Internet Bookwatch described this book as "Watch Boys And Other Stories by Joe Darwin Palmer (Professor Emeritus of Applied Linguistics, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada) is an impressive and original anthology of essays and memoirs. Drawing its title from the colloquial term for beggars in Somalia, Watch Boys is filled with anecdotes spanning Somalia, Egypt, Senegal, Siam, the United States, Quebec, and elsewhere as recollected and penned by J. D. Palmer, a writer who has lived in a wide variety of locales across the globe. Fluidly written and presented with empathy, heart, and wry understanding Watch Boys And Other Stories is a literary celebration of cultural, historical, and anthropological commentaries by a gifted observer with a genuine talent for expressive storytelling."