother and openly and enthusiastically homophobic stepfather).
She manages to feel even further isolated and misunderstood by her family between running-away jaunts.
Even her friendship with family friend Coyote goes awry when she tries to help him with his tree-planting only to waste valuable seeds.
Finally, Witch Baby runs away to finally meet her biological mother that abandoned her, Vixanne Wigg, a Jayne Mansfield fan who with other Jayne Mansfield fans, consume her films seemingly nonstop while dressed like the deceased actress.
None of Witch Baby's ventures are particularly fulfilling and further exacerbate her sense of loneliness (the antique thing is weird and the golden lamp she gives her father he thinks Weetzie Bat got him, Drake and Dirk are too focused on his family and each other, and Witch Baby's biological mother seems completely uninterested in her and gives her a bad feeling besides).
She makes her way back home from staying overnight at her biological mother's (from whom she leaves, leaving behind only the photographs she took of Los Angeles) and Weetzie, My Secret Agent Lover Man, Drake, Dirk, and Cherokee, and their friends Raphael and Coyote greet her on her return home. All are overjoyed to see her and welcome her, and amend their previous distances. Witch Baby's contributions (and her quirkiness) are acknowledged and finally, she sees her place in her family.
The children (Witch Baby, Cherokee, Raphael, and Angel Juan) are now teenagers, and Cherokee is now the main character. With all but Angel Juan's parents away working on a movie, they're being watched by Coyote, at least in theory.
They get the idea to start a band, the Goat Guys, and since Witch Baby's been a bit unpredictable lately (and also, she has a birthday party and is reunited with Angel Juan after a long absence), Cherokee asks for Coyote's help in making a set of wings for Witch Baby to wear.
Their first gig goes horribly; Raphael freezes up with stage fright and the rest of them aren't much better. Again, Cherokee asks for Coyote's help, and he helps her use shed goat fur to fashion a pair of goat pants for Raphael. Now, Raphael is the star of the show, and they all seem like his back-up, which is causing further tension, especially with Angel Juan.
Cherokee doesn't really mind Raphael's newfound bravado, but she feels bad she's given presents to everyone but Angel Juan, who appears to take Raphael's fame the hardest.
She again goes to Coyote, but he expresses fear at the path they're going down with their egos (not to mention the frequent drug and alcohol use) and she decides to take matters into her own hands. Wanting a set of horns Coyote owns, she tells Witch Baby about it who, with Angel Juan, breaks into Coyote's home to get them. Coyote notices, but appears to do nothing.
They fashion the horns into a headband for Juan and he's overjoyed. Cherokee gets a package at one of their gigs, unsigned, and it's a pair of hoof boots for her to wear. She doesn't want to wear them, knowing things have gone too far, but does anyway.
So begins a terrifying descent into some sort of dystopia where everything is wrong and scary and upside down. Raphael and Angel Juan are completely consumed by ego and begin self-destructive behavior. When it seems like Raphael might cheat on her with an older, attractive female club owner, Cherokee puts on all the accessories (Witch Baby's wings, Raphael's goat pants, Angel Juan's horns, and her goat boots) and, convinced she's been transformed, too, attempts to jump off the roof of the cottage, and take flight.
Coyote saves her, and when she comes to, her friends are all there (as is Coyote) and are all themselves again. Coyote explains that Witch Baby saw Cherokee's odd behavior at the party and ran and got him. Coyote apologizes to all of them not being a better caregiver. They perform a ritual of healing in a healing circle led by Coyote and give back the accessories to nature. Everyone seems to heal.
Their parents return and the Goat Guys perform for them and Cherokee relishes the fact she doesn't need anything to dance and sing and "send her rhythms into the canyon."
Witch Baby is back to being a main character, and now she's well into her teens (possibly/probably 18), nearly an adult. Angel Juan breaks up with her, saying he wants to visit New York City, that his place isn't in Los Angeles, he wants to be a solo musician.
