cherokee bat and the goat guys [Paperback]

francesca lia block (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: HarperTrophy (1992)
• ASIN: B000OEJFX0
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)

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

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars enjoyable continuation of series, September 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys (Weetzie Bat) (Paperback)

All in all an enjoyable continuation of the Weetzie Bat series, but I could have used more of the initial characters. On the other hand, using the younger characters does make the book more accesible to teenage readers.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New Age Indian Magic, February 11, 2000

By 

"miss_witch" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys (Weetzie Bat) (Paperback)

I would have to say that this is another great work of art from Block, i havn't seen or read anything like it since Catcher in the Rye!It is beautifuly detailed, and has a superb use of words that tells their own story along with the book.It is so enchanting and mezmorizing that you wont want to put it down!It pulls you in with the words and squeezes you until you burst with rays of light!It makes you look deep inside yourself and see who you really are and were. It describes LA through a teenage personality with smoking and drinking and always getting into messes,It has everything that a book should have; love,drugs,sorrow,jealousy... it will amaze you and make you want to read it over and over again... i strongly sugjest having this book, along with the rest of the series: Weetzy Bat,Witch Baby, Missing Angel Juan, and Baby Be-Bop, which i have all read. Get it ! You'll LOVE it!

4.0 out of 5 stars A powerful and poignant YA novel., September 7, 2010

By 

Elizabeth A. Hart (St Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys (Weetzie Bat) (Paperback)

In Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys the story arc in the Dangerous Angels series continues. What started with Weetzie Bat and Witch Baby continues in this book with the kids now teenagers and the adults in the household all out of town filming a movie in South America. Naturally Cherokee, Witch Baby, Raphael Chong Jah-Love and soon even Angel Juan, who makes a reappearance, run into trouble.

In a lot of ways I think this book is the most distinctly YA novel in the series. It focuses on the younger generation and problems unique to youth: self image, relationships, finding yourself, growing up.

At the start each of the four characters feels inadequate in one way or another. When they perform on stage they freeze up, when they try and initiate a relationship with someone else they feel rejected or aren't even brave enough to make the attempt, they feel bare, defenseless and powerless in an overbearing world. Coyote, a Native American friend of the family, steps in and offers to help Cherokee create gifts from nature (wings from feathers, goat pants from goat fur) to give each of the four teens outward strength from material things to solve inward problems. Naturally these objects are magical in nature, and naturally they unintentionally result in more problems then they solve.

The rest of the book covers the uncomfortable, dizzying and at times exhilarating descent into a world of late night jams and eventual sex, drugs, smoking, drinking and all night parties. This is where the book had most of its power. To show these things in both the positive (exhilarating, powerful, ego enhancing) and the negative (exhausting, damaging to health both mental and physical, losing control). This is something teens can see and relate to from a source they will listen to as well.

By the end of the book the teens must learn to pull their strength from inside themselves instead of their material trappings and learn how to help each other step back from the edge of self destruction. A powerful and poignant YA novel. Highly recommended.