"'My pain is ugly, Angel Juan. I feel like I have so much ugly pain,' says Witch Baby in a dream. 'Everyone does,' Angel Juan says. 'My mother says that pain is hidden in everyone you see. She says try to imagine it like big bunches of flowers that everyone is carrying around with them. Think of your pain like a big bunch of red roses, a beautiful thorn necklace. Everyone has one.'"This is leaps and bounds beyond Weetzie Bat in terms of plot and characterization and, like its predecessor, reads

Witch Baby is one of the best unlikable protagonists ever. She's angry, mean, and super furious at injustice. She can't communicate her feelings, and no one really understands her. But she has a heart of violet gold, and this book continues the fantastical writing of Francesca Lia Bloch. I love it so much.

I don't that I can really say much about this book. It always makes me cry. Every. Single. Time. I don't know what t is, but seeing the world through tilty purple eyes and feeling the overwhelming sadness and loneliness Witch Baby has always raises a lump in my throat, tear tracks in my pillow, and a dull ache in my heart. Everyone is so caught up in their own world and lives, they ignore a very special, very soulfully little witch baby who wants to find her place. My favorite/the worst part is

Pretty sure this was my fave in the series 20 years ago. Better than Weetzie Bat but still loses major points for its weird fetishistic treatment of Native Americans and their culture. If you can put that aside though (not that you have to), the story of alienation and not feeling like one belongs anywhere is one that resonates. And this book does touch on some bigger social issues - queer coming out & acceptance, immigration and deportation.

If ever there was a book that captured the essence of what it feels like to be estranged from family or, worse, to feel as though you've never belonged anywhere, it's Witch Baby. There's not a lot I can say about Francesca's stories that I haven't said before. Witch Baby is unique, it's lyrical, and the heart of the characters leaps off the page and grabs you by the throat (but in a good way). This is a flawless sequel to Weetzie Bat. Whether reading this as an adolescent or an adult, this novel...

What I learned from this book?Everything.

This was a cute book. I liked it very much. I need to find a bat shaped backpack, like Witch Baby.

Francesca Lia Block's books are sweet fairy tales, but sometimes that's all they are for me. I can't take some of the hipster Native American cultural appropriation stuff seriously, and when the topic of Mexican immigrants came up, I was worried about how it would be portrayed in such a surreal book. But Block dealt with the topic in a mature way that was also accessible to teenagers who may have undocumented friends and loved ones but may not understand the circumstances of the situation.I have...

The writing in this book was a big step up from Weetzie Bat and it was pretty emotionally engaging. Unfortunately, the way it talks about people of color is very fetishizing. Also, in the end everyone tells Witch Baby they shouldn’t have gotten mad at her for things she legitimately did wrong, a gay man even THANKS her for outing him. I think the author could’ve done a feel-good ending while still acknowledging Witch Baby’s mistakes.

i was going to read the series, but after 2 books i can't continue reading because of the immense cultural appropriation (seriously, is she legally required to mention something about headdresses or powwows or moccasins for the white characters every chapter or what?) and bordering-on-racist archetypes. i know this book was real important to many people i knew as they were growing up, but i see no real value in it besides showcasing a gay couple in a fairly non-shitty way.

Maybe it’s because I haven’t read FLB since I was a tween, but I could not get into this. FLB has a unique, lyrical, poetic voice, sure, and I get that this is supposed to be a ~modern day fairytale that addresses anxieties surrounding lgbtq culture, the environment, the search for belonging, etc., but I could not get past the weird racist stereotypes and ridiculous names.

In Witch Baby Francesca Lia Block really spreads her wings and finds her pace. Witch Baby is the second book in her Dangerous Angels series and is her sophomore novel. You really need to have read Weetzie Bat for Witch Baby to make any sense.Witch Baby is my favorite character in the whole crazy Bat family. She is a black sheep, an outsider, a loner. She doesn’t want to stick her head in the sand and forget about the troubles in the world, or pretend they don’t exist. She doesn’t try and use smo...

I loved the first Weetzie Bat book. It was so stylish and this California surfer greaser vibe. It was one of the first books in the early 90s with gay characters for a young adult audience. Now that is so normal that it isn't much of a big deal, but respect for the groundbreaker. This story follows Witch Baby, the daughter that was left on Weetzie and My Secret Agent Lover-Man's doorstep. They live in a house with several couples and Dirk and Duck are a gay couple. It's has a commune vibe. All t...

I liked this sequel to WEETZIE BAT even better than the first. I was talking to someone about Weetzie Bat and one of the main reasons she hated it and didn't continue to read the series because of the horrible, controversial topics that were glossed over. And I agreed with her...however, all those things made much more sense after reading this book. This was like an answer to Weetzie...a recognition that everyone was willingly ignoring the negative parts of life by smoothing it over and bedazzli...

Francesca Lia Block definitely has a style all her own, that's for sure. I've read some of her poetry and other works, so I have some context for how she operates. But, while this one has that same Hollywood glitz and underlying dangerous magic, it's so rife with cultural appropriation. Referring to someone as a "blonde Indian," wearing white suede, feather headdresses, and moccasins… just stop. If she's not Native, she's not Native. There are other positive portrayals, I suppose, like Duck and

MAGIC ITS ALL MAGIC ALL THE TIME

Witch Baby was the first of the Weetzie Bat series I read back in junior high. I have a soft spot for tangled, snarled hair that persists until this day, and a slight inferiority complex about both photography and playing the drums. Anyway, 20 years later, after I now know about Francesca Lia Block's struggles with an eating disorder, after I see the danger and weirdness of the positive racial stereotype characters in the book, I still can't help but love this book the most, because how could I

same problems with racial stereotypes and appropriation as last time.something people neglect to tell you when you're young is being the black sheep is highly overrated. reading this hits differently than the first time. even if everyone loves witch baby there are so many small microaggressions against her and the book is her dealing with her lack of identity. they don't even call her by her real name for gods sake. everyone gets better at the end but the entire book is how weird witch baby is i...

Like other reviewers have commented, the persistent cultural appropriation is uncomfortable and wrong and I wouldn't blame anyone for passing on this series because of it. But I can see why people like these books so much, there is a realer-than-real quality to these books because of how dream-like they are and there are real, emotional questions at the center (in this book; what do you do with all the pain in the world? with your own pain?) that are handled well.

“What time are we upon and where do I belong?”This sequel centers on the character I initially cared least about (I resented her very existence toward the end of Weetzie Bat) but it resonated with me emotionally in an unexpected way. This book somehow gets it- that snarled feeling deep in your chest of wanting love and not being able to ask for it, of feeling left out in a family of people who love you. If you’ve ever hidden and watched at a party, or been very young and jealous of the love that...