Weetzie A Winner

Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat (HarperCollins), about an offbeat heroine who shares a Hollywood cottage with three equally quirky companions, is the winner of the 1989/2009 Phoenix Award, given to the author of an English-language children's book that failed to win a major award at the time of its publication 20 years earlier.

The award, named after the fabled bird that rose from its ashes with renewed life and beauty, is given by the Michigan-based Children's Literature Association.