Young adult fiction can get very adult

Author Francesca Lia Block pushes the limits in YA fiction (for readers 12 to 18). Her main character, Weetzie Bat, "has a boyfriend she calls 'My Secret Agent Lover Man.' They live with Dirk, Weetzie's gay best friend, his lover, Duck, and Weetzie's daughter, Cherokee, possibly conceived during group sex with Dirk and Duck. There is also Witch Baby, Lover Man's child with a witch. The family works in the movie business. They become involved with rough sex, pimps and drugs." And people complain when a cartoon character visits a family with two mommies.

Describing the death of Weetzie's dad from a drug overdose, Ms. Block writes: "Charlie was dreaming of a city where everyone was always young and lit up like a movie, palm trees turned into tropical birds, Marilyn-blonde angels flew through the spotlight rays, the cars were the color of candied mints and filled with lovers making love as they drove down the streets paved with stars that had fallen from the sky."