Paperback Crush

The Totally Radical History of '80s and '90s Teen Fiction

By: Gabrielle Moss

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

A hilarious and nostalgic trip through the history of paperback preteen series of the '80s and '90s.

Every 20- or 30-something woman knows these books. The pink covers, the flimsy paper, the zillion volumes in the series that kept you reading for your entire adolescence. Spurred by the commercial success of Sweet Valley High and The Babysitters Club, these were not the serious-issue YA novels of the 1970s, nor were they the blockbuster books of the Harry Potter and Twilight ilk. They were cheap, short, and utterly beloved.

Paperback Crush dives in deep to this golden age with affection, history, and a little bit of snark. Listeners will discover (and fondly remember) girl-centric series on everything from correspondence (Pen Pals and Dear Diary) to sports (The Pink Parrots, Cheerleaders, and The Gymnasts) to a newspaper at an all-girls Orthodox Jewish middle school (The B.Y. Times) to a literal teen angel (Teen Angels: Heaven Can't Wait, where an enterprising guardian angel named Cisco has to earn her wings "by helping the world's sexist rock star"). Some were blatant ripoffs of the successful series (looking at you, Sleepover Friends and The Girls of Canby Hall), some were sick-lit tearjerkers a la Love Story (Abby, My Love), and some were just plain perplexing (Uncle Vampire?) But all of them represent that time gone by of girl power and endless sessions of sustained silent reading.

In six hilarious chapters ("Friends", "Love, School", "Family", "Jobs", "Terror", and "Danger"), Bustle features editor Gabrielle Moss takes the listener on a nostalgic tour of teen book covers of yore, digging deep into the history of the genre as well as the stories behind the best-known series.

©2018 Gabrielle Moss (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Totally Rad Read

in addition to this being a delightful trip down memory lane starring all the best YA books of my tweenage years, I also enjoyed the narrator's buoyant delivery. She hit all the right notes of joy, sarcasm and eye rolling that these books inspire! A fabulous treat for girls who learned to live reading in the late 80s and early 90s.

Fun trip down memory lane

This is a great journey down memory lane, talking about a lot of the hit books and series from the 80’s and 90’s. It was great to get some context on books and also see how some books connect to others.

Fabulous

This was amazing. I got all kinds of nostalgic feelings reading it because it talked about a lot of the books I enjoyed when I was younger. There were also some snarky flashes of humor that I totally did appreciate.

Love story for 80's & 90's teen girl books

Sweet Valley High, Babysitters Club, and Nancy Drew. If these books were the stuff of your childhood, you're going to love the pop-culture dive into the history of the books that helped establish YA and Teen fiction.

It's an overview of books from the mid 70's to the late 90's. Academic in nature but fun, snarky, and an easy listen for the average person. Fair Warning: The author delves into the sociopathic nature of the Wakefield twins, the inability of authors to represent racial or socio-economic diversity, and the general horror of cranking out 8-10 books a year to keep the fanbase spending their coins. But she also touches on how these novels were many girls' first introductions to sex, how they represented teens with emotional or substance problems, and how the authors got started writing the books that influenced so many readers.

This gives a very broad overview, Many readers complained that their particular favorite wasn't mentioned, but there is honestly too much to cover. The book is split into easy categories like Family, Jobs, and Danger and the narrator does a great job conveying both the lighthearted and the darker aspects of the genre.

It's a comfort read/frequent listen of mine when I need something fun to relax.

A trip down memory lane.

I love to revisit the teen novels I read as a child. Born in the mid seventies, I was a teen in the eighties and books like SVH were a huge part of my life. So many of the book series I read are discussed here. I just wish more 80's were involved as I didn't read these books into the 90's. Overall, it was fun and put a smile on my face.

Great concept for this book

Great concept, wonderful narration Bought back childhood memories. Encouraged me to read other books, esp young adult.

Love the concept, maybe a bit too snarky

I really dug this book, especially the concept. Overall I think the tone may have been a bit too snarky, killing some of the nostalgia for this era of YA fiction. Would have benefited greatly from an attached pdf of the interiors as half of the selling point of this book is literally looking back at the old book covers. That negated a star for me.

Not What I Expected

There was a lot more to this book than I expected. When I started, I expected a snarky look at books like Sweet Valley High and the like. Instead, this is an in-depth look at a large assortment of topics that are actually addressed in teen books - including a lot I was not expecting. (I read some teen fiction in the 80s, but had mostly moved out of the teen section around 1989. I was kind of picky about the books I did read, preferring to avoid ones that appeared to have vapid characters.)

The book is a bit slow, but part of that is because the author deals with so much.

Worth reading once, but maybe not more.