Bluford Series: “No Way Out” and “The Test”

 

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No Way Out by Peggy Kern

Harold is out of shape and self-conscious. When his grandma falls and breaks her legs, Harold knows he needs to help out, but he doesn’t know what he can do. The medical bills are mounting, and Harold thinks he can get a job, but the wage won’t begin to pay off the bills. And if the bills aren’t paid, Harold’s grandma will no long be considered able to care for him.

But when Londell, a neighborhood drug dealer, comes back from a year in prison, he keeps bullies from bothering Harold. And he has a job for him, too, at much better than minimum wage. Harold starts to feel that he respects Lonell, who reminds him than guys without parents have to stick together and do things other people wouldn’t think of.

The Test by Peggy Kern

It’s obvious from the book cover that ‘the test’ is a pregnancy test. But what you find as you read is that it’s also a test of life. Liselle becomes pregnant when she’s only sixteen, a student at Bluford High. Four years later, at twenty, she comes back to talk to some of the toughest girls in the school about her story.

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About Victoria Waddle

Victoria Waddle is a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer and has been included in Best Short Stories from The Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction Contest. Her books include a collection of feminist short fiction, Acts of Contrition, and a chapbook on grief, The Mortality of Dogs and Humans. Her YA novel about a polygamist cult, Keep Sweet, launches in June 2025. Formerly the managing editor of the journal Inlandia: A Literary Journey and a teacher librarian, she contributes to the Southern California News Group column Literary Journeys. She discusses both writing and library book censorship on her Substack, “Be a Cactus.” Join her there for thoughts on defiant readers and writers as well as for weekly library censorship news.
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