This is a very unusual book- even for Francesca Lia Block. It is fantasy novel with magic, but it is also a "civilization collapsed" kind of book. Some themes you'll find: environmentalism, antimaterialism, magic, acceptance of aging, anti-drugs, guilt over being gay etc.
Meaty, unless you're familiar with her other books, which consist of the exact same themes.

It is lyrical, sometimes too wordy (yes I know that most people love her for that very reason).

Lots of different plots, but ,sorry to say, not a very strong plot over all. Love, magic.

I would recomend getting it at the library before splurging. It's interesting and unusual, but not excellent. Primavera is better, so is I was a teenage faery.

this book is incredible,unbelievable. highly, highly recommended.

This was possibly the most difficult book I ever tried to find. But I doubt I could have picked one more worth the trouble! As a huge Francesca Lia Block fan for years now, I've always heard of these 2 impossible to find books, Ecstasia & Primavera. Finally I located them this past December.

Block has always crafted her words into beautiful modern day fairy tales of love and music but never has it created such a enchanting result as with this novel. I think part of the reason is because she completely creates a new world... one of carnivals, music, love, and youth. But there is also a scary flip side to this world. One that the 4 lead characters are struggling to accept.

If you are a Block fan and have yet to read these 2 novels you should really, look into them. I think they are essential reading of the authors.

The book is about a boy coming to terms with the fact that he is gay. Or rather, that he wishes the world could come to terms with this. Fair enough. But is it too much to ask that a book be grammatically correct and that syntax and diction make sense? Yes, I can understand that dealing with a "different" sexual orientation in a world that is mostly intolerant and abusive is hard, and that there are worse sins than choppy incoherent sentences. And please do both of us (you and me) a favor and do not accuse me of being homophobic, because I am not. Trust me, I am no more merciful than this with heterosexual protagonists.

There are just plain too many teenager-aimed books nowadays that have this sort of choppy, half-conscious, half-delirious, not quite stream of consciousness style (if you can call it that) of writing. It's been done so often, starting from years ago, that it is no longer shocking, surprising, dynamic, breathtaking, etc. It's just bad writing. I'll have to disagree with any of the reviews on this page that say that Block's writing is beautiful imagery or prose, etc. It's not.

There are a great many coming-of-age books that deal with people and sexuality that actually have intelligence and heart, and still manage to have good grammar and sentences that flow logically from one to the next. Read one of those instead.

This is the fifth book of the 'Weetzie Bat' stories by Ms. Block. It is really a prequel to the first book, and tells the story of Weetzie's best friend, Dirk. He knows he is 'different' (why is that so feared?) because he likes boys, and he doesn't want to be afraid. He wants to be strong and find someone who is strong, too. But he is unsure of himself. He falls in love with Pup and they are inseparable. They do daring things to show off how brave they are, but Pup is ultimately a coward and, though he loves Dirk, he cannot handle all that involves in such a hate-filled society. Dirk is alone, and his oddysey of discovery and cleansing really begins when he stands up to, and is beaten by, some swastika-wearing skinheads. In his delirium, Dirk meets his dead father, mother, and great-grandmother and they tell their stories to each other. The sharing is healing to them all. We love Dirk for his beauty and heart, and he can love who he is without fear. Duck Drake, who we have met in book one, is looking at the same sky, dreaming of meeting Dirk. This little book is a treasure. Full of poetry and light.

I love Baby Be Bop because it beautifully confronts a subject that most people are afraid to touch. Lia Block describes the struggle of a boy from L.A., during what is assumed to be recent times, and how he is having trouble coming to terms with his homosexuality. My favorite aspect of Lia Block's writing is her avante-garde description. I am normally a person who hates reading, but I was unable to put down Baby Be Bop, as well as the preceeding four books of the Weetzie Bat series. The entire Weetzie Bat series is outstanding but only those who can appreciate the subject matter will get a full appreciation of it.

This was the first book I have read by Francesca Lia Block, but definitely not the last. I admit, it was the cover that initially drew me to and encouraged me to buy the book, but once I began reading it, I felt I couldn't stop. The tale of the fiery pixie named Mab and the sullen model named Barbie pulled me in like a tornado, swirling me around and around in a mass of vivid images and descriptions. Block complimented all teenagers by including real-life issues in the book that other teen books leave out because the issues seem "inappropriate." "I was a Teenage Fairy" told of Barbie's maturization into her own sexuality and the overcoming of cases of sexual abuse.

