Put your children in danger: A guide for authors

At the same time as I am reading Virals, a young adult novel by Kathy Reichs, I have happened upon this YouTube video from Feminist Frequency (thank you to Our Feminist Playschool for the direct) reviewing the book The Hunger Games:


The whole video's very interesting, as are Anita Sarkeesian's other works, but I just want to pull out one teensy tidbit that relates to the novel Virals as well as the whole oeuvre of children's literature.

Anita says that she finds it unbelievable that the parents in The Hunger Games wouldn't stand up and refuse to let their children be sacrificed.

Oh, yes. Totally. But that's viewing it as an adult and being all reasonable and stuff. Young adult and children's fiction depends on adults — and parents in particular — being ineffectual, powerless, cruel, or entirely absent.

In celebration of a good novel: Kathy Reichs vs. Bones

Actor Emily Deschanel and author Kathy Reichs on the set of Bones (image courtesy Fox)

I just checked out Bones Are Forever, by Kathy Reichs, from the library and realized it had been a long time since I felt that pull of a well-written novel. I found myself seeking out excuses to slip away to read, and I carried the book around with me in hopes odd respites would present themselves and need to be filled with a good book.

The TV show Bones, based on Reichs' work, is so goofily overwritten that it's astonishing it came out of the Temperance Brennan novels. I even like Bones, but it's so cringe-inducing for how two-dimensional the characters are and how painfully obvious each emotional revelation becomes.

It was refreshing to dive back into the original world of Tempe and enjoy Kathy Reichs' dry, exhaustively detailed, but fascinating peeks into the world of forensic anthropology — with some shootouts and kidnappings along for the thrills, of course.

Poems for Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop — Week 5: Enjoy

We're sharing our final poems from the Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop:

Week 5:

Enjoy

This week — I can't believe it's our last! — we're embracing the camaraderie of parenthood and reveling in our children's joy and creativity.

If you have a poem or poems posted on your blog, link up below, or paste your poem(s) in the comments!

Prompts for Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop — Week 5: Enjoy

Today marks the start of the fifth and final week of the Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop! One last week of prompts to inspire your poetry.

We're each writing at least one parenting-themed poem a week on an overarching parenting theme, which I post on Mondays. On Fridays, I post a linkup so we can all share what we've been working on, and then we enjoy reading each other's work. It's been inspiring for all of us!

I also post daily prompts for the week in advance, both to give you more of an idea of what the theme represents, and for any overachievers who want to write more than one poem a week! Remember, anyone who writes and posts a poem for each day of the challenge automatically wins a signed prize copy of Poetry of a Hobo Mama, and anyone who writes and posts at least weekly will be entered into a drawing for one.

For full details and to grab a badge, see the intro post.

You can enjoy last week's poems here and link up your own if you haven't already! It was a beautiful week of poems on Trust.

Now it's time to get writing for this week! Ready?

The fifth week's theme is

Enjoy

Poems for Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop — Week 4: Trust

We're sharing our poems from the Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop:

Week 4:

Trust

This week — our next to last! — we're considering the move into our confidence and rhythm as parents even as we navigate the uncertain waters of discipline, spirituality, and seeking answers to big questions.

If you have a poem or poems posted on your blog, link up below, or paste your poem(s) in the comments!

Prompts for Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop — Week 4: Trust

Today starts the fourth week of the Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop!

We're each writing at least one parenting-themed poem a week on an overarching parenting theme, which I post on Mondays. On Fridays, I post a linkup so we can all share what we've been working on, and then we enjoy reading each other's work. It's been inspiring for all of us!

I also post daily prompts for the week in advance, both to give you more of an idea of what the theme represents, and for any overachievers who want to write more than one poem a week! Remember, anyone who writes and posts a poem for each day of the challenge automatically wins a signed prize copy of Poetry of a Hobo Mama, and anyone who writes and posts at least weekly will be entered into a drawing for one.

For full details and to grab a badge, see the intro post.

You can enjoy last week's poems here and link up your own if you haven't already! It was a beautiful week of poems on Hope.

Now it's time to get writing for this week! Ready?

The fourth week's theme is

Trust

Poems for Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop — Week 3: Hope

We're sharing our poems from the Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop:

Week 3:

Hope

This week we're considering babyhood from a natural parenting perspective and examining our changing identity as parents.

If you have a poem or poems posted on your blog, link up below, or paste your poem(s) in the comments!