She is heartbroken, but lets him go. He writes to her, and she's heartbroken without him and doesn't even know where in New York City he is. She decides to go New York City where she will stay at Weetzie's Bat's deceased (he died at the end of Weetzie Bat) father's apartment, which Weetzie kept, even though New York City itself makes her feel like a "skeleton charm bracelet."
Before she goes, Witch Baby visits her biological mother for the first time since she was a little girl. She finds the former Jayne Mansfield impersonator/fan a sad, thoughtful painter in an empty home, full of self-portraits. She is nearly unrecognizable from before and Witch Baby paints with her. Vixanne urges her to leave and not come back until after her journey to find Angel Juan. She remembers the photos Witch Baby left her and how sad and disturbing they were (the sick and homeless) and clearly how they transformed her. She says Witch Baby taught her to "look in the eye" and "look into your own darkness."
Witch Baby arrives in New York City and is greeted warmly by two kindly men (who are probably a couple; I don't think it's ever explicitly said) who live in a nearby apartment and scout paranormal activity. They look after Weetzie Bat, buying her food and helping her quest to find Angel Juan.
When she gets into her "almost-grandfather's" apartment, though, she discovers it's haunted by him, Charlie Bat. He watches over her and accepts her as a grandfather, telling her stories about Weetzie and about his own life. He navigates New York City with her, whispering tips and tricks that only she can hear, as they scout clues. It leads them to Sylvia's (the famous Harlem restaurant), a Coney Island amusement park (where there's a truly heart-wrenching scene Charlie shows her from his early life as a little boy with his family at Passover), and the clues are scattered, but eventually, Witch Baby stumbles across a lead.
There's a horrible scuffle with a truly terrifying villain and Angel Juan is in great danger. But with Charlie's help, Weetzie is able to free him. They go back to the apartment and celebrate, and Charlie crosses over finally, his work truly done. Witch Baby realizes that she will go back to Los Angeles to be with her family, and Angel Juan will stay in New York City.
We jump backward to the '80s (so far, each book appears to take place, despite the difference in age of the characters, in the year the book was published; however certain musical choices and hair descriptions suggest that Baby Be-Bop is set in the '80s rather than the mid '90s) and look at Dirk's teenage life prior to meeting Weetzie Bat. He's closeted, miserable, and in love (or so he thinks) with his only friend, Pup, who is also closeted, but does a much better job of hiding it, which finally divides them, leaving Dirk now friendless.
Dirk struggles with his identity and sexuality, finally finding his way into punk music. On his sixteenth birthday, his grandmother gives him her car, a 1955 Pontiac convertible, with a curious golden lamp now mounted on the front. She tells him it's a family heirloom and that when he's ready, he can tell his story into it, including his secrets. Dirk protests that he has nothing to say, but his grandmother promises that someday he might and this might help.
With his new car, Dirk goes to more punk shows. Disgusted to see so-called punks sporting fascist symbols like fashion accessories, he calls them out, including one who violently beats him.
As Dirk struggles with near-death back at the cottage alone, he is visited by a ghost named Gazelle. She turns out to be his great grandmother, a sheltered seamstress, and talks about her loneliness and isolation with an abusive aunt. She felt horrified to be different and harboring a secret love of dance (a secret which Dirk recognizes as similar to his sexual orientation in terms of denial and concealment) and would have gone on being miserable and lonely forever if not approached by a strange man who asks her to make him a beautiful dress, and he provides gorgeous materials. She complies and he pays her, and then gives her the dress, along with something else, a golden lamp. He tells her it's a place to keep her secrets, the story of her love. She tells him she had no story, but he assured her that she did, and someday she would know it. And with a bit of magic, she is pregnant.
Gazelle gives birth to Dirk's grandmother, Fifi, and determined to give her everything she didn't have, enrolls her in dance classes where she shows a natural gift. She becomes part of a popular act and is happy to act as a beard for the two gay male performers she works with, but finds herself unable to find a love of her own.
And then a man forever poetically followed by insects (he's an entomologist), Derwood, meets and courts her and they fall in love. He reveals that he has a heart condition with only a few years to live.
When Fifi becomes pregnant with Dirk's father, Derwood limits his contact with the boy, since he won't be around long.
