What Jamie Saw

A young boy, his mom, and his baby sister flee from the abusive Van, after Jamie (the boy) sees Van throw his baby sister across the room. They move into a tiny trailer out in the middle of nowhere and both Jamie and his mother struggle to sort out their emotions and fears, while Jamie's mother also struggles to make ends meet.
A powerful subject and a fair-to-middling treatment. Still, possibly a good introduction to breaching the subject with young minds.

This Newbery Honor book didn't feel like a book for children or young adults. It felt like masterfully written short story for adults. The protagonist is a child, but I think the audience is adult.

As the book opens, Jamie, a third grade boy who lives with his baby sister, his mother, and her boyfriend, looks up to see the boyfriend throwing his baby sister across the room. His mother catches the baby, and she is fine, but she packs up her two children and leaves that very moment.

The rest of book covers the few weeks after they leave, as his mother, struggling both financially and emotionally, tries to figure out how to make things work.

A simple, beautiful, and emotion filled little book.

This books packs a punch beginning with the first sentence of chapter one: "When Jamie saw him throw the baby, saw Van throw the little baby, saw Van throw his little sister Nin, when Jamie saw Van throw his baby sister Nin, then they moved." This sentence sets up the dual problems Jamie confronts--his fear for his own and his family's safety and his worry about where his family will live. Essentially, Jamie needs security. Additionally, this first sentence establishes the young voice of Jamie. Many of the sentences, despite the third person voice used, are in this kind of round-about, rambling style--reminiscent of a young child who can't get his words right.
Coman mirrors her opening with the first sentence of the last chapter of the show more book: "Van showed up on Christmas Eve when Jamie was alone in the trailer with Nin." The tension is extreme at this point. Then within ten pages the climax is reached, the conflict resolved and Jamie is on the road to recovery. A spare and satisfying ending. show less

This 1996 Newbery Honor book was also a finalist for the National Book Award. It packs a punch in a mere 126 pages and it addresses a social issue that is compelling and necessary to discuss, ie the impact that adult decisions have upon their small children. Jamie's mother chose to subject her children in an unsafe situation. In the end, Jamie's mother also chose a path toward better decisions.

Short of fuse and long of violence, the boyfriend of Jamie's mother symbolizes the terror that children feel when life spins out of control.

Jamie saw Van violently lift and attempt to throw his infant sister Nin against a wall. Nin was crying and it inconvenienced Van. Luckily Jamie's mother caught the baby before she hit the wall.

As they find show more rescue in the home of another of his mother's friends, and then move on to a trailer deep in the woods, Jamie's fears and terrors surface. In hibernation, Jamie's family are sitting ducks for Van to return and harm again.

When a teacher reaches out and helps pave the way for safe decisions, it then enables Jamie and his mother to stand up to Van.

While this is a heavy book, laden with difficult subjects of abuse, fear, helplessness, it is also a book of hope when Jamie and his mother accept loving resources available.

Highly recommended. show less

I read the archived copy of this on openlibrary.org. Unfortunately, the last page is missing. Fortunately, my library has an e-audiobook. Even more fortunately, the author reads an afterward about the making of the story and what it means to her.

The book is short, but beautifully written, and fast-paced. The theme is straightforward. I love that the mom isn't a victim, but takes herself and her children away. I don't love that she smokes with them so close and confined to her, but ok. I thought for awhile that there was something 'special' about Jamie, but I decided not.

I do recommend it.

In memorizing simplicity Coman unpacks a child’s terrified reaction to living with an abusive, possibly mentally ill (or at least unstable) adult, his Mother’s boyfriend, Van. As Patty tells Mrs. Desrouchers, who visits them to find out why Jamie has not been in school. Jamie’s real Father is “long gone,” which indicates more fully what a prolonged and deep-seeded psychological scarring has taken place. Simple and real, Coman deftly portrays the behavioral side-effects of abuse. Hope—the love that gives you strength even when you are more than scared yourself, and friendship flash within the story like the blades on Jamie’s skates, or the tin-foil tinsel on their outside tree.
If You Liked This, Try: Yolonda’s Genius by show more Carol Fenner, Getting Near to Baby by Audrey Couloumbis, The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw, Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis, Belle Prater’s Boy by Ruth White.
Awards: Newbery Honor show less

This book is written from the perspective of Jamie, a little boy. He, his mother, and his little sister are living with a man named Van. The three of them are forced to flea in the middle of the night when Van throws his younger sister, Nin, across the room in a fit of rage. His mom is able to catch her in time so that she is not hurt but the event scares Jamie to the point where he begins to live in fear even after leaving. They move into the trailer of his mother's friend Earl. Earl makes comments that they are not safe from Van. This adds to Jamie's fear. One scene describes Jamie trying to get dressed in a hurry, he isn't sure why he is hurrying but the scene alludes to the anxiety and panic that a child may feel when feeling show more unsafe. This is a too real scenario. While I do think that the topic is important I am not sure that I would be prepared to read this with my class. show less