Gabrielle Moss

Growing up, I read a lot of series books. The Baby-Sitters Club, Sweet Valley Kids/Twins/High/University, The Gymnasts, Pen Pals…as well as The Secret Seven, Famous Five and a bit of Nancy Drew. I didn’t realise that series were such a huge thing of the 1980s and 1990s YA scene but I do remember the criticism that these weren’t ‘real books’. Well, I grew up and I think my reviews prove that I read a variety of books, ‘real’ or otherwise!

Paperback Crush is a look back at those series, some more well known than others. (Some series I don’t think we even got in Australia). It’s divided up into themes of love, friendship, horror, family, jobs and ‘serious issues’ (e.g. illness, divorce). It’s a review of the series that existed, with some critique of how things look a bit outlandish or silly through an adult, modern lens. (Yes, Sweet Valley was wild. Would we want it any other way? No.) There are also interviews with authors of the novels/series and looking at how the issues discussed in the novels reflected the time period (e.g. Roe vs Wade, HIV/AIDS). I bought this for the nostalgia and found out some new things about series I’d enjoyed all the way – like how many books ended up being in the series (you just never knew in those pre-internet days – the books just stopped appearing in store and the Scholastic book club catalogues). It also reminded me of the days of browsing through catalogues for books and that you could get a solid read for $5 from book club, book shops and even the newsagent!

I enjoyed the sections about series I knew and loved the most (how very predictable). But it was still interesting to read about series I’d seen but not tried (I wasn’t interested in the Sweet Dreams books because they weren’t really a series and those covers looked just as lame then as now). The horror/terror sections didn’t interest me that much (I had read some but really, I just found those too scary) but I did enjoy reading about how the novels were structured. It was a good insight into the series I enjoyed (and how they’ve all but disappeared from the shelves now – with the exception of The Baby-Sitters Club graphic novels). I wish that there had been a concluding chapter though – it all seemed to end too suddenly. Bonus points for all the great covers though!

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com… (más)

Pretty much everything I wanted. It's s fun pop cultural dive into the history of Teen/Tween fiction from Nancy Drew to the Wakefield Twins.

The format is fun, lively and perfect to pick up and put down in between running for class prez and prom Queen and baby-sitter of the year and fending off an ancient curse brought on by your family's inability to be decent human beings for one second.

While th majority of the coverage is for the 80s/90s, Moss goes into the history of these books (primarily a female audience) as cultural stand ins for young girls to get an idea of being a not quite adult.

This is not meant to be a dictionary of every single series or author to write in the category since the earliest days. This gives a very broad overview, often discussing well known titles and authors, of the category with some lesser known variables.

I am disappointed there wasn't a section devoted to fantasy/sci-fi, but then these were much less common. Still wanted to see the Secret of the Unciorn Queen books mentioned tho. But I could name at least a dozen series that weren't mentioned here because again this is a broad overview not a comprehensive compendium. (I would so buy that though, can we kickstart it?).

Lots of fun for the nostalgia and even more for the laughs. Moss is witty and snarky, while still maintaining an academic tone.… (más)

There has never been a book more aptly judged by its cover: everything about Paperback Crush invoked a certain type of book from my childhood. Speaking of covers, I was not expecting this book to be formatted by picturing the (similar) covers of every book included, so let's start there. Originally, I was weirded out by the choice to include such heavy graphics but (A) I think it was necessary for the amount of discussion about cover art and how it changed over time and (B) Paperback Crush is about a certain type of book. Not the books that your parents bought you, or that you read for an assignment in middle school, but the books that you read guiltily during silent reading time at school when you should have been reading something "better" or gulped down lying on the floor in someone else's bedroom during a slumber party while everyone else was asleep. And therefore, with very few exceptions, I recognized the covers without really remembering the titles. (Okay, yes, by "you", I mean "me".)

I grew to love having the covers for a third reason: seeing them again, most of them literally photographs of a cover, often with creases or discoloration, really provided a nostalgia hit. And ultimately, that's what Paperback Crush is about: nostalgia for these certain types of books. I didn't really consider how much my view on the world was influenced by coming of age in the land of aspirational fiction -- a world in which fictional characters rarely had problems, and when they did they were outlandishly large -- rather than ten years prior, the world of "problem" fiction about divorce and drugs or ten years later, the world of paranormal romance. I'd considered the BSC (babysitters club) and SVH (sweet valley high) to be canonical tween fiction, the same way that the Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew were canonical tween mystery books. Thinking about the way that fiction of a particular time influences that generation was one of the most interesting parts of the book.

I was hoping for a truly literary analysis of YA literature, but Moss has a lighter touch, mostly creating a taxonomy system and cataloguing examples in each category. Sometimes this goes deeper, like reviewing how rare characters of color are in 80's YA lit and exploring YA books written specifically for the African American community (I found myself wishing she'd done something similar for Jewish YA lit, besides name-checking BY Times. I hadn't known that my [b:Atonement of Mindy Wise|4655575|Atonement of Mindy Wise|Marilyn Kaye|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|4705932]-[b:Anastasia Krupnik|116494|Anastasia Krupnik (Anastasia Krupnik, #1)|Lois Lowry|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1476942137s/116494.jpg|827585]-reading-youth where all characters celebrated Hanukkah, had embarrassing Old Country relatives and parents who dropped Yiddish casually was cultivated.) Mostly, this is light but fun: did you know that they hired actresses to pose for all of the BSC covers? There's an interview or two, as well. On the other extreme, sometimes Moss dips into her own personal childhood memories of particular books (like the universal confusion about Claudia's wardrobe.)

On the other hand, mostly Moss stays away from either personal woolgathering or in-depth literary analysis. And while I would have liked either one to be a little deeper, it left plenty of room for my own reminiscing. So, on that note, there was a profound nostalgic joy in discovering books and associated memories long-forgotten. It felt like a picture album from my childhood, and I'm pretty sure it has a long life ahead of it as a great coffee-table-conversation-starter.

(I received a free copy in exchange for my unbiased review)… (más)

i can't believe how many reviews of this book lament the author's "political correctness." i should be able to believe it, i know...but like, ugh. people actually type out that phrase in the 21st century and expect other people to not think what people, since the '90s, think about people who use the term?!

i was never a dedicated reader of teen series, and while i could see their appeal, i also had very definite thoughts about those middle school classmates who read *only* series books. gross gross gross: now, again, i have to feel like the mean one for knowing that books can make you dumb if you want them to.

(it wasn't the book i wanted it to be either; i think i wanted _Shelf Discovery II_, but that's on me. if i have any problem with Gabrielle Moss, it is that her one sentence about Lois Duncan's _Summer of Fear_ makes me suspect she has never read the novel.)… (más)