On Tour 09/01/26-10/05/26l “World News From Waverly High” by Linda Kass

Release Date: September 8, 2026

About The Book:

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 debacles, and campus protests—while also navigating her complicated relationship with 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 the Kent State shootings collapse 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.

About The Author:

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. Linda lives in Columbus with her husband, Frank; they have four children, six grandchildren, and a labradoodle named Wally. https://www.lindakass.com/

Social Media:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/linda.sternkass

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lindakassauthor

Book Blurbs:

“The characters in this bighearted novel set in a high school are trying to make sense of that astounding, magnetic, musical, and tumultuous decade known as The Sixties. Linda Kass orchestrates the telling of it all with eloquence and true tenderness.”—Wil Haygood, author of Tigerland: 1968–1969: A City Divided, a Nation Torn Apart, and a Magical Season of Healing

“Remember what it was like when you were a teenager and your whole life, thrilling and frightening, was opening ahead of you? World News from Waverley High, with its fast-paced storyline and its nuanced treatment of time and place, will remind you. With a clear eye and sensitivity to all that presses down on her characters, Linda Kass has written a novel that resonates with the here and now.”—Lee Martin, author of The Evening Shades and Pulitzer Prize finalist The Bright Forever

“Linda Kass’s powerful new novel, World News from Waverley High, not only captures the intensity of what it was like to be a teenager during the dawn of the 1970s living through earthquakes in the culture—while grooving to some of history’s best rock and roll—but also compels the reader to reflect on how the anxieties of then compare to the turbocharged anxieties of now. A stirring, thought-provoking read!”—Helen Schulman, author of Lucky Dogs and New York Times bestseller This Beautiful Life

“Linda Kass takes readers on a journey through a turbulent year at Waverley High. Told through the perspective of a high school student, this novel is filled with the sights, sounds, and cataclysmic historical events of 1969–1970. Turning the pages takes you back to a time you may remember—or a time that needs to be remembered in vivid detail. Meet these characters and enter a period that changed American history forever.”—Pamela Klinger-Horn, event coordinator at Valley Bookseller and creator and host of Literature Lovers’ Night Out

Bloggers On Tour:

Sept. 1st- Lindas Book Obsession https://www.facebook.com/lindasbookobsession/

Sept. 4th- Reading On The Brink https://www.instagram.com/readingonthebrink

Sept. 5th – Books and Coffee MX https://instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx

Sept. 10th- Reading Is My Remedy https://instagram.com/reading_is_my_remedy

Sept. 13th- Plains Reading https://instagram.com/plains_reading

Sept. 15th -Tammy Reads https://instagram.com/tammyreads62

Sept. 17th- Christina Luvs 2 Read https://instagram.com/christinaluvs2re

Sept. 18th -CMT Loves Wine and Books https://instagram.com/cmtloveswineandbooks

Sept 18th – Novels and Latte Book Club –https://www.facebook.com/groups/357651988042629

Sept. 19th -Books Love And Understanding https://instagram.com/booksloveandunderstanding

Sept. 20th- Miss W Book Reviews https://instagram.com/misswbookreviews