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In Times Past
an eBook on CD
by Carol Hurst and Rebecca Otis

Integrating US History with Literature in Grades 3-8.

Enliven your US History curriculum!

Teach US History using great kids books.

More Info

What Jamie Saw

by Carolyn Coman. (Front Street,1995 ISBN 1-886910-02-2) Novel. 123 pages. Grades 4+.

Review

This is a spare, thoughtful, insightful story about child-abuse and feeling safe after being afraid. Jamie, his mother and the baby, Nin, have been living with Nin's father, Van. Although we see only one explosive moment of Van's violence, we know it's not an isolated incident. Van hurls Nin through the air in the first paragraph of the book. Mercifully, amazingly, but quite credibly, Patty catches Nin and takes herself, Nin and Jamie away. The rest of this intense, brief novel deals with this small wounded family and how, with the help of Patty's friend Earl and Jamie's teacher, they find safety and healing. This remarkable novel is carefully honed; the unsaid words are as important as the others.