Paperback Crush

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)

This was just the blend of nostalgia and criticism that I wanted. I loved revisiting series I loved/forgot about, as well as learning about other series that totally passed me by. I appreciated Moss's mixture of remebering her own faves, observing how they skewed white/abled/straight/upper class/etc, and digging out pioneering books/series that perhaps were less overall popular but were more diverse than Sweet Valley et al.

(I also appreciated her introductory note that she was blending together YA and middle grade series under the grounds that tweens read indiscriminatorily. That was certainly true for me–as a young tween I was definitely grabbing Sunset Island and Sweet Valley High at the same time I was reading BSC books, even though those are NOT aimed at the same age group. I know that was not everyone's experience as a young reader, though!)

The interviews with authors, editors, and even one of the models who posed as Claudia Kishi were great pieces of added information too.