World News from Waverley High
A Novel
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Pub Date Sep 8 2026 | Archive Date Aug 14 2026
Caitlin Hamilton Marketing & Publicity | She Writes Press
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Description
1969. Lena Rosen is an intelligent, observant teenager torn between spontaneity and self-consciousness. During her junior year, she becomes attuned to the pulse of her times in her first-period Current History class, where rebellion, social change, and musical innovation of the 1960s dominate discussion. When Lena becomes the associate editor of the school newspaper The Beacon, she is drawn into the swirling discourse surrounding the Vietnam War, civil rights, environmental disasters, and campus protests—while also grappling with her growing attraction to Jack Stone, the paper’s editor.
As the year progresses and the antiwar movement gains momentum, the unrest builds at Waverley High. Lena wrestles with her own cultural and religious identity as a Jewish teen while she and her fellow students struggle to cope with racial discord, a bomb threat, and the emotional toll of a world that seems to be unraveling. When tragedy collapses the distance between headlines and Lena’s own life, she must decide what it means to stand for peace—and to hope for a better world.
Set during one school year against the backdrop of an America on the brink of change, World News from Waverley High reveals the crossroads of personal growth and national unrest.
Advance Praise
"This is a soulful coming-of-age novel with an unusually appealing, intelligent, and open-hearted narrator. Linda Kass tracks her protagonist's political awakening with sensitivity and a sharp eye for detail, creating a compelling portrait of a young woman navigating her way through a turbulent era in American history."—Tom Perrotta, author of Ghost Town and Election
"BEAUTIFULLY NUANCED!”—Connie Schultz, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of New York Times bestseller The Daughters of Erietown
"Readers of a certain age will relate to this re-creation of a truly unforgettable and double-edged era. . . . a barrage of nostalgia that hits its mark. Many of these Waverley High kids would be grandparents now, and it’s tempting to imagine how their grandchildren might be coping in this new millennium with its own heavy challenges. AN EARNEST, METICULOUS REIMAGINING OF THE LATE 1960s AND THE ERA’S TENSE ATMOSPHERE OF SOCIAL CHANGE."—KIRKUS REVIEWS
“HEARTWARMING!”—Ben Heckman, Library Director, Bexley Public Library
“A NOVEL THAT RESONATES WITH THE HERE AND NOW!”—Lee Martin, author of The Evening Shades and Pulitzer Prize–finalist The Bright Forever
“A STIRRING, THOUGHT-PROVOKING READ!”—Helen Schulman, author of Lucky Dogs and New York Times bestseller This Beautiful Life
“BIGHEARTED!”—Wil Haygood, author of The War Within a War: The Black Struggle in Vietnam and at Home and Tigerland: 1968–1969: A City Divided, a Nation Torn Apart, and a Magical Season of Healing
"A PITCH-PERFECT SOUNDTRACK FOR THIS LOOK BACK AT A PIVOTAL TIME IN OUR NATION’S HISTORY!”—Laney Katz Becker, author of In the Family Way
"…MASTERFUL, RIVETING, AND POIGNANT… [WILL] RESONAT[E] WITH YOUNG ADULTS AND ADULTS ALIKE."—Mike Nolan, Bexley High School Librarian
“FILLED WITH THE SIGHTS, SOUNDS, AND CATACLYSMIC HISTORICAL EVENTS OF 1969-1970… VIVID!”—Pamela Klinger-Horn, event coordinator at Valley Bookseller and creator and host of Literature Lover’s Night Out
Marketing Plan
LINDA KASS began her career as a magazine journalist and correspondent for regional and national publications. Along with her forthcoming novel, World News from Waverley High (September 2026), she is the author of three previous works of historical fiction: Tasa’s Song (2016), A Ritchie Boy (2020), and Bessie (2023). A longtime civic leader, she is the founder and owner of Gramercy Books, an independent bookstore in Central Ohio, now in its tenth year. Linda lives in Columbus, Ohio with her husband, Frank; they have four children, six grandchildren, and a labradoodle named Wally.
SELECTED PRAISE for LINDA KASS’ OTHER NOVELS
Nuanced, complex and insightful....”—MS.
