Beautiful book. Lyrical prose with a powerful economy of words that had me weeping numerous times. The story is both of the time it was published (late 90s) and also timeless. I do wish that Dirk's story wasn't sidelined in the second half of the book, but the story's theme of learning about your past to accept your present and plan your future is a strong one.

WHat a fantastic book!!And guess what?!!! This is NOT the last Weetzie Bat book like I thought. THere's a 6th one out there and a Pre-quel in the works. (I saw it is supposed to be released next August)Baby Be-Bop is Dirk's story. We met Dirk in the 1st book. I originally thought that Dirk was going to be Weetzie's love interest. I think Weetzie thought that too. But no.. Dirk was meant for Duck :)This was a very unique story. It was very very Francesca Lia Block!! I've read a few of her books a...

With the three deaths that have happened recently, young people driven beyond the brink from being bullied due to their homosexuality, I was glad when I picked up the final book in the Dangerous Angels series. It gave me some hope.Baby Be-Bop is a prequel of sorts to Weetzie Bat and tells the story of Dirk McDonald throughout his childhood and entering into adolescence. This is a coming out story of the first order. Dirk realizes from a very young age that he is different and later realizes that...

Francesca Lia Block is one of my favorite writers of all time--not just as a young adult or children's author but of all genres. She write in a style that is thickly descriptive, flavored for all of the sense and filled with a sense of innocence with darkness of reality twisted in.It was actually with Block how I figured out why I liked the young adult genre so much--when it comes to most "adult" novels--outside the genres of romance or horror or mystery--there is a world weariness that usually

Another of my favorite books, for which there are simply not enough stars. A moving prose poem full of beautiful images and truly human pain and hope, a book about finding yourself, losing love, and holding fast to family. A story about how everyone has a story. Just lovely. Can't recommend it enough.

This is one of top five books. Of all the Weetzie Bat books this one was my favorite. It has one of the best ending I ever read in a book. It one of the books I turn to when I need comfort. The style of the author is not for everyone but, I love it.

A story of healing, coming out, turning in, magic, tears, and fireflies. I cannot get enough of these stories.

Once again I find myself struggling with the finer points of what is, essentially, a really beautiful book. The imagery is just delicious and the overall message is right on. But....The main character's "solution" to finding himself is magic. Not like he learns to be a magician, but an actual magic lamp that shows him things to help him figure himself out. That won't work for the rest of us. If the book wasn't so rooted in the "real world" until that point, I think it would be easier for the rea...

And thus concludes my journey with the Weetzie Bat series, minus the prequel. I liked this book a lot; it night be my favorite after the original. I was hoping to hear more about Dirk and Pup, but Pup was barely mentioned. It was almost like he was a placeholder, a plot device for Dirk's sexuality. I was a bit disappointed and confused.Block is a good author, but after reading 5 of her books almost back-to-back, it's apparent that prose is her strong suit. Character development, plot, conflict--...

Absolutely poetic book! Some lines in this book really knocked me out of my seat, they were so beautiful. I'm a sucker for authors who write nature really well, and Francesca Lia Block transported me into the perfect California evenings where her book takes place. The story was very much secondary to the prose, and it lagged in places, particularly right at the end of Part 1. However, if you like your Gay YA with a side of poetry, this is very much the book for you!

After reading all five books in the Weetzie Bat series over the course of a few days, I felt lost in the same LA daze that Weetzie and her friends seem to exist in, and while I enjoyed the message of this book (something lacking in the others, even in my favorite of the five, "Witch Baby"), the plot was difficult to follow and some themes were so subtle that they could hardly be pointed at. Not awful, but of the Weetzie Bat books, not necessarily the one I'd keep at my bedside.

The first time I read this book was in the late 90s or early 2000s as part of the Dangerous Angels anthology when I was probably way too young to understand all its pieces and plots. It was my first memory of encountering lgbt anything and had always held a special place in my heart.It holds up. So good.

This was kinda different from the others, even though the stories were still fucked up in a strange way there were so many of them crammed into this one that they didn't have time to get too disturbing. Yaay, love always wins, still, don't do drugs.

Touching prequel that focuses on Dirk and Duck.

4.5 stars. Holds up the best out of all of the Weetzie Bat series. Magical realism-infused coming out story. This is the book they should be turning into a movie.

Less narrative than the rest of the Dangerous Angels series, hard to say how it fits in with the Dirk we see as Weetzie's best friend.

While not as good as its predecessors, this is an important read for Weetzie fans. It is the most sad and grounded in reality.

This is the last book that I read in this series. I really didn't like this one at all.

