--- description: Find out why 'Weetzie Bat' by Francesca Lia Block is on TIME's list of best YA books of all time. title: 'Weetzie Bat' Is on TIME’s List of the 100 Best YA Books image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40fecc42acf76078/698a1bd9929fadb31cbf7959/weetzie-bat-best-YA.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Aug 11, 2021 # Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  When it comes to capturing the heightened sensory experience of adolescence, music has always been an ideal vehicle. It’s an accelerated, exhilarating, hormone-addled time—one Francesca Lia Block renders with ecstatic precision in _Weetzie Bat_, a wisp of a debut novel that plays like a pop banger. The first volume of her avant-garde YA series _Dangerous Angels_, it trails teenage bohemian Weetzie and her best friend Dirk through the burrito stands, punk venues and Old Hollywood ruins of ’80s Los Angeles, in a magic-sprinkled plot that moves at the pace of a sports car on an empty freeway. It isn’t all fairy dust, though. There is addiction, heartbreak, violence, AIDS. Not every element of this magpie universe has aged well; the eclecticism of 1989 looks, in some cases, like appropriation. But Block’s pure intentions shine through. Her book channeled the spirit of youth into poetic language, broke ground for queer representation in YA and remains a literary lifeline for weird girls (and others) the world over. _—Judy Berman_ **Buy Now**: _Weetzie Bat_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780060736255 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060736259/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time-books-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0060736259&linkId=cd6a177228f92dadcefe70e0d16f4e55 "undefined") Weetzie Bat: 100 Best YA Books of All Time ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-ya-books/6084730/weetzie-bat/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-ya-books/6084730/weetzie-bat/"},"headline":"Weetzie Bat","datePublished":"2021-08-11T11:34:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:51:49.737Z","description":"Find out why 'Weetzie Bat' by Francesca Lia Block is on TIME's list of best YA books of all time.","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-ya-books/6084730/weetzie-bat/","keywords":["Books","Lists","best YA books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40fecc42acf76078/698a1bd9929fadb31cbf7959/weetzie-bat-best-YA.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40fecc42acf76078/698a1bd9929fadb31cbf7959/weetzie-bat-best-YA.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-ya-books/6084730/weetzie-bat/","name":"Weetzie Bat"}}]}] ```