I only have one critism of this book, and that is that the ending was filled with too much "fluff", as my English teacher would say. There was so much grit in the book, real-life problems and such, but the end wrapped everything up by Barbie formulating this unrealistic strategy to finally get revenge on the pedophile photographer who molested her as a child. It didn't make much sense to me, I guess. A better way to have ended the book could have been to have more of a reconciliation between Barbie and her mother, but I'm not Block, so it's not up to me.

Overall though, this book was very entertaining and a worthwhile read. Go out and buy it today

First of all, if you have read Francesca Lia Block's other books, don't expect that sort of writing here. Granted, it has the same descriptions of places you would kill to go to, but that's about where the similarities end.

This book is more of a gritty Y/A novel than a fantasy, ie Weetzie Bat. It's the story of Barbie, a young girl haunted by her burn-out was-model mother, who wants Barbie to be to be a model so badly, she will go to any lengths to ensure it. So along comes Mab, a pinkie-size fairy with fuschia hair, who is Barbie's best friend, guidance counselor and, on occasion, psychiatrist! She is the best part of a fantastic book.

Yes, I liked this book. I loved this book. I will read this book until the end of time!

I WAS A TEENAGE FAIRY was the first book i read by Francesca Lia Block, and i could not put it down.

Though i thought the title a bit obscure, in my opinion it would have been beter called I WAS A TEENAGER WHO KNEW A FAIRY. But besides this minor detail i loved it.

A tragic tale of dark secrets, eternal love, exotic sex, and a dash of fantasy. Barbie is a young 11-year-old living in San Fernando Valley with her mother and father. At first it confused me with what the author was saying in the beginning, as if wondering about her story in her mind before telling it. Barbie's father leaves after Mrs. Marks brings Barbie home from a makeover looking like a prostitute. But previous to his sudden absence Mab had arrived from the stars after a fight.

Throughout the book i was confused between whether Mab was a phycological thing or real, but later on in the story i thought her most certainly real. Even though only Barbie and Griffen were the only in the group able to see her, and they were the only two raped as children.

The only reason i bought this book was because of the word FAIRY in the title, and myself being the fantasy addicted reader i am, picked it up.

Even though it was a surprise when i started reading it, i would still recomemd this to any reader, whether you love drama, fantasy, mystery, literature, thriller, horror, science ficton or any other type of style, you should read this book.

I picked up a copy of Violet & Claire at Barnes & Noble and as I was reading the back of the book, I thought, "Hmmm, this book sounds like it might be cool." It was my first Francesca Lia Block book and as I read it, I couldn't help but love her writing style. Everything is in so much detail and it makes the whole book seem a little like poetry. However, as much as I liked her writing, the book left me a little disappointed by the end.

I started reading the book, and really began to like it; about Violet and her movies, and then meeting Claire with her tinkerbell shirt and wings. Everything throughout the book describing Violet & Claire and their friendship was great, but I think all the other crazy things going on in between it were a little too confusing for me to follow sometimes.

Don't get me wrong, if you are a FLB fan, definatley read this. You will probably like it. But, don't buy it if you haven't tried any of Block's other books. I am thinking of getting the Dangerous Angels books b/c I hear that is her best work. I won't let my opinion of this book affect my opinion of FLB though, because she is a really good writer, and everyone should read something by her.

I read 'Violet and Claire' immediately after finishing 'I Was a Teenage Fairy' and 'Dangerous Angels', two of my favorite Francesca Lia Block books. Although I did find the screenplay style of Violet's chapter and the poetic feeling of Claire's chapter to be very interesting, the two characters did not hold my attention as much as Mab, Weetzie, and Witch Baby had. The relationship between the two girls didn't seem as genuine and relatable as others Block has written about. Extremely disappointed, I moved onto other of Block's books and didn't pick 'Violet and Claire' up again until a few years later. Maybe I wasn't expecting that much, but I enjoyed this book so much more during the second read. Although the characters (especially Violet) are different from Block's usual, out-there dreamy people, that makes them all the more interesting. There is a reality in this book that is sometimes lacking on Block's other works (that lack of reality isn't necessarily a bad thing; it's just interesting to see her stray from her usual style). My favorite will always be 'Dangerous Angels', but eventually I came to enjoy 'Violet and Claire' as well.

I read this book when I was sort of in a slump of mediocre reading. I really wanted something that would hold my attention and pique my senses. VIOLET&CLAIRE did just that. It is the story of two girls who seem very different yet have a similar essence, a quality which ties their fates together. Violet is dark and moody, ambitious and practical; Claire is light-hearted and delicate, innocent and dreamy. Violet dreams of escaping from the mundane life of a seventeen year-old which is her present lot, through making a movie. Claire has images of a secret race of faeries, who are gentle and kind and light as air. She writes poetry. Attracted to Claire's poetic visions and sympathetic to her ostracism from her peers, Violet asks Claire to star in her movie.