When he passes, Fifi is heartbroken and returns to her mother Gazelle's cottage, inconsolable. After some time, Fifi's art teacher sends her work to an animation department in Hollywood and they respond with a job. She doesn't want to leave her mother, but her mother assures her she had to do and gives her the stranger's lamp as a goodbye present, never having filled it. She dies after her daughter leaves.
After Gazelle tells her story, Dirk is visited by a second ghost, his father, Dirby. Dirby talks about becoming a beat poet and discovering his voice (when asked what he could possibly know about poetry being so young, he's derided as his poetry being "Little Bo-Peep"; once he wows the crowd, the name is changed to "Be-Bop Bo-Peep").
He talks about meeting Dirk's mother, Just Silver (she renounced her father's name), a one-time model and actress (who "had a tiny part in a Fellini film once") by chance. Dirby had (seemingly accidental) telekinetic powers and while delivering a poem, his hat flew off and onto her head.
They developed a relationship (they both loved Siddhartha) and along came Dirk. Just Silver and Fifi bond and "she loved her just like her own daughter." Dirby does his poetry onstage and Just Silver does her interpretive dancing.
Dirk's mother then appears in the cottage with his father, and Dirk is struck by his memories of her that come flooding back.
Dirk remembers the terrifying night his parents died in the car accident and Fifi's fear and wonders if he too will die now. His father assures him he won't and his mother calls him "Baby Be-Bop" (and thus, we have our title). His parents not only accept him for being gay, they talk about heroes of theirs that are gay.
Dirk gets visions of the love he will later find in Duck, and we have Duck's early years as well.
Duck struggles when he hears his mother comment with a homophobic remark when a friend weeps when she discovers her son is gay. He stumbles into the gay community (sub-cultured) and for awhile, lives with a street-smart kid named Bam-Bam, who may share Duck's apartment and hold him at night in bed, but they do not kiss or have sex. When Bam-Bam abruptly leaves, Duck miserably spends time in alleys with closeted, self-loathing men, one of whom abuses him.
He stands up for himself and starts taking control of his life and it starts to turn around.
Dirk wonders when he'll meet this love of his life but gets no answer.
He wakes up in the hospital with his grandmother fussing over him, and she confesses she's been telling him stories about their family all night. Dirk feels more confident in himself and his life and reassured of his story, and of the power of stories.
Okay, got all of that? Strictly length wise, I assume since these are in part meant to be for young adults, they're relatively short, but five of them at once makes a pretty sizeable novel.
I admit when I started out, I hadn't read a Block book in so long, I was genuinely terrified I wouldn't like this and my fond memories would prove sour as an adult. But once I started reading, Block's distinctive style came back, as did her magic. Weetzie Bat was apparently her first book and I wasn't sure if it'd have the appeal of her later work, a fear which was also thankfully proven fruitless. If you've never read her work, it can be hard to describe. It's lush, vivid, and intensely descriptive as well as poetic.
The reason Weetize Bat hated high school was because no one understood. They didn't even realize where they were living. They didn't care that Marilyn's prints were practically in their backyard at Graumann's; that you could buy tomahawks and plastic palm tree wallets at Farmer's Market, and the wildest, cheapest cheese and bean and hot dog and pastrami burritos at Oki Dogs; that the waitresses wore skates in at the Jetson-style Tiny Naylor's; that there was a canyon where Jim Morrison and Houdini used to live, and all-night potato knishes at Canter's, and not too far away was Venice, all columns, and canals, even, like the real Venice but maybe cooler because of the surfers. (pg 308)
Clothing, scents, scenery, food, all have a magical quality and it was probably Block who first truly initiated my love of magical realism. Supernatural/paranormal entities lurk in her books, but in such a well-integrated way along with her characters and settings, it doesn't feel like it's wrestling genres, just adding magic to both. Her unflinching look in these books alone at homophobia, AIDS, abortion, racism, and homelessness existing alongside genies, talking ghosts, and magical wishes should feel jarring but instead it all works.
