Girl Goddess #9: Nine Stories [School & Library Binding]

Francesca Lia Block (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1998

Meet Tweetie Sweet Pea and Peachy Pie, Jacaranda and Rave and Desiree...

Meet Lady Ivory and Alabaster Dutchess, who interview their favorite rock star, Nick Agate, only to discover the magic and power in themselves. Meet Tuck Budd, who is happy living in Manhattan with her two moms, Izzy and Anastasia, until she begins to wonder who her father is. Meet La, who faces the loss of her mother with an imaginary androgynous blue friend who lives in her closet. Zingingly bright and dreamily dark, full of wonder and gritty reality, these stories by acclaimed author Francesca Lia Block show the reader that in every girl there truly is a goddess.

The cutting-edge author of Weetzie Bat once again breaks new ground with Girl Goddess #9, nine stories about girl goddesses of every age and shape and color and size, wearing combat boots and spiky hair or dressed all in white. One girl has two moms, another has no mother at all but a strange blue skinned creature that lives in her closet. One is a rock star groupie, another loves dancing and reading poetry and having picnics in the backyard when the moon is full. These are stories about girls discovering that the world is not a simple place and that there is more than one way to live'all in Ms. Block's rich, lyrical language that fans have come to adore and that Sassy magazine called ‘a dream.'

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Movie stars, rock stars, pond nymphs, intergalactic superheroes . . . who are the real goddesses in Francesca Lia Block's world? Real young women--the kind who ache, bleed, dance, and talk to blue ghosts in closets. Famous for her lyric Weetzie Bat books, Block blossoms in this collection of short stories about love: straight, gay, familial, and otherworldly. Very few young adult authors talk as frankly as Block about sex and some of the other yearnings we feel in this world, yet she guides her readers toward the self-respect and courage necessary to make smart choices about those yearnings. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

From the author of Weetzie Bat comes a collection of tales that challenges conventional social roles. "The roses, camellias and jacarandas of Block's lush prose style scent these works with a heady perfume," said PW in a starred review. Ages 12-up. (Feb.) r
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• School & Library Binding: 192 pages
• Publisher: Turtleback Books: A Division of Sanval (February 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0613376617
• ISBN-13: 978-0613376617
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,013,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Francesca Lia Block, recipient of the prestigious Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award. has been publishing novels, short stories, essays, memoirs and poetry since 1989. Her work has been translated into many languages. Ms. Block lives in Los Angeles where she teaches writing workshops that are also available online.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every Girl's Diary, January 13, 2003

By 

Kieri "Kieri" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Girl Goddess #9: Nine Stories (Paperback)

I look back now, and I realize that Girl Goddess #9 was a big part of my formative years. It was the first FLB book, and it still one of my favorites.

When I read the title story, I remember thinking, "Well,I like Sarah McLachlan, maybe I should give Tori Amos a try." (If you don't know how that story ended, well, know that I think nothing of driving ten hours to go to a Tori concert.) And, a year or so later, I re-read the story and thought, "Hey, I like Sarah and Tori, maybe I should try the Cocteau Twins." Thus began another addiction which annually saps me about fifty bucks.

I was going through major issues with a very dear friend as I read "Pixie and Pony," and for years now, those words have stayed with me: "Best friends? We are sisters." After my mother's injury, I struggled to reconcile the reality of her new self with the way she had once been. The story "La" was of enormous help.

GG#9 is every girl's diary. It is all of our fears and hopes and drems. It is everything we've questioned about life, our futures, our parents, our sexuality, and love. Each girl is perfectly unique, very mysterious, and yet completely familiar. Each of these girls is like a little facet of each other, and of ourselves.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastical, January 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Girl Goddess #9: Nine Stories (Paperback)

Out of all of Francesca Lia Block's books, I think this is one of the best. Although I don't particularly like short stories in general, this book left me captivated. My favorite is Blue because it was so touching, and Ms.Block's writing style is so lyrical that it really brings out the sadness even more than imaginable.(it made me cry!) Anyway, the whole collection of short stories was great, and this is one book I'll be reading again and again.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars so touching, so real, so magical., October 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Girl Goddess #9: Nine Stories (Paperback)

the best book you can ever possibly read. its not trashy, not sappy, not phoney. and its not boring. the most realistic stories, yet told in a magical pixie-punk way. and they're not superficial. they are the whole raw truth of the world and feelings of the humans living in it. i could not put it down. my personal favorite story is blue. it purly touched my soul in a way no other story ever could or will. basically,to sum up my feelings about this book, the most wonderful book of stories in the world, as best i can, is to say that you feel for the characters. you move with the characters you become the characters. This book is pure magic.