Author Archives: pamwatts

About pamwatts

Writer, Reader, and Children's advocate

The Female Road Narrative: Some Thoughts

Posted on June 4, 2013

A good friend directed me to this thought-provoking article: The Lack of Female Road Narratives and Why it Matters from The American Reader. The author’s basic premise seems to be that compared to the number of male adventure books, female adventure books … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Lists, Current Events, Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Books About Abusive Relationships

Posted on May 27, 2013

I am so bad about reviewing good books that I read. I have a whole stack of books that I have been meaning to talk about on here for ages and I seem to never get around to them. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Post-apocalyptic Faerytales?: A Review of the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

Posted on May 21, 2013

I’ve talked about fantasy before on this blog, but it’s been awhile. So I am happy to have such a delightful excuse to do so now. Fantasy? You say. What has fantasy got to do with traumatized children and the like? More … Continue reading →

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Varian Johnson: Where Are All the Black Boys?

Posted on May 15, 2013

My friend the fabulous writer Varian Johnson posted this thoughtful essay on his blog and gave me permission to re-post it here. Where are all the black boys? Last week, author and librarian Betsy Bird posted this on Twitter: “At the risk of … Continue reading →

Posted in Guest Posts | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Day I Taught How Not to Rape

Posted on April 16, 2013

This is a wonderful post I came across today about the really scary misapprehensions some teens have about what actually does and does not constitute rape. And the author made the really vital point that we NEED to be having … Continue reading →

Posted in Guest Posts | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Never Invite a Normal Person to Your Graduation!

Posted on March 21, 2013

I just had a revelation. I was thinking about Mandy Kalinowski in How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr. On the train she meets a young man who she makes increasingly uncomfortable by trying to establish an unwanted connection with him. … Continue reading →

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

What Do We Owe Each Other?

Posted on March 19, 2013

I got an email today from one of my best and oldest friends. That was about 6 hours ago, and all I’ve been able to feel since then is rage. You see, this friend stopped speaking to me nearly a … Continue reading →

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Choosing Life: Review of How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr

Posted on March 14, 2013

I just got to read an incredible book by an incredible author. I’ve been a fan of Sara Zarr‘s work since I reviewed her novel Once Was Lost. And I am going to have the amazing good fortune of getting to meet … Continue reading →

Posted in Organizations, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

True Violence and Victim Mentality

Posted on February 20, 2013

  So, this share showed up on my facebook this morning. Of course, I was procrastinating writing so I had to think about it. And then I went to work, and I kept thinking about it. And I thought and … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events, Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Homelessness

Posted on February 8, 2013

I know that I talk about fairly devastating things on this blog all the time, but there are some things that I’m too afraid to talk about or find too upsetting–even me. I’ve been avoiding writing about child and teen … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Lists, Reviews, Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments