YA fiction Archives - Victoria Waddle

26 Mar 2025

I Have a Novel! Keep Sweet!

by Victoria Waddle | posted in: Book Reviews, Inlandia Institute, Victoria's Books, YA authors, YA fiction, YA literature | 0

Family. Faith. Stability. Chosenness. Who suffers when these ideals are exploited by powerful patriarchs? Keep Sweet traces Elizabeth’s path of resistance as she navigates the Prophet’s terrible maze of expectations and discovers the shocking complicity of his accomplices within their religious community. scape may be dangerous, but a teen’s disruptive questions uncover surprising allies along the way.

26 Apr 2023

The High Deeds of Finn Mac Cool

by Victoria Waddle | posted in: Book Reviews | 2

A discussion of “The High Deeds of Finn Mac Cool” by Rosemary Sutcliff, focusing on Finn, Oisin, Dearmid, and Saba.

8 Aug 2022

Censoring Empathy: Let’s Challenge Erasure

by Victoria Waddle | posted in: Book Reviews, Censorship, YA fiction, YA literature | 0

Book censorship is far more threatening than it was ten years ago because it erases anyone who doesn’t look or think like the censor.

18 Jun 2022

Serious Summer Reading

by Victoria Waddle | posted in: Book Reviews, Literary Journeys, newspaper column, YA fiction | 0

When we think of summer reading, we think ‘beach reads,’ books we can’t put down that provide an escape from reality. But in these longer summer days, we may find ourselves with time to tackle a goal that eluded us … Continued

10 Oct 2021

What’s the Purpose of a Book Review?

by Victoria Waddle | posted in: Book Reviews, Writing Advice | 4

The book review star rating system is meaningless. The sole purpose of a book review is to inform the potential buyer about the contents of books. A good review allows that buyer to know if the book being reviewed is … Continued

25 Feb 2020

One Important Secret in ‘Far from the Tree’

by Victoria Waddle | posted in: Book Reviews, Writing Advice, YA authors, YA fiction, YA literature | 0

Since I am on a YA fiction jag, I want to have a quick look at why National Book Award winning Far from the Tree by Robin Benway is so good. Happily, one important secret that makes this novel work … Continued

11 Feb 2020

Parameters of the YA Novel: Is Bridge of Clay Still YA?

by Victoria Waddle | posted in: Writing Advice, YA authors, YA fiction, YA literature | 0

Bridge of Clay and YA Novels What are the parameters of the YA novel? Is Markus Zusak’s Bridge of Clay still YA? I asked myself this as I read this gorgeous novel. If you’re writing a novel that focuses on … Continued

29 Jan 2020

Hope in the Mail: Writing Advice for Young Writers

by Victoria Waddle | posted in: Book Reviews, Creativity, Inspiration, Writing Advice, YA fiction, YA literature | 0

Wendelin Van Draanen, author of Hope in the Mail: Reflections on Writing and Life, wrote one of my favorite YA novels, The Running Dream. (I wrote a review of The Running Dream here. Check it out–and check out the book!) … Continued

15 Aug 2018

The Miseducation of Cameron Post: Literary Quality YA

by Victoria Waddle | posted in: Book Reviews, Character Development, Inspiration, Writing Advice, YA fiction, YA literature | 2

The film The Miseducation of Cameron Post based on the YA novel of the same name won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Festival. I’m naive enough about the judgment of critics to think that this meant they would all … Continued

17 May 2018

Props for the Teen Issue of Inlandia

by Victoria Waddle | posted in: Inlandia Institute, Literary Journals, Literary Journeys, newspaper column, YA authors, YA fiction, YA literature | 2

Still in the crazy space, but on the upside, there was this fun article about the teen issue of Inlandia Literary Journeys Journal in the Press Enterprise. I was interviewed, as were Cati Porter (executive director of Inlandia Institute) and three … Continued