Books with author carolyn coman

Reveals the impact of witnessing violence even as it affirms the luminous power of love. Jamie's mother is there to catch the baby -this time. She does what she must to keep her family out of harm's way, but still the shock waves of Van's act reverberate through their lives. What Jamie Saw is a moving, visceral dramatization of violence in the home, told not from the point of view of a victim, but as witnessed by a nine-year-old boy. The impact of observed violence perpetrated against loved ones is profound and destructive, and altogether too common. Drawing on his mother's desperate strength, his own determination, and help from an unexpected friend, Jamie confronts his fear and anxiety - learning, adapting, and triumphing. HONORS Emphasis on Reading (Children's Choice) Award -State of Alabama Newbery Medal Honor Book National Book Award Finalist ALA Notable Children's Books Editors' Choice -Booklist Blue Ribbon Book -BCCB "A Few Good Books" -Book Links Children's Books of Distinction -Hungry Mind Review Children's Books -100 titles for Reading and Sharing -New York Public Library REVIEWS "Coman admirably overcomes the technical difficulties she has set for herself in beginning her novel with such an intense scene, and her conclusion, with Van deflated by the unified front Jamie and his mother present, satisfies and feels truthful. Jamie, with his acute observations and ability to completely immerse himself in the moment, is a memorable character children will recognize as being just like them." -Booklist "In effect, Coman speaks for her hero with the intuitive understanding and empathy of a mother. The subjective impressions that she records are unmistakably those of a young boy, and Jamie's subjectivity becomes increasingly convincing; the cumulative effect is mesmerizing. Reading this short novella, readers will find themselves quickly slipping into a mode of thought analogous to the protagonist's. It's a profound characterization and a remarkable achievement in a book about ordinary people trying to put their lives in order." -Kirkus Reviews "Coman puts us at the heart of a crisis. The setting, sparely and precisely evoked, is a gray Vermont December, and Coman is nervy enough to place the climax on Christmas Eve[.]" -Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books "Grounded in Jamie's perspective, Carolyn Coman writes a novel about the tension of living in fear, and the courage of breaking free." -CCBC Choices (University of Wisconsin) "The powerful story probes with painful insistence at the insidious nature of fear and its consequences." -Horn Book Guide "From the gripping opening until the very last page, readers share the real fear, anger, and anguish that haunt Jamie and his mother. Their ability to face their fears and thus begin to reconstruct their lives brings this short, but powerful story to closure." -Children's Literature

Women banned from education. Husbands chosen by parents. Does one New York teen have the courage to stand against oppression? “A compelling, unexpected, thrilling read that elevates the young adult genre with smart and ground-breaking social commentary.” —Elizabeth Banks, “Effie Trinket” from The Hunger GamesWinner 2017 International Book Award for Young Adult Fiction.Manhattan, 2119. Fifteen-year-old Mina Clark hides her heresy to protect her family’s honor. And in a world where women are second-class citizens and young brides are sold to the highest bidder, only Mina’s beloved grandmother secretly fuels her forbidden love of reading. But when Nana is rushed to the hospital, Mina races to grab hold of the illegal materials before authorities come knocking.Confronted by her horrid, spoiled brat betrothed, Mina commits an act of disobedience that could threaten everything she holds dear. Fearing for her life, she teams up with her fiancé’s handsome bodyguard and follows the clues hidden in Nana’s Primer to the heart of the Manhattan underground.Can Mina unravel the mystery and fight for freedom?Time Zero is the first book in an eye-opening dystopian YA trilogy. If you like determined heroines, suspenseful action, and a harrowing glimpse of the future, then you’ll love Carolyn Cohagan’s award-winning novel.Buy Time Zero to join the uprising today!

Up until five months ago, Roz, 12, and her mother, Ellie, lived a secluded, spiritual life together in the mountains. When Ellie suddenly dies trying to rescue a lost hiker, Roz moves in with her uncle Mike, a solitary Vietnam veteran. She floats through school—it means nothing to her. Lacking her mother's religious convictions, the girl struggles to understand death and her feelings of desertion. She is driven to find the boy Ellie lost her life for, and when she does, she demands that he tell her everything he knows about the incident-which turns out to be almost nothing.

Fifteen-year-old Mina Clark lives in a future Manhattan that is ruled by extremists. Girls aren’t allowed to get an education, they need permission to speak to boys, and all marriages are negotiated by contract. But Mina’s grandmother has secretly been teaching her to read, leading Mina down a path of rebellion, romance, and danger that not only threatens to destroy her family’s reputation, it could get Mina killed. Suspenseful and empowering, Time Zero is about what it’s like to be powerless, underestimated, and manipulated and what it takes to go against society to assert who you actually want to be.

A father and daughter confront each other and their own wounds in a land of loss and reconciliation. HONORS Trudi Birger Prize Honor Book Tayshas High School Reading List -Texas Library Association Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book National Book Award Finalist ALA Best Books for Young Adults Top Choice List -Children's Literature CCBC Choices Editors' Choice Top of the List -Booklist Lasting Connections -Book Links SLJ Best Books Books for the Teen Age -NYPL Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist Editor's Hardcover Fiction Choice List -KLIATT REVIEWS "Coman has deftly woven together the themes of death, grieving, and reconciliation through the characters and setting of this emotionally elegant novel." -School Library Journal "In plain words, as hard as stones, this small, riveting book connects the anguish in one family with the struggle of a country to come to terms with its savage past." -Booklist "It's an uplifting tale: harsh, complex, but lit at the end by a promise of reconciliation." -Kirkus Reviews "You read this small book in one breathless rush to the end, then go back and back again and find more to think about each time." -New York Times Book Review "There is gripping writing here, from the lightning-quick portraits of passing players to the descriptions of South Africa to the convincingly clipped conversations between daughter and father. And most important, the protagonist's emotional complexities seem uncannily true to life." -Publishers Weekly "R Coman etches with telling clarity Berry's stormy ambivalence, delicately and deliberately picking out the authentic adolescent hypervigilance. Recommended." -Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books "A deeply moving story." -Financial Times (London)

We belong to the Earth, Lainie-Bug. We were sent here in human form for a reason. If you don’t know what to do, then just be human.Right. Like that was ever a simple thing to do.In the heart of the Wimmera region of Victoria, an ancient gateway to Eden is kept hidden and safe by a creature so powerful that even the moon would obey her commands – at least it would if she had any idea that she wasn’t just a normal girl about to finish high school. When a mining company begins exploratory sampling near Lainie’s sheep farm, a family secret is revealed that makes her regret not having learnt more about her Indigenous heritage.What she’s told by their farmhand, Harry – an Aboriginal Elder – can’t possibly be true, but then the most irritating guy in class, Bane, begins to act even more insanely toward her than ever, until she can no longer deny that something very unusual is going on.When Harry doesn’t return from his quest to seek help to protect the area from the miners, Lainie sets out to discover the truth of her heritage, and of the secret she’s been born to protect.