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

Return with Gabrielle Moss to what she calls a "pastel parallel universe," the moment in teen and tween fiction between the '70s heyday of Judy Blume and the millennial rise of J.K. Rowling. In that interregnum, two other queens reigned: "foxy blonde sociopaths" named Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, the heroines of dozens of Sweet Valley High romances that were less likely to be recommended by librarians than bought by the handful at Waldenbooks. Moss revisits their era with the same affectionate analysis as her publisher's previous Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction, going beyond contempt or nostalgia to do justice to an entire generation's imaginative life, as blonde and blow-dried as it might have been. (Ages 35 to 50)