Things take a drastic turn, shifting dream to reality, when Violet and Claire attend a rock concert and get to go backstage and meet the band's sexy lead singer. Impressed by Violet, the two of them have a fling, and then he gives her his agent's number. Violet soon has a job working for the agent. She finds herself having less and less time for Claire, who pleads with her to come back to her so they can write poetry together. When a sadistic and sudden tragedy occurs, Violet finds that everything she has hoped for is falling into her hands. Yet if this is so, why is she so miserable. Claire, too, is falling apart, and has a fling with an older teacher at a poetry workshop. Ultimately, it is only through vice and destruction, while maintaining a genuine connection and a desire to save one another, that Claire and Violet can find their way back to one another and have ultimate peace.

This book starts out in a screenplay format with Violet giving a director's description of how a scene will open. From there, half of it is narrated in Violet's voice, the second half in Claire's. As always, Block proves herself to be glittering and mysterious in her prose. Yet this novel seems to have more plot than some of her others, such as THE HANGED MAN did. Parts are a bit confusing: you will find yourself wondering what really did happen the night Violet went alone to her agent's office to work late. There is a twisting, circular sort of scene where you are wondering did or didn't Claire's poetry instructor have a fling with Violet? The party scenes are dangerous yet great. As always, Block opens herself to the lifestyles of others.

VIOLET&CLAIRE is a must-read about friendship, pain, and the true meaning of success. And if you are a Block fan, my only question is why you haven't read this already?

When I first started reading weetzie bat I thought it was an incredibly strange story. However, once I got into it I realized it was different from any thing I've ever read and I got hooked. Although it is a short book, Francesca Lia Block makes it feel like a full novel. I haven't had the chance to continue to read on with the following books, but I hope Weetzie, Duck, Dirk, My secret agent lover man, cherokee, and Witch baby are still living their wierd lives. I would recomend this book to any one who enjoys reading about different lifestyles and wierd families.

This book is one of the most original I've ever read! I'm a huge fan of Block's writings and I was really excited to read Weetzie Bat which has been called her best and most interesting book. So I read it. If you don't read this book you're missing out!

It's about Weetzie Bat who meets Dirk. But it's not what you would expect. Dirk is gay and longs for his perfect "duck." Weetzie and Dirk are best friends and when Dirk's Grandma Fifi gives Weetzie a magic lamp with a genie that's when things get interesting.

Weetzie is granted 3 wishes. She wishes for Dirk a "duck" and that's just what he gets. She wishes for herself a Secret Agent Lover Man and thats what she gets. And she wishes for a house for them all to live in. Then theres news that Grandma Fifi has passed away and left them the house.

Then Weetzie wants a baby. I'm not gonna say anymore! You need to read this book yourself! It is one of the best I've ever read! You're in for a read of your life!

This book would interest anyone who has ever truly enjoyed a fairy tale but longs for an origional plot twist. Block combines modern day hecticness with prose-like imagery, relatable characters, and mystical occurances to create a magical tale unlike any other. Though some will complain that this book contains rediculously relaxed morality, the crazy love triangles are just as unbelivable as the genie that grants Weetzie her three wishes. So I suggest that those of you who like to tear stories apart because they are "offensive" not read it. But if you enjoy it and find that you haven't had enough I personally recomend Witch Baby and Baby Be-Bop because they elaborate on some of Blocks most interesting characters.

Had I not read all of Francesca Lia Block's books before Echo, I would have been very impressed with Echo. It's extremely creative and well-written, involving issues of loss, love, and finding onseself through triumphs and trials. However, the characters (particularly Eden and Smoke) did not hold my attention like Weetzie Bat and Witch Baby did. They did not seem to be as sympathetic, caring, or real. I think one of Block's strengths is that she manages to maintain real, relatable characters despite use of magical realism. I think that quality was missing in Echo. This doesn't make it a bad book by any means; but because I had read Dangerous Angels and other Block novels before Echo, I was somewhat disappointed.