I realize that Weetzie Bat was not intended to be a series of books. As Block grew as an author and the popularity and demand grew, she expanded the universe of the books in a way she probably never intended. Since the publication of this volume in 1998, she's since added two Weetzie Bat books (and you'd better believe I'm going to read and review them) and it's nothing short of admirable that she wrote in such a way that so many characters "had legs" and some even spawned their own books.
Some criticism is hard, since her style is so distinct. It's meant to be told in at least partially a fairytale way and while some may grouse about some of the realism (two couples living in one cottage raising two young children? For an extended period? With other families?) in the context of the books it's pretty petty criticism. Some Block-isms can get a bit unnecessary (nearly every other character has an unusual name, which then has to be commented on by other characters), but as a whole, her style is still genuinely charming. There's a language and slang that some have called Los Angeles slang, but I'm fairly sure Block invented a lot of it for these books, or at least popularized a good amount.
These books are a gorgeous introduction to Block and her style and her magic. They'd need a few caveats (and we'll get to those) before you'd hand them off to a young teenager, perhaps, but they're still both individually and combined, a masterpiece.
One of the most disappointing things in life is revisiting an old favorite and finding it to be anywhere from lacking to appalling. But conversely, one of the greatest, most profound joys in life has to be the experience of revisiting an old favorite and finding out its magic is still real and thriving. Fortunately Block's work falls into the latter category.
Notable: There are some things that have not aged well (and wouldn't have been acceptable for the time in the first place, but it's about common knowledge and common ignorance) and I would be remiss if I didn't point them out. After all, the best kind of fan is a thoughtful/critical fan, and you can love something and still point out its flaws.
Weetzie is known for her outlandish fashion, and there's an extremely unfortunate trend she displays in the first novel:
Sometimes she wore Levi's with white suede fringe sewn down the legs and a feathered Indian headdress, sometimes old fifties' taffeta dresses covered with poetry written in glitter, or dresses made of kids' sheets printed with pink piglets or Disney characters.
"That's a great outfit," Dirk said. Weetzie was wearing her feathered headdress and her moccasins and a pink fringed mini dress.
"Thanks, I made it," she said, snapping her strawberry bubble gum. "I'm into Indians," she said. "They were here first and we treated them like shit."
"Yeah," Dirk said, touching his Mohawk. (pg 4)
Her non-Native daughter is also named "Cherokee" and favors moccasins and a similar kind of fashion of beads and feathers. The only actual Native character in the books, Coyote, runs too often towards woo stereotypes (although to be fair given these characters it's kind of hard to tell) and in Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys takes on a kind of mythical quality, giving the children "magical" gifts that empower them and acting as a kind of trickster fairy godfather (again, this is magical realism, but you can do it to avoid stereotypes).
Throughout the books, despite the clear family formed by the group in the very first book, for some reason biology is everything. Weetzie is ostensibly a mother in every way but biological to Witch Baby, and is even the one to suggest keeping her in the first place, but still isn't thought of as her mother. Witch Baby's biological mother not only abandons her and seeks out no contact, she refers to her as "Max's little girl" (Max apparently being one of My Secret Agent Lover Man's names), showing she has nothing to do with her.
Witch Baby and Cherokee are sisters in every sense except only possibly biologically (it's purposely unclear who Cherokee's biological father is and it could be My Secret Agent Lover Man, which would make them biological half-sisters), but they are only referred to as "almost-sisters." Given the beautiful way found family and "nontraditional" family is embraced in these books, it's really disappointing to see biology prioritized as "real".
In Witch Baby, Witch Baby asks Weetzie and My Secret Agent Lover Man who she is. He tells her the story about meeting Vixanne Wigg and her abandonment, including this:
"But you're mine, Witch Baby. Not only because I love you but because you are a part of me. I'm your real father."
"And we all love you as if you were our real child," Weetzie added. "Dirk and Duck and I. You belong to all of us." (pgs 131 and 132)
This holds until as children do, Witch Baby taunts Cherokee about not knowing who her "real dad" is. Cherokee is distraught and seeks clarification:
"Witch says I'm a brat mat because I have three dads!"
