Product Description

Everyone has a story to tell ...

Dirk McDonald's life was almost perfect. He lived with this grandmother, Fifi, in a beautiful gingerbread cottage in Hollywood. He had the beach, and his surfboard, and Fifi's red-and-white 1955 Pontiac convertible.

But Dirk wasn't happy. Inside, he was harboring a deep, dark secret. And he was afraid that if he admitted it to anyone - even Fifi - he would never be accepted again.

Then one night, Dirk's magic lamp came to life. Suddenly, all the stories from Dirk's past came flowing out of it. On that night, his life changed forever. At last, Dirk learned who he really was, and that any love that is love is right.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1370505 in Books
• Published on: 1997-05-30
• Released on: 1997-04-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 112 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Embroidering her prose with lushly romantic imagery, Block returns to the world of Weetzie Bat for this keenly felt story. A prequel of sorts to Weetzie Bat, the novel opens while Weetzie's best friend Dirk is still a child, lying on his mat at naptime. "Dirk had known it since he could remember"-known, that is, that he is gay. Tenderly raised by Grandma Fifi, famous for her pastries and her 1955 Pontiac convertible, Dirk struggles with love and fear: "He wanted to be strong and to love someone who was strong; he wanted to meet any gaze, to laugh under the brightest sunlight and never hide." After his first heartbreak, with his closest friend (who cannot accept Dirk's love nor his own for Dirk), Dirk battles more fiercely for identity; beaten up by a gang of punks, he slumps into semiconsciousness and is visited by his ancestors, each telling a haunting, lyrical tale of love, faith and self-acceptance. What might seem didactic from lesser writers becomes a gleaming gift from Block. Her extravagantly imaginative settings and finely honed perspectives remind the reader that there is magic everywhere. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 10 Up?A prequel to the popular books about Weetzie Bat and her circle of quirky friends and relatives. This novel is about her best pal, Dirk, in his pre-Weetzie days. He's in high school (in L.A., of course), living with Grandma Fifi and struggling with how to come out to his best friend and soulmate. Although Dirk never does tell Pup he's gay, Pup feels the sexual tension between them: "'I love you, Dirk,' Pup said. 'But I can't handle it.'" In reaction, Dirk takes to slam dancing in punk joints. When a gang of gay bashers beats him up, he drags himself home and passes out. While he's unconscious, long-dead relatives he's never known come to him in what seem to be dreams; when he wakes in the hospital, he realizes that his grandmother has been telling him stories. Out of her comforting words about how others in his family have insisted on being themselves, his battered brain fashions hopeful hallucinations, including one of his future lover. His visions assure him that "There was love waiting; love would come." Block writes distinctively and convincingly, interweaving the hallucination scenes smoothly. She makes the power of stories felt?and here, more purposefully than ever before, she weaves a safety net of words for readers longing to feel at home with themselves. Gay teens in particular need this book. All fans of the series will relish meeting nice-guy Dirk as the tender Baby Be-Bop.?Claudia Morrow, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 8^-12. "Dirk had known it since he could remember." The novel's opening sentence is the coming-out statement that enables the story of how Dirk becomes Baby Be-Bop to unfold. From his earliest awareness, Dirk had known that he didn't want to be afraid, not like so many gays he had watched. His Grandma Fifi said it was a phase, and Dirk willed her to be right--until he met and fell in love with Pup. When Pup confesses that he cannot handle his feelings for Dirk, Dirk's self-loathing is complete. He wallows further and further into self-hate. Then, in an attempt to save his life, Grandma Fifi tells him the stories of their family's love. Block captures the essence of happiness simply by describing a room or the ingredients of a sandwich. She captures the essence of love in passages of shared conversation and in her portrayal of word-filled glances and emotions. She also conveys a sense of acceptance and validation. This is her gift to young people who have known since they could remember that they too wanted--and deserved--love. Librarians who are daring--and caring--enough to include this evocative, skillfully wrought, and sometimes surrealistic novel in their YA collections will help teenagers begin their adult journey toward love and the realization that, as Dirk's great-grandmother Gazelle says, "Any love that is love is right." Frances Bradburn

Customer Reviews

Good plot...if only the writing were better.
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.

Doesn't get better than this...
I love everything Francesca Lia Block has written (except maybe The Hanged Man), but this one has to be my favorite. I could read it forever. Aboslutely heartbreaking and soul-wrenching. Dirk and Duck were my favorites in the Weetzie Bat series, and this was the story I always wanted to hear, exactly the way and wanted to hear it.

Beautiful, by far one of her most touching
this is by far my favorite FLB book, i think she captures the feelings of isolation and loneliness that comes with coming out and coming to terms with homosexuality so well and in her beautiful poetic prose style. Great book to read when your going through a hard time and want to know that love and acceptance is out there.