I chose to read this book because the title caught my eye and the first chapter's phrasing gripped me from the start. Francesca Lia Block has a noticeably melodious phrasing style, and that makes whatever she writes seem real, whether it's vampires, fairies, mermaids, or angels. I love her world and I have grown to love it even more as I have graduated into her other books, I Was a Teenage Fairy and yes, inevitably, Weetzie Bat.
This story is of a girl named Echo (what a pretty name!). She has grown up with an mother so beautiful that she might just be an angel, and a father who gradually began to ignore her because he was wrapped up with his love for his wife. After some trying events at home, Echo goes away to find better things and ends up in a world that I, the fantasy fan, have a hard time imagining. Like many readers, I found the book a bit hard to follow because of changes in narration, but I think if you read it with a clear mind and give it all your attention when you read, you will find it easier to handle.

Echo tells the story of a girl and all the people around her in a beautiful writing that is purely Block's style. Echo is a girl who is convinced that she is not very pretty and the only things she has talent in is evil. But that proves to be wrong when series of tests in love, friendship, and death face her. Through this heart-filled painful period Echo learns from her mistakes and how to look towards the future. This book tells her story.

WHen I picked this up I was a little iffy about it. WHile I do enjoy Francasca Lia Block's wiritng style I either love her books, or could do with out them. THis book was not a dissapointment for me. The story is wonderful, symbolic, and poetic. I'd love to read more by Block. I reccomend this to anyone who dosen't mind strange but entertaining tales and who's a fan of Blocks writing.

On another note.... Peace and prayers to all the victims of the recent plane accident. My heart is with everyone affected.

I read this book on the basis of the rave reviews here. Frankly, I was disappointed. I found it tediously self-indulgent and self-absorbed. She goes on and on and ON about how enraptured she is with her bambina, and yet every now again she lets slip something like how "they lost their regular sitter" when the baby was nine months old. A sitter! Yet she has said over and over how incredibly attached and preoccupied whe is with this infant! In that way she reminds me of the aunt in Proust's Swann's Way who claimed she never ever slept and yet would sometimes forget and say something about waking up or nodding off, or of a dream she had had.

Block is so totally focused on her feelings and her body that in some ways the baby is almost incidental to the story.

With only a quick glance at the title, GUARDING THE MOON: A Mother's First Year, it is easy to imagine Francesca Lia Block's latest book as a guide for parents of newborns. But inside the cover is instead a beautiful, poetic and often brutally honest memoir of a first time mother's love for her baby and a record of her journey to self-love and emotional fulfillment.

GUARDING THE MOON is a chronicle of Block's first year of motherhood: her joys, fears, anxieties and discoveries. Beginning at the moment she gives birth --- when she welcomes her daughter into the world --- and ending with the baby's first birthday, this slender volume is intimate and powerful. Block always wanted children, but barriers seemed to meet her at every turn. When she brings her healthy baby to term, after previously miscarrying, the responsibility she feels for her daughter (both physical and emotional) is overwhelming and awesome --- as overwhelming and awesome as if she had been chosen to guard the moon.

While, for the most part, the book is about one woman's emotional, physical and spiritual reaction to becoming a mother, it is also about community and family. Block is supported in her first year as a mother by her loving husband and mother, surrounded by friends and adored by her two dogs. All of them contribute to her experience and story.

Still, at the center of this literary celebration are Block and her daughter, also affectionately known as Babela, Kewpie, Moon Girl and Girly-Swirl, to mention just a few pet names. In the beginning, they are dependant on each other as frame of reference; the mother is the baby's world, the baby is the mother's moon. But, over the course of the year, they both begin to expand their universe. The baby faces new challenges and the mother begins to explore new personal possibilities and even imagines more babies. Each grows stronger and wiser.

GUARDING THE MOON is really about creation and transformation --- the creation of one life and the transformation of another. Block shares much of her own troubled emotional past, her feelings of self-doubt and eating disorder. Becoming a mother does not erase or change the things that made her sad in the past, but it does give her a new and healthier perspective. Her body, once a vessel of pain and self-scorn, is now a giver and sustainer of life, loved unconditionally by her daughter.

Just in time for Mother's Day, Block's book is a perfect gift. And, while it does discuss the mundane details that are included in most parenting books, such as diapers, lack of sleep and baby food, it also discusses family dynamics, marital intimacy, unexpected pleasures and pains of motherhood --- all written like a love letter, reading like a poem. GUARDING THE MOON is incredibly intimate and intensely spiritual. It is a unique contribution to parenting books and an important one. Block does not speak for all new mothers but shares her story in such a moving way that makes it highly readable and recommendable.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Egelman

At first when I heard about this book, I didn't think it'd be as good as her others because it wasn't fiction, but being that Francesca Lia Block is my favorite author, I bought it anyway. I read the whole thing last night, and I don't have any problem admitting that I was completely wrong about my first assumption. This book is her best yet. It's so touching the way she talks about her daughter and her new life as a mother. It's deffinately a book you want to own a copy of.

i love francesca, i'm proud to be one of the many in her cult following, and i was so excited to read this book when i got it, despite the bad things i'd heard about it. i didn't believe it could be true, but this book is definitely lacking.
first off, it's the same wonderful flowery francesca prose, but then she gets to the sex parts and it's almost like the vulgarity is forced. she doesnt even make an attempt to make the sex poetic.
my advice is to get this only if you love francesca, just to read it because it's her. but otherwise, save your money to get one of her other books, like echo or weetzie bat.

