SUMMARY
What Jamie Saw is the story of a young boy's thoughts when dealing with abuse and liv-ing in hiding. Jamie, his mom, Patty, and his baby sister, Nin, leave the night that Van, Nin's father, throws Nin across the room. They get help from Patty's friend, Earl, who moves them to his trailor, which seems to be in the middle of nowhere. The three are pretty content in the small trailer even though Patty does not have a bed and Nin sleeps in a drawer. Jamie has his magic though so it seems like they are set. Then his teacher starts trying to help, the car won't work, Christmas is coming, and the trailer door freezes up - locking them inside. Luckily Earl is always there to save them and offer extra sup-port. Then, Van shows up. This time though, Patty says, "no" and Jamie, Nin, and Patty are going to be okay.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carolyn Coman writes stories about tough issues. She has received a lot of praise for her work. She is described as being a wonderful writer and her writing is described as pure poetry. Coman is editor at Heinemann and lives in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where she raises her two children. She has also written Tell Me Everything, Many Stones, Bee and Jacky, Body and Soul: Ten American Women, Losing Things at Mr. Mudd's.

RESPONSE AND RATIONALE
I had heard about this book from my friend and Dr. Slick. Both said that it was a great, easy-to-read book. I checked it out for my own enjoyment, but after I began reading it, I decided it would be a good book to use for my young adult literature project. I really en-joyed What Jamie Saw and completed it in two days. Carolyn Coman has a way to really keep a reader interested. I felt as though I knew what Jamie was feeling because there was so much detail written. Right from the beginning, when Coman writes, "When Ja-mie saw him throw the baby, saw Van throw the little baby, saw Van throw his little sis-ter Nin, when Jamie saw Van throw his baby sister Nin, then they moved." She has you involved and interested in what happens. What Jamie Saw was easy to follow and was a very moving story. I think this book can really help students to understand abuse. I have taught lessons on similar topics and it is sometimes difficult to get the students interested and involved. I think this story can be a great tool.

ACTIVITIES
I would like to use this book during lessons on abuse in an eighth grade teen living skills class. I like the idea of using time during class either for read alouds or having the stu-dents read independently. Students get so much other homework in their other classes so if I really want them to read the whole book I need to allow them time in class. The chapters are a good size that they can easily accomplish in one a day. Depending on what the students seem to like best is how I would decide whether to do more read aloud or independent reading.

Good chapters for read alouds include:
	Chapter 1
	Chapter 3
	Chapter 5
	Chapter 6
	Chapter 7
	Chapter 10

I like the first chapter because it is a good introduction to abuse. After reading it aloud, I would ask the students to write what they believe will happen in the next chapter. I would pose these questions for them to think about:
	Where will they go?
	Will they get help? From who?
	How do they all feel?
Afterwards, the students would share their stories with other classmates

After chapter three, we would discuss communication and the importance of it in abuse situations. The students would break up into groups and do role-plays in which there are abuse scenarios. The students would practice and later present to the class. Afterwards we would discuss each situation.

After chapter five or six (depending how the students are moving along), we would dis-cuss fear. The students would journal about a time when they were really afraid. Then they would share their stories in pairs. The pairs then would compare and contrast their fear and the fear of Jamie and his mother.

After chapter seven, we would look at getting help. First the students would come up with their own ideas or who and where they could go to for help. Then as a class, we would compile a list. Individually, the students would write what the advantages were of getting help, which would be handed in, at the end of the hour or the next day.

After chapter nine, we would discuss role models and the important role they play in situations such as Jamie's. The students would prepare a short speech to give to the class about a role model in their life. The students would be given different examples of how to do their speech, but I would encourage them to be creative.

After completion of the book, we would discuss the following questions:
	What do you think was Van's purpose for coming?
	How do you think Jamie felt? And Patty?
	What do you think you would do in a situation like this?
We would talk about Patty telling Van "No. No. Don't you do that." I would explain the importance of saying straight out "NO!" because otherwise people may get wrong ideas.

In the beginning of the lesson, I would give the assignment to create a pamphlet or bro-chure on abuse. The students could choose who their audience is and how they want to design it. They can use information from class, but are also expected to do some research. This would be due one week after completion of the book.

REFLECTION
In the beginning of this project, I really didn't know what direction I wanted to go. It just sort of happened that I started reading What Jamie Saw and decided that it would work really well for my young adult literature project. I don't plan on using much of a text-book in my classrooms, so this book would work out great. I think it is a good size for junior high students and the story is so easy to follow and get involved in. The chapters work nice with a lot of other material that I would want to present when teaching about abuse. Plus, I think the story can make abuse more real to students who cannot identify with it (which will hopefully be all of my students!).