My third grade teacher, Miss Shuck, didn’t designate me a bluebird or even a finch. While she listened to others sound out new words in their readers’ circles, I sat alone, wholly absorbed in the high school fiction anthology she had given me. Having provided me with this aloneness that is antithetical to loneliness, Miss Shuck awakened in me a desire to understand human nature and introduced me to the kind of critical thinking that we imagine belongs to adults alone.

​Victoria has many years’ experience as both an English teacher and a teacher-librarian. She’s an unapologetic reader of banned books and the mother of three boys. She tweets all too infrequently at @waddleido. You can contact her at VictoriaWaddle.com where she blogs about writers and writing.