skybridge

sarahabein.bsky.social · @sarahabein.bsky.social@bridge.neodb.net

Rated Paperback Crush: The Totally Radical History of '80s and '90s Teen Fiction 10/10

<div>PAPERBACK CRUSH by Gabrielle Moss is a funny, nostalgic look at the many, many varieties of tween/YA paperback series that were released in the '80s and '90s. Moss keeps it moving with basic overviews and cultural trends happening during the books' publication, but she does take the time to point out which series had regressive views, as well as those that hold up pretty well today. Interspersed with her research and analysis are interviews with some of the writers who gave us these books.<br><br>I am 41 years old, which means I am exactly the right age for PAPERBACK CRUSH. So many of these series I remembered from friends' bedrooms or the school library or the many afternoons I spent in Hastings or Waldenbooks. My elementary and middle school days were filled with Babysitters Club (Team Claudia), Sweet Valley Twins AND High (Team Jessica), R.L. Stine, and my fav at the time, Christopher Pike. I wanted drama! Fashion! Travel! Evil twins! Psychotic breaks! Past lives! Goddesses and ghosts! These books provided all that and more as fast as I could gobble them up. In my school's Apple IIE computer lab, I even wrote a 20+ page story with many of these elements, took the time to print a few copies on the slow dot matrix printers, and distributed the copies to friends. Ah, the early '90s: when 10-yr-old you could get away with using school resources to write a "book" about murderin' and everyone said, "It's great that you're so creative!"<br><br>I wish I still had many of these paperbacks, but most of them were donated to my elementary school library once I was in high school. I hope the lil weirdos just a bit younger than me enjoyed the books as much as I did.</div>

#book

Published 2026-08-18 19:43 UTC · bridged from Atmosphere