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.
The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick Pat Peoples seems like the sweetest man on earth, but for some reason he’s coming home from a mental institution to live with his parents—in his mid-thirties—and he completely loses it when he … Continue reading →
Posted in Family Problems, Fiction, Movie Tie-In, Romance, Sports
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Tagged Adult books for teens, book reviews, football in literature, mental depression, mental illness, movie tie-in, Philadelphia Eagles football team
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Reason to Breathe, by Rebecca Donovan I was talking to another teacher at Chaffey High, Mrs. Vanderbeck (who used to work at Colony as well), about the bullying books I was reading this year. She told me about one … Continue reading →
Posted in Family Problems, Fiction, Mature Readers, Sports, Young Adult Literature
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Tagged basketball, book reviews, bullying, child abuse, child-parent relationships, children of alcoholics, soccer, sports, YA fiction, YA literature
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Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach “The way I see it, being dead is not terribly far off from being on a cruise ship. Most of your time is spent lying on your back.”—The opening sentence … Continue reading →
Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers Regina has bullied other girls all through high school. She’s popular. She’s Anna’s best friend. And Anna is the queen bee of the Hallowell High, calling all the shots, deciding who’s in and who’s … Continue reading →
_ This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith I’ve already said that I needed to walk away from the bullying books for a couple of weeks. With school starting, I wanted to read something upbeat. I … Continue reading →
The Signal by Ron Carlson I needed a little break from reading those ‘bullying books’ and wanted to read an adult book. So I decided to go for The Signal because I knew Ron Carlson to be an excellent … Continue reading →
Posted in Adventure Stories, Family Problems, Fiction, Romance
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Tagged Adult books for teens, backpacking, book reviews, divorce, fishing, hiking, horses, outdoors, ranch life
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The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring by Jennet Conant Most of us know Roald Dahl through his weirdly fun children’s stories. Even if you haven’t read those stories, you’ve probably seen some of the movies made from … Continue reading →
Posted in Adventure Stories, Biography/Memoir, Historical Fiction/Historical Element, Non-fiction, Over 375 pages
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Tagged book reviews, British Security Coordination, BSC, Common Core standards, espionage, Irregulars, Roald Dahl, spies, World War II, YA literature
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The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga Fanboy puts up with the bullying he receives throughout his sophomore year of high school by hanging on to a few things he regards as good: his friend Cal—a … Continue reading →
The Los Angeles Diaries: A Memoir by James Brown James Brown begins with that phenomenon of nature that all of us here in the Inland Empire know: the Santa Ana winds. We’ve seen the uprooted trees and downed powerlines … Continue reading →
Posted in Biography/Memoir, Family Problems, Non-fiction
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Tagged alcoholism, arson, autobiography, children of alcoholics, drug addiction, Hollywood, Los Angeles, San Bernardino County, writers, writing
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No Easy Day: The Autobiography of a Navy SEAL by Mark Owen with Kevin Maurer The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden As you read the sub-sub title above, you know why this book has been … Continue reading →
Posted in Adventure Stories, Biography/Memoir, Historical Fiction/Historical Element, Non-fiction
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Tagged Adult books for teens, autobiography, book reviews, military, Navy SEALs, Osama Bin Laden, Special Forces, terrorism
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School Library Lady 