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.
Bruiser by Neal Shusterman If you loved someone, how much would you be willing to do for him or her? If someone loved you, would you allow him to suffer so that you could succeed? There are a lot questions … Continue reading →
Until Tuesday by Luis Carlos Montalvan Montalvan returned from two extended tours in Iraq a wounded warrior. Two Iraqis attempted to assassinate him because he was working hard to stop bribery and a thriving black market of US … Continue reading →
Posted in Biography/Memoir, Controversial Issue/Debate, Family Problems, Human Rights Issues, Non-fiction
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Tagged Adult books for teens, autobiography, biography, book review, golden retrievers, Iraq, Iraq War, memoir, military service, PTSD, Puppies Behind Bars, service dogs, soldiers, war, Wounded Warriors
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Rotters by Daniel Kraus Such a weird story! The combination of bullying and horror story compelled me to finish the book, and I think it will appeal to anyone who likes really quirky stuff. Joey Crouch has lived … Continue reading →
Posted in Family Problems, Fiction, Horror/Mystery/Suspense, Over 375 pages, Young Adult Literature
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Tagged bullying, Chicago, grave robbers, horror, scary stories, small towns in fiction, YA fiction, YA literature
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Wild by Cheryl Strayed In her prologue, Strayed describes losing her hiking boots—yes, really losing them , knocked over the side of a mountain—in the middle of her quest to hike 1,100 of the 2,663 miles of the Pacific … Continue reading →
Posted in Adventure Stories, Biography/Memoir, Environmental Issues, Family Problems, Non-fiction
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Tagged Adult books for teens, backpacking, book reviews, hiking, memoir, Oprah Book Club, Pacific Crest Trail
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Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg Sheryl Sandberg is an enormously successful businesswoman who is now the COO (chief operating officer) of Facebook. She decided to write Lean In to argue that in the … Continue reading →
My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor Sonia Sotomayor is one of the first women (the third) and the first Hispanic to become a Supreme Court justice. Her memoir, My Beloved World, is not quite an autobiography because she stops the … Continue reading →
Shooter by Walter Dean Myers Myers does his usual good job with a tough topic. The book opens as an investigation of a school shooting ‘last April.’ Various adults (psychologist, police personnel) interview the two best friends of the … Continue reading →
Posted in Controversial Issue/Debate, Family Problems, Fiction, Hi-Low/Quick Read, Read 180, Young Adult Literature
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Tagged reluctant readers, school shootings, school violence, Walter Dean Myers, YA fiction, YA literature
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Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand Unbroken is the incredible, nearly mythic, story of Louis Zamperini, an army air forces bomber whose plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean in 1943. Before the … Continue reading →
Posted in Adventure Stories, Biography/Memoir, Faith-Based/Religious Element, Family Problems, Historical Fiction/Historical Element, Human Rights Issues, Non-fiction, Over 375 pages
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Tagged Adult books for teens, Allen Phillips, book reviews, guy books, Louis Zamperini, POWs, soldiers, survival, war, World War II
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When we think of summer reading, we think of books we choose because we like them—books for fun. In the past I’ve read long lists of YA books over the summer and have encouraged you to read some of them … Continue reading →
Posted in Adventure Stories, Fable/Fairy Tale/Fantasy, Fiction, Horror/Mystery/Suspense, Mature Readers, Movie Tie-In, Romance, Sci-Fi/Futuristic, Supernatural, Young Adult Literature
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Tagged movie tie-in, YA fiction, YA literature
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Just a quick note on Death Sentence: Book Three of Escape from Furnace. I read it. It still has the appeal of the first two books, but it does have that middle of the series lag, at least at the … Continue reading →
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