The story opens up with Dirk as a child playing with his toys, and telling his grandmother Fifi, that all the men were taking showers. And that’s when he knew that he liked boys romantically, much to his grandmothers’ worries. Then it moves on to tell how Dirk is a big fan of James Dean, likes working-out, getting A’s in school, and keeping to himself in case someone got suspicious about his sexuality. The story speaks of Dirk’s home life with Fifi, and her cottage house with a chocolate frosti

Please note: this book appears to be unavailable as a standalone version. However, it has been collected with all the Weetzie Bat books in Block'sDangerous Angels, which is still in print."Our stories can set us free, Dirk thought. When we set them free."Dirk McDonald has a secret, a dark secret that he thinks will destroy him if he tells the world. Yet others can sense what he's trying to hide, and one night their hatred erupts into violence, leaving Dirk brutally beaten and taking him on a mag...

Baby Be-Bop is the story of Dirk McDonald, a young man in L.A. who has always known that he was gay but has to hide that part of himself. Having been orphaned at a young age, he lives with his grandmother Fifi but fears that she will judge him for loving boys if he ever revealed his secret. Dirk arms himself by adopting the punk culture. When he shaves his hair into a blue mohawk, dons the leather jacket and hits the clubs, he looks too tough to mess with, even if someone did guess his secret. B...

The book take place during the late civil rights movement. Dirk the boy who try to find his own identity. Which he grow up with his grandmother and her grandma's best friend. I feel like Dirk has been influence by her grandma's best friends, who are gay. He want to find out who his father and mother are. He did so will in school. The one who can stand out in school and favor by many people. But he also find out himself is gay too. He knew that society can not except the fact but he can not help

Book review: Baby Be-Bop Baby be-bop by Francesca Lia Block is about Dirk McDonald life, he lived with his grandmother fifi in a little gingerbread house in Hollywood. The main characters where Dirk, fify(grandmother) where the big main characters, there where some smaller main characters to, they are Pup, Duck and Bam-Bam. The plot developed when Dirk meet Pup in a tree,"as Dirk walked home from school he heard a whistle, and he looked up into an olive tree. In the branches sat a boy. He had br...

5Q 3P (my codes)Electric language, shimmering imagery, and fantastical optimism. Francesca's prose glitters and pulses with the energy of the raves frequented by Dirk. There's a rhythm to her sentences that captivates the reader, in this heartbreaking story of unaccepted love and desperate longing for acceptance and love. Dirk is a teenage boy who lives with his ethereal grandmother "in her cottage with the steep chocolate frosting roof, the birdbath held by a nymph, and the seven stone dwarfs i...

I vaguely remember reading Weetzie Bat when I was in high school...I especially remember one of my friends thinking it was one of the greatest books ever written and I more or less agreed, but I remember absolutely nothing of it now. I don't even think I have it marked as read on GR!This book stands alone though, which is good because I don't remember anything about Dirk. I'll probably pick up Weetzie Bat again, because I like Block's style of writing. It's like if an optimistic hippie designed

Just like with the first four Weetzie Bat books, Baby Be-Bop is short, so my review will be too. And just like the other Weetzie Bat books, this one is written in a lyrical, dream-like style. I read the first five Weetzie Bat books back-to-back-to-back, so by the time I reached Baby Be-Bop I was totally used to the language.Baby Be-Bop is told from Dirk's point of view. What makes it unique is that it's a flashback; it's Dirk's memories; instead of stream-of-consciousness in-the-moment like the

This is probably my second favorite "Dangerous Angels" book, after Weetzie Bat, of course. I love how we get glimpses into each character. It makes me feel so much closer to them. I think Block's novels get deeper as time goes on, and this one was so emotional and beautiful.This one is a Weetzie prequel about her best friend Dirk and how he struggled as a closeted gay teen in high school (before he met his fabulous BFF). I love the California that Block portrays. It is always a grungey, glittery...

As a teen, Dirk knew he was "supposed" to like girls, and didn't get why he seemed to like boys instead. Is it a phase, like his grandmother thinks? Or is there another option for boys who like boys? Through a series of painful experiences and confusion about what others expect, Dirk takes us through his first relationship with a guy, some of his family observations, and a wide spectrum of flowery anecdotes about the world as a whole.I like that Block really nailed the shame and confusion here,

I think I may be (finally) venturing into these books in a non-traditional order, but this was the only one the Chicago Public Library had for my kindle okaaaay?There was a lot to like here. So much, in fact, that I threw my jet-lag recovery plan out the window and stayed up into the wee hours reading this in one go. It did indeed feel like a prequel to a story I hadn't read, but I didn't have any trouble sinking into this nineties-tastic world with its magic and its great names. Definitely one

This is a perfectly good book, but it suffers in comparison to the fourth book in the sequence/series. I did like the focus on salvation through telling one's own story, and the idea that learning and incorporating our ancestor's stories is an important part of finding our own. I suspect it'd seem much stronger read on its own instead of immediately after Missing Angel Juan.