I Was a Teenage Fairy (Ageless Books)
by Francesca Lia Block
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Book Summary Information
Author: Francesca Lia BlockEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-05-03
ISBN: 0064408620
Number of pages: 192
Publisher: HarperTeen
Book Reviews of I Was a Teenage Fairy (Ageless Books)
Book Review: Lia Block uses great suspense and realism
Summary: 5 Stars
Francesca Lia Block in I Was A Teenage Fairy exhibits great suspense and realism throughout the novel. Mab, a fairy, introduces the element of fantasy, which inevitably leaves the reader hanging on to their seats grasping for more. With this fairy, Lia Block uses realism along with fantasy to create a familiar atmosphere. Her tremendous talent to bring out teen realism, makes the reader understand that the problems they are facing are the same all teens are going through. Lia Block can be considered a rebel for exploring the real issues of teens.Perhaps the greatest example of Lia Block's talent is her use of fantasy in a dark world. She express a childhood activity of make-believe in a teenage life. " Maybe Mab was real. Maybe she was the fury, the courage, the sex. Whatever Mab had been, now, joined with her tiny winged red-haired biscuit, Mab was the love, flying through night like an errant star that had longed to be know, even briefly, what made planet Earth's children weep and sing." (Pg. 186, I Was A Teenage Fairy) It is through the fairy that the protagonist Barbie Marks can find herself and her true identity in the world. In her fantastic use of description, Lia Block brings the fantasy to life.
Hence the fantasy mixed with realism is what gives the story character. Mab, the fantasy, and Barbie the realism, come together to help each other in their journeys of self- discovery and acceptance. "Barbie was no longer afraid of anything. It was like that thing Mab had said about belief. The belief is sometimes the biggest part of it all. You can choose to believe in your published book being held in the loving hands of strangers, your name tattooed forever on the heart of the one you adore: you can choose to believe in tiny red-haired pesky piskies- all the things "they" may tell you not to believe in. But who are they anyway? What do they know? What makes them any more real? And now, Barbie realized , I am telling Mab to believe. I am telling Belief herself to believe." (Pg 179, I Was A Teenage Fairy) They bring out the truth in each other as they begin to understand, who they are is who they are. With this friendship, Lia Block captures the essence of childhood in a teenage world.
Furthermore I Was A Teenage Fairy reflects the inner truth of issues all teens are forced to deal with. Parents, money, drugs, alcohol, and sex are clear in the life of a normal teen, however society has chose to ignore what is really going on in hopes that they aren't present. Lia Block helps to clarify to all teens that the problems they are facing, are normal, and that it is ok to hold on to childhood imagination. She has become the light in an otherwise dark life in which some teens live in. They live in embarrassment and fear as the feel they are alone in the choices they make. Through this novel the reader is shown that the greatest asset of life is the uniqueness of your spirit and how each problem faced can be considered normal.
Summary of I Was a Teenage Fairy (Ageless Books)
Maybe Mab was real. Maybe not. Maybe Mab was the fury. Maybe she was the courage. Maybe later on she was the sex...A tiny fairy winging her way through the jasmine-scented L.A. night. A little girl caught in a grown-up glitz-and-glitter world of superstars and supermodels. A too beautiful boy with a secret he can never share...
From the author of Weetzie Bat comes a magical, mesmerizing tale of transformation. This is the story of Barbie Marks, who dreams of being the one behind the Cyclops eye of the camera, not the voiceless one in front of it; who longs to run away to New York City where she can be herself, not some barley flesh-and-blood version of the plastic doll she was named after. It is the story of Griffin Tyler, whose androgynous beauty hides the dark pain he holds inside. Andfinally it is the story of Mab, a pinkie-sized, magenta-haired, straight-talking fairy, who may or may not be real but who helps Barbie and Griffin uncover the strength beneath the pain, and who teaches that love--like a sparkling web of light spinning around our bodies and our souls--is what can heal even the deepest scars.
Once upon a time, in the bubble-gum-snapping, glitter polish-wearing, lip-gloss-applying San Fernando Valley, a gentle girl named Barbie met a feisty fairy named Mab: "Maybe Mab was real. Maybe there really are girls the size of pinkies with hair the color of the darkest red oleander blossoms and skin like the greenish-white underbellies of calla lilies.... But it doesn't matter if Mab is real or imagined, Barbie thought, as long as I can see her." Mab, with her crabby commentary and no-holds-barred opinions, gives Barbie the strength she needs to face the horrors casting a shadow over her life in sunny, shimmering California. How else could Barbie survive her over-perfumed, over-tanned, overbearing stage mother, dragging her daughter to modeling agencies in the gold-plated hope of reliving her younger days as a beauty queen? Or the "cadaver-pale skin" and "fleshy mouth" of Hamilton Waverly, the "crocodile pedophile" photographer who makes Barbie feel "like the doll she had been named for, without even a hole where her mouth was supposed to be"? Mab glimmers and gabs by Barbie's side throughout her teen years as she becomes a successful fashion model, falls in love, and endures all the troubles that come along for the ride--in addition to facing the black secret of her past.
Francesca Lia Block, author of the magical Weetzie Bat books that are collected in Dangerous Angels, and the empowering, punchy Girl Goddess #9, has once again crafted a mystical tale whose ethereal, original language will wrap readers in its gossamer grip. Block carries us to the weeping heart of despair, but would never be so cruel as to leave us there: Barbie gets a new, skyward-gazing name, Selena Moon, and readers get a glimmersome vision of living happily ever after. (Ages 13 and older) --Brangien Davis
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