“Kass depicts a heartbreaking time with great sensitivity and detail in this beautifully rendered historical drama.”—BOOKLIST
“Kass doesn’t shy away from the horrors of exile, anti-Semitism, genocide, and war. But she also presents a strong case for stubbornly opposing that darkness with tolerance, decency, friendship, love, and hope."—HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
“Told as a series of interconnected stories, Linda Kass’s captivating, based-in-truth novel A Ritchie Boy is about assimilation, hope, and perseverance.”—FOREWORD REVIEWS
". . . a memorable tale of unflinching courage in the face of war—and the power of love and beauty to flourish amid its horrors.”—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9798896364825 |
| PRICE | $28.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 256 |
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Featured Reviews
Joyce S, Reviewer
World News from Waverley High is very much a soundtrack from 1969 and 1970. Lena is an ambitious and precocious high school junior at a diverse public school in Columbus, Ohio. She plays a major role in researching and writing stories for her school's monthly newspaper. She is engaged in her classes, especially Current History, where students are assigned to read each weekly issue of Time magazine and watch the nightly major network news. Controversy brews when the theater director chooses To Kill A Mockingbird as the fall production. The novel includes many hot button topics including interracial dating, Vietnam, protests, cultural identity along with the popular music that accompanied those issues. Recommended for readers who experience that period of American life. Current day students who are interested in the early year of their parents and grandparents lives will find the novel informative.
Linda G, Reviewer
The late 1960’s were years filled with major historical events: war in Viet Nam, the Cambodian War,Woodstock, Kent State shooting, to name a few. Walter .Cronkite was the top reporter and news anchor, there was no internet, cellphones or fax machines; personal computers were years away.
Lena is a junior in an urban, public high school in Columbus, Ohio. She’s seriously dating and is thrilled with Current History and Journalism for electives. They play heavily into this story where she serves as narrator; a very reliable narrator.
Chappaquiddick, Man on the Moon & Apollo 11, the rock musical, HAIR, on Broadway, assassinations of JFK, MLK, and Black Civil Rights are topics of the history class and subjects for the school newspaper. Lena is a rising star on the paper..
Reading WORLD NEED FROM WAVERLEY, by Linda Kass, was a visit to my school experiences AND this time period. Not only are these events burned into my memory but the plethora of music mentioned was a walk down memory lane. Kass uses song titles for chapter headings beginning with Hot Gun in the Summer and ending with Stand By Me. It was a glorious concert in writing that includes over 60 well known tunes. Kass includes a complete listing of each song, in order of appearance, and provides the on sale date along with a brief blurb of its importance or her assessment of what the composer is trying to say thru the lyrics. For those who lived and listened then or do so know on an oldies station, this is pure gold. Spotify play list? Yes, please!
Kass is brilliant at creating characters and setting for this coming of age story. I can clearly remember my days that parallel the experiences and feelings expressed by Lena, her friends and family. The staff at the school are reminiscent of my high school teachers and administrators. I was fully engaged in this honest and accurate portrayal on the 60’s.
Aside for one f-bomb that appears in a direct quote, there are scant soft expletives. There’s no sexual content or descriptive violence to speak of. Interested 14+ would be reading candidates. Even better would be reading together with interested adults. The content and inclusive nature will spark conversations of value.
Highly recommended for those interested in 1960’s History, Coming of Age stories, Historical Fiction and Oldies Music📚
I received a copy for review purposes. All opinions are honest and mine alone.
Read and Reviewed from a pdf file via Kindle with thanks to Publisher’s Weekly, the author and publisher.
Veronica G, Reviewer
I always find it fascinating to learn more about historical events through different perspectives, and this specific time in history is so interesting to me.
Set during the 1969–1970 school year, this story takes us back to a time of the Vietnam War, social injustices, protests, drugs, and rock and roll, all seen through the eyes of Lena, a teenager trying to find her voice while the world around her seems to be changing by the minute.
A thought-provoking novel that transported me back in time, this one is definitely worth picking up.
Abbey J, Reviewer
My favorite thing about historical fiction is it often brings clarity to the present moment as well. “World News from Waverly High” was such an immersive read that transported me to high school hallways in 1969, but also gave me the space to contemplate what current events we’re living through now.
Throughout a full school year, we live important moments from 1969-1970 through the perspective of Lena Rosen. She is the kind of girl I want my girls to grow up to be like- intelligent, involved, and curious. From her current events class to the high school newspaper and the school play, she processes and connect with other students and allows us to relive some of the most formative events of that decade and how it affected a diverse group of people.
Not only was this an enjoyable read for me as an adult, I think it would be an extremely fascinating book study for a middle or high schooler. Complete with a soundtrack from that era, it is full of content that would make for incredible discussion and growth!
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