My Secret Agent Lover Man took her in his arms. "Cherokee, you've known about that all your life. Why you so upset now?"
"Because Witch says you're her real dad. I want one real dad if she has one."
"Honey-honey," Weetzie said, "My Secret Agent Lover Man is Witch Baby's real dad, but you get to live with your real dad and two other dads even if you aren't sure which is which. Witch Baby doesn't even get to meet her real mom. Think what that must be like."
Cherokee stopped crying and caught a tear in her mouth. She snuggled between My Secret Agent Lover Man and Weetzie, her hair mingling with Weetzie's in one shade of blonde.
None of them knew that Witch Baby was hiding in the doorway and that she heard everything.
I'll meet my real mom! she told herself. I'll have two real parents and I'll know who I am more than Cherokee knows who she is. (pgs 135)
While this sets up the action for Witch Baby to meet her biological mother, why on earth were the two girls not simply sisters with four real parents (three dads and one mother) from the beginning? They're shown to be raised by all four adults, and a real parent is the parent who does the parenting, not provides the biology. This makes a difference since given the book's progressive stance on a number of other issues, adoption and adopted children being treated so regressively is actively harmful, particularly when one of the couples raising the girls is a same-gender one.
In Missing Angel Juan, Witch Baby is photographing New York City the way she photographed Los Angeles and comes across two beautiful women and a little girl, and realizes that they're a couple, and that one of the mothers is trans (given the described red hair and the location, this might be a crossover with the family I remember from Girl Goddess #9):
Across the courtyard are two tall beautiful lankas and a little girl. The little girl has red pigtails and freckles, wide apart amber-colored eyes and gaps between her teeth. She looks just like one of the lanks. She keeps getting up from her chair and running around the tree squealing at the fireflies. The lankas take turns chasing after her, catching her, hugging her and sitting her down again, trying to get her to eat her rice. There is something about the three of them eating their dinner under the firefly tree that burns inside of me more than the food burning my mouth. They keep touching each other and laughing, sharing their tandoori chicken.
The red-haired lanka notices I'm staring at them and she smiles at me. She has the same gap-tooth grin as the little girl. Her friend gets up to catch the little girl who is off in another firefly frenzy.
I'm feeling sort of high from the hot food. "Can I take your picture?" Usually I don't ask-- just do it-- but it seems like with them I should.
"It's okay with me." Her voice is deep and rich like the ambery color of her eyes. "Honey," she says to the other one, "she wants to take our picture. Grab Miss Pigtails."
The friend has black hair and a diamond in her nose. She comes back with Miss Pigtails squirming in her arms. That squirmy-wormyness reminds me of me when I was little but I never giggled like that. The lankas put their arms around each other and the little girl wriggles in between them, still giggling. Through my camera lens I see their love even more. It's almost like a color. It's like a firefly halo. I also see that one of the lanks is beautiful in the strong way that only real androgynous ones are. she has really broad shoulders and long muscles and glamster legs. She laughs with a deep voice and if you look close you can see an Adam's apple.
I think one was probably once a man. That little girl's mom was probably once her dad. But it doesn't matter because she is about the happiest kid I've ever seen. (pgs 317 and 318)
NOTE: "Lanka" is an invented word by Block that apparently means in context of when she uses it in the books "an otherworldly beautiful woman."
While there's a lot wrong here (dated misgendering "probably once a man"; "probably once her dad", surgery/appearance speculation) and it definitely should be explained (particularly to someone who might not know why that's wrong), it's absolutely revolutionary to show, even in passing, a same-gender couple raising a child, let alone a trans parent, let alone in a positive light, let alone in a young adult novel intended for kids in 1993. For context, in the country where this was first set and published, the United States, this is when the subject of gay adoption was just barely heating up, same-gender marriage was absolutely not legal yet and wouldn't achieve legality in exactly one state for over another decade, and "transgender" wasn't yet in the public lexicon, and you'd be hard-pressed to even find it in Queer publications.
That's what I mean about critical fandom. It's nuanced.
Final Grade: A
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