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Searching for Clues: Classics of Our Time

PAMELA JANE
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Our imaginations were shaped by the great classics of our time, such as The Clue of the Broken Locket, in which Nancy Drew, detective, won the respect of her distinguished father and the admiration of the local police with her quick wittedness and courage. My friends and I combed the neighborhood in search of a clue that would lead to a hair-raising mystery – a scrap of paper, a footprint, a rusty key. But nothing panned out. Then one night, a car slowed down on our street (there had recently been a kidnapping in a neighboring town). Quickly and resourcefully, I jotted down the license number. Then the mysterious automobile sped away! We waited for the next episode to unfold, but nothing happened. There was no second chapter, no subsequent clue. The entire story line collapsed. Stories in books were more satisfying than life with its disappointments and dead ends. Nancy Drew never discovered a clue that led nowhere and … Read on

Pamela Jane is the author of over thirty books from board books to memoir. She is also a writing coach, freelance writer, and public speaker. Learn more about her by booking a school visit, perusing her blog, or reading her memoir, An Incredible Talent for Existing: A Writer's Story.

Coming Home to Children’s Books

PAMELA JANE
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In 1980, when I moved to New York, I enrolled at Fashion Institute of Technology to become a fashion designer. My new artist’s portfolio bulged with shiny pinking shears, pins, and colored chalk. But the work was grueling and the stiff mannequins draped in muslin had little connection to the dazzling creations floating in my head. Late one night, after a long day at work, my German draping teacher eyed the mannequin I was draping for the fourth time. “Zat pin has no meaning!” she cried, pointing accusingly to a pin I had just stuck in the mannequin. I took that as a deeply existential statement about my future as a fashion designer, and quit. Now what was I going to do? During my lunch hours at the law firm I worked at, I browsed through Scribner’s Bookstore on Fifth Avenue, climbing the winding stairway to the second floor to read in the comfortable armchairs. I found myself drawn to … Read on

Pamela Jane is the author of over thirty books from board books to memoir. She is also a writing coach, freelance writer, and public speaker. Learn more about her by booking a school visit, perusing her blog, or reading her memoir, An Incredible Talent for Existing: A Writer's Story.