Paperback Crush. Gabrielle Moss. 2021. Quirk Books. 257 pages. [Source: Public library.]
Be still, my heart. As a child of the ’80s, I longed for few things more than the day the Scholastic book flyer was distributed at school or a Saturday spent at the mall with my friends, roaming through Sam Goody & Waldenbooks while figuring out when we’d get our Cinnabon and Orange Julius fix. My world has always been consumed by books, but nothing brings on nostalgia like remembering the thousands of hours I spent devouring teen fiction. Series like The Baby-Sitters Club, Sweet Valley High, and, of course, R.L. Stine’s Fear Street had a chokehold not just on me, but countless teen readers and Paperback Crush is a retrospective of the genre with attention paid to heavy hitters and lesser-known books.
With Paperback Crush, Moss revisits some of the most seminal teen fiction of the 1980s and ’90s with remarkable depth. While it’s not a scholarly read, it’s clear Moss conducted extensive research on the history of teen fiction and its content’s evolution over time. There are readers who would argue that this era of teen fiction is a “golden era” of sorts, without considering what predates it. Here, Moss presents early examples of literature that centered younger audiences and how these ushered in the generation of stories that readers saw in the late 1900s. Moss discusses the books using themes that remain hyper-relevant to teen life: love, school, friends & family, and jobs, then gets into heavier topics like danger and terror. Throughout each theme, she presents salient published works of that topic and, where possible, insight about how the author came to write the piece or other noteworthy facts about the book.
Moss also provides a behind the scenes look at the teen literary industry. She discusses the rise of teen-centered imprints, the absolutely iconic book covers, and even highlights a few authors and how they ended up as powerhouses within teen lit. Big names like R.L. Stine, Christopher Pike, Francine Paschal, Ann M. Martin, and Lois Lowry are featured, some of whom give their own take on their notable careers. And I can’t understate the focus on book covers. Part of what makes this era of teen fiction so memorable are the book covers that while often formulaic, are the hallmark of this period. As such, Paperback Crush spends a good amount of time dissecting the designs and includes quite a few in each chapter.
Something I didn’t expect, but am appreciative of, is Moss’ critique of the genre. She acknowledges early in Paperback Crush that the genre, while often ridiculed as vapid, was actually incredibly significant because the novels:
taught us about female friendships, trusting ourselves, and speaking our minds–while also feeding us questionable lessons about what it means to be a woman and whose stories deserve to be told.
With the benefit of hindsight and life experience, it’s easier to see the flaws in the genre. Moss examines the lack of diversity in this genre by looking at the central characters, stories told, and publishing practices. One of the most notable was many of the books centered affluent white teen girls, with few publishers open to supporting books that centered teens of marginalized identities or backgrounds. And, as Moss notes, characters were often tokenized which led to fewer books in the marketplace that featured diverse characters and experiences, serving to alienate readers who didn’t fit the mold.
I enjoyed most that reading Paperback Crush is very much like being transported back to my heyday of reading. Moss provides context for each chapter background for some of the most popular stories and even a few that were significant even if sales didn’t reflect it. The volume of teen fiction that was released during the ’80s and ’90s is far more vast than many imagine, so this book can serve as an encyclopedia of releases. She not only looks at the books themselves, but the trajectory of characters and stories over series.
Paperback Crush is the book I didn’t know I needed; in fact, I’ll be getting a copy for my personal library. It’s detailed without being verbose, and has just the right bit of humor to balance out some necessary critiques of the genre. If you long for the days of long, lazy days of “just one more chapter,” this will give all the nostalgia you need. And if you need a starting point as you start your searches on Thriftbooks and eBay, this book will definitely call to memory the can’t-miss reads of your past.
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