I've read other online reviews of this book and find that most of them are misguiding on behalf of the fact that they're written by teenagers, expecting teen angst, but who aren't even sophisticated enough to know what "erotica" means.

Erotica = erotic fiction, ie: fiction consisting of graphic sex.

Don't misjudge this book without reading it for yourself. Frankly, I think that this has been what FLB has been wanting to write for quite some time, but hadn't been able to for one reason or another. I have read every book by FLB sans Primavera, and find sex to be common ground for her. It's in the Weetzie Bat books, I was a Teenage Fairy, Violet & Claire, The Hanged Man, Ecstasia, Girl Goddess #9, The Rose and the Beast, Echo -- in all of these she shows sex to be a form of healing, and that's exactly what Nymph is about: healing through passionate love. If this concept evades your comprehension, I wouldn't recommend this book to you; otherwise, I think this is an exceptional book that deserves higher recognition and praise than Miss Block is receiving.

Francesca Lia Block, known for her writing in the young adult genre, has created Nymph, a lush collection of erotic short stories for adults. Using the same fairytale ideals as her previous novels and borrowing from Ovid's Metamorphoses, Block uses transformation, myth and magic to intertwine each tale. Block's prose evokes images bathed in purple and green, full and sensual. The actual sex portrayed in the work is effective enough, but the true sensuality exists in the way she tells the stories.

Each tale relies on the belief that sex, desire and love have the power to alter a person's life. In some cases this transformation is a positive, life affirming experience. In Mer we encounter a mysterious mermaid with the power of the ocean behind her to invigorate a fading surfer. Milagro introduces us to Plum, who discovers that she is bestowed with the gift of helping lovers find their true loves. This revelation comes through an intimate encounter with her best friend Santiago, who realizes he likes boys afterwards. Plum returns again in Nymph. This time she sleeps with her friend Sylvie in order to free Sylvie from the string of punk rock losers she keeps bringing home.

However, not all is rosy when it comes to desire. As we all know the power of sex has an evil side. Goddess brings us to a strip club in which the women literally are transformed into grotesque goddesses with wings and feline features for the pleasure of one man. We are told the spell may be broken through love, but soon learn love is not a panacea. Death also lingers in the background of some of the tales, fully rearing its head in Milk and again emerging in Plum.

Allow your children to read these stories with parental discretion. Current day authors like the ones mentioned in the review are liberals with an agenda that is both immoral and anti-traditional family. I can't vouch for all the stories listed because I have not read them. However, I have read works by quite of few of the authors listed and they do not support conservative ideology. "Scout's Honor" by Avi is in my child's 6th grade "literature" textbook. The so-called comedy is about three arrogant Boy Scouts that earn a badge by lying, cheating and stealing. This story not only depicts the Boy Scouts in a bad light - has anyone heard about their pro-traditional family stand which they took recently - but it promotes the path of the ends justifying the means.

The original tales presented in this book are actual memories of childhood penned by notable children's book authors. Although most of the stories have 8-10 year-olds as their protagnonists, they deal with emotions and predicaments more easily understood, I think, by slightly older children.

Pre-teenage can be such an awkward time; these tales can be healing/instructive to those in this time of life. The authors all have written beautiful stories which really should not be missed. And, as an extra special "gift" to the reader, each story is followed by a one-page explanation/note written by the tale's author. It's a relief to realize that each author not only survived growing up, but also flourished. And I loved being allowed to share private memories of these marvelous authors.

As a great fan of Katherine Paterson, I was especially touched by her story, which involved her older, prettier sister. Perhaps even more revealing, however, is the note she wrote to accompany this story. I am sure that the feelings here expressed were the souce of her poignantly beautiful novel "Jacob Have I Loved." (Great for girls age 12 and up.)

This book also provided an introduction (at least for me) to several authors with whom I was not familiar; I look forward to reading more by them.

I am a 40-something, well-educated mom. I bought this book for my own family, but I will be purchasing more copies to give as gifts. And I look forward to the sequel to this book, already in print!