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 More...

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 More...

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 More...

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 More...

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 More...

I decided to read this one because of all the hype it's been getting in the Milwaukee area. When certain groups say "no one" should read something, it makes me want to read it. So,

The character relationships are realistic (at least as far as I can tell) and the descriptive setting floats off the page. The story begins in early-80s Los Angeles with Dirk and his grandmother, Fifi. Dirk is a closeted 15-year old too afraid to come out. He finds a boy, and the boy leaves. He finds the punk scene, wi More...

This entry in the Weetzie Bat series is all about Dirk, Weetzie's best friend. It's really refreshing to see a book for teenagers with gay characters who aren't shrill Bobby Trendy-esque stereotypes, but I never understood why so much of the plot is taken up with heterosexual love stories from Dirk's relatives and there's a really clumsy moment when the ghost of his great-grandmother (just go with it, it's Francesca Lia Block) says something about her mean dour spinster aunt forbidding her to da More...

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 More...

Age: 6th grade to 10th grade

A short read, Dirk is uncertain to whom to reveal his true sexuality so he masks his homosexuality in a new punk wardrobe. Towards the end of his despondent silence, he is put in a coma after being beat up by hate-filled bigots. Although the reader doesn't know he is in a coma, we suspect he is in an in-between world where he is visited by dead family members and people that will become important in his life. Dirk comes to accept his full identity after he hears the c More...

Told in the magical language of Francesca Lia Block, this fifth and final of the Weetzie Bat series gives the story of Dirk and his coming out. It's also the tale of how important it is to share your story, despite how difficult that might be.

"Stories are like genies, Dirk thought. They can carry us into and through our sorrows. Sometimes they burn, sometimes they dance, sometimes they weep, sometimes they sing. Like genies, everyone has one. Like genies, sometimes we forget that we do.

Our stor More...

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 More...

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. More...

Baby Be-Bop started out well, I enjoyed the reality of Dirk's struggle with his feelings for Pup. The second part of Baby Be-Bop kind of confused me. With all the ghosts, jumping around from one person's POV to another... I got lost. I'm happy to say, though, that at the end Francesca Lia Block was able to pull it all back together for a beautiful ending. This is definitely a book to read.

I am so thrilled to have read these. I can't believe how rich and ridiculous they are, and yet still, especially with this one, there are...themes that are so real, and so well-illustrated, so moving and beautiful and lush, I've never even imagined books like these, and I am already looking forward to reading them through again. Absolutely unique and utterly brilliant.

I picked this up from the free books box at the used book store on my way to the train after work along with another book in the series.

I started reading this as I had finished my book earlier in the day. I was blown away by the poetic nature of the story. I have ordered the missing books in the Weetzie Bat books collection and am looking forwards to reading them.

Dirk is gay. When he tells his first crush of his interest, he is rejected. He is beat up by skinheads for being gay. While unconscious from the beating, he meets his ancestors. A very different story. Dirk has lots of love to give. There is lots of love around him. The soulmate he hasn't met yet is waiting. The whole focus of the story seemed to be love. Recommended.

I too picked this up after reading about the challenges in Milwaukee. Block's writing is very lyrical and far better that average fair. I enjoyed the way she brought in other family member's stories into Dirk's understanding of himself, giving him the courage to admit to his own truth. A worthy edition to coming of age stories and young adult gay literature.

Although this book came out after Weetzie Bat, where he was a pivotal character, Weetzie is surprisingly absent. The tone is very similar as the other Weetzie Bat books, with the story taking liberties with chronology, place and setting. Enjoyable in a fantastical-realist way, similar to Gabriel Garcia-Marquez and American border authors.

Really beautifully written, and I loved the imagery in the parts that had magical realism elements. But I felt like it started to drag at the end, which isn't great when the book is so short, and there were a couple of philosophies on love that I really disagreed with. But really, the fact that it didn't hold my attention at all during the last fifteen pages is what brought this down to three stars for me.

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.

I like that this book took me to right before the first book started, to the genie in the lamp. I am glad I got ot learn more about Dirk and how he found his way in the world. I also loved that the story was about finding your own story. We all have a story to tell and that telling our story makes us more us.

Francesca Lia Block has a voice that is all her own. I love stepping into her magical Los Angeles. "Girl Goddess #9" was my bible as a kid, shared with me by a dear friend who's now gone. I love Francesca Lia Block's surreal, musical stories.

Strange story (stories?)

I liked Dirk's storyline but the whole genie thing just seemed to get more convoluted and I couldn't tell what was going on, and not in a good way.

This was the least surreal of the series until the very end. I am very glad Block chose to develop a minor, yet important character from the series.

Maybe more of a 4.5, but that's not important. I loved this story. It was sad, but hopeful. Of the Weetzi books this and the first are my favorites.

Loved the story of Dirk and Duck...loved Fifi...Dirk's grandmother...loved the food, the animals, and the magic!!!

A little of Block goes a very long way so it's just as well that her books are short.

A Weetzie Bat book with the focus on her gay friends. I love the grandmother in this book. Such a mind trip!

Love this book about love, acceptance and the power of story - the 5th in the Weetzie Bat/Dangerous Angels series by Francesca Lia Block, one of my favorite authors ever. Re-read it for the countless time...
"Our stories can set us free... When we set them free."

Added this because some crazy Christians want to burn it.