Adolescence.

For fans of vintage YA, a humorous and in-depth history of beloved teen literature from the 1980s and 1990s, full of trivia and pop culture fun. Those pink covers. That flimsy paper. The nonstop series installments that hooked readers throughout their entire adolescence. These were not the serious-issue novels of the 1970s, nor the blockbuster YA trilogies that arrived in the 2000s. Nestled in between were the girl-centric teen books of the ’80s and ’90s—short, cheap, and utterly adored. In Paperback Crush, author Gabrielle Moss explores the history of this genre with affection and humor, highlighting the best-known series along with their many diverse knockoffs. From friendship clubs and school newspapers to pesky siblings and glamorous beauty queens, these stories feature girl protagonists in all their glory. Journey back to your younger days, a time of girl power nourished by sustained silent reading. Let Paperback Crush lead you on a visual tour of nostalgia-inducing book covers from the library stacks of the past.

Movies made for television were in their infancy when ABC came up with a novel idea: a weekly series of films made exclusively for the small screen. The ABC Movie of the Week became a great success and a cultural touchstone for a generation of Americans. In this loving tribute to the classic series of TV films, more than two hundred films in the series are reviewed, including well-remembered titles such as Duel, Tribes, The Six Million Dollar Man, Go Ask Alice, Brian's Song, The Night Stalker, Bad Ronald, Starsky and Hutch, Trilogy of Terror, That Certain Summer, and Killdozer. In addition, choice bits of trivia about the actors and films and exclusive pictures are sprinkled throughout the book. So bit back, relax, and return to a time when the counterculture was in full swing and you could tune in every week for one or more original films made just for you.

“Beautifully written . . . A celebration of girls and athletics.” The national bestselling sports classic from a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist (USA Today). Expanded and updated with a new epilogue, Madeleine Blais’ book tells the story of a season in the life of the Amherst Lady Hurricanes, a girls’ high school basketball team from the Western Massachusetts college town. The Hurricanes were a talented team with a near-perfect record, but for five straight years, when it came to the crunch of the playoffs, they somehow lacked the desire to go all the way. Now, led by senior guards Jen Pariseau, a three-point specialist, and Jamila Wideman, an All-American phenom, this was the year to prove themselves. It was a season to test their passion for the sport and their loyalty to each other, and a chance to discover who they really were. As an off-season of summer jobs and basketball camps turns to fall, as students arrive and the games begin, Blais charts the ups and downs of the team and paints a portrait of the wider Amherst community, which comes to revel in the athletic exploits of their girls. Finally, a women’s team was getting the attention they deserve. And the Hurricanes were richly deserving; these teenage girls are fierce and funny, smart and ambitious, and they are the heart of this gripping book. “Extraordinary.” —The Baltimore Sun “A picture of a changing period in American sports history, when a town rallied around its female athletes in a way that had previously been reserved for males.” —Publishers Weekly

The history of the sex guide for adolescents documents the quite unconscious movement of Western culture’s ideas about sex and youth, revealing the heritage of our own sexual beliefs and codes of behaviour. The first section of this book, first published in 1986, traces the development of the sex guide, examining 400 books from 1892 to the 1980s. The second section comprises a detailed analysis of the patterns, content and usefulness of all the contemporary manifestations of the genre. The history of the teen sex manual is a fascinating revelation of American attitudes towards adolescent sexuality.