Carol Gorman Biography

(Jane Ballard, a pseudonym)

Personal

Born in Iowa City, IA; Education: University of Iowa, B.A.

Addresses

Agent—c/o author correspondence HarperCollins, Inc., 10 E. 53rd St., 7th Floor, New York, NY 10022.

Career

Middle school teacher in Cedar Rapids, IA, prior to 1984; writer, 1984—. Conducts writing workshops and makes presentations in elementary and middle schools; part-time instructor, Coe College.

Honors Awards

Best books for the teen age citation, New York Public Library, 1987, for America's Farm Crisis; outstanding book citation, American Library Association and Ethical Culture Book Award, both 1987, both for Chelsey and the Green-Haired Kid; children's choice list, International Reading Association, 1994, for Die for Me, and 1995, for Graveyard Moon; Missouri Mark Twain Award, Sequoyah Children's and Young Adult Book Award, South Carolina Children's, Junior, and Young Adult Book Award, Washington Children's Choice Picture Book and Sasquatch Reading Award, and West Virginia Children's Book Award, all 2002, all for Dork in Disguise.

Writings

America's Farm Crisis, Franklin Watts (New York, NY), 1987.

Chelsey and the Green-Haired Kid, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1987.

Pornography, Franklin Watts (New York, NY), 1988.

T. J. and the Pirate Who Wouldn't Go Home, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1990.

The Biggest Bully in Brookdale, Concordia Publishing House (St. Louis, MO), 1992.

It's Not Fair, illustrated by Rudy Nappi, Concordia Publishing House (St. Louis, MO), 1992.

Die for Me, Avon Books (New York, NY), 1992.

Graveyard Moon, Avon Books (New York, NY), 1993.

The Great Director, illustrated by Rudy Nappi, Concordia Publishing House (St. Louis, MO), 1993.

Skin Deep, illustrated by Rudy Nappi, Concordia Publishing House (St. Louis, MO), 1993.

Nobody's Friend, illustrated by Rudy Nappi, Concordia Publishing House (St. Louis, MO), 1993.

The Richest Kid in the World, illustrated by Rudy Nappi, Concordia Publishing House (St. Louis, MO), 1993.

Brian's Footsteps, illustrated by Ed Koehler, Concordia Publishing House (St. Louis, MO), 1994.

The Taming of Roberta Parsley, illustrated by Ed Koehler, Concordia Publishing House (St. Louis, MO), 1994.

Million Dollar Winner, illustrated by Ed Koehler, Concordia Publishing House (St. Louis, MO), 1994.

The Rumor, illustrated by Ed Koehler, Concordia Publishing House (St. Louis, MO), 1994.

The Miraculous Makeover of Lizard Flanagan, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1994.

Jennifer-the-Jerk Is Missing, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1994.

Back from the Dead, Avon Books (New York, NY), 1995.

Lizard Flanagan, Supermodel?, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1998.

Dork in Disguise, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1999.

(Editor with husband, Ed Gorman) Felonious Felines, Five Star Press (Unity, ME), 2000.

Dork on the Run, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2002.

A Midsummer Night's Dork, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2004.

Also author of adult books under pseudonym Jane Ballard; ghostwriter for mystery series books.

Sidelights

Carol Gorman did not plan to become a professional writer. Trained as an actress and a teacher, Gorman took up writing for children because her husband, novelist Ed Gorman, encouraged her to try. Gorman's willingness to experiment has paid off in a selection of novels for middle school and upper elementary grade readers, including straight mysteries, comic adventures, and humorous tales of budding adolescence. Gorman is best known for her recurring characters, including Jerry Flack the "dork" and Lizard Flanagan the tomboy, who learn to celebrate their uniqueness in a middle-school culture that encourages conformity.

The daughter of a pediatrician and a homemaker, Gorman grew up in Iowa. As a student she gravitated to the stage and won leading roles in college dramas, including West Side Story and Peter Pan. After graduating from college, she settled in Iowa and taught seventh grade. In the meantime, her husband was having success as an author of adult mysteries, and he suggested she try writing for children. "I probably would never have started writing if I hadn't married a writer," Gorman said in an interview with Book Report.

After writing two nonfiction books for middle-school readers, Gorman moved into fiction. One of her early successes was Chelsey and the Green-Haired Kid. Wheelchair-bound Chelsey and her green-haired friend become detectives after Chelsey witnesses a suspicious accident. Part of the plot revolves around Chelsey's disability and how she lives with it, a theme that brought Gorman awards and national attention for the title. Other Gorman mysteries such as Die for Me and Graveyard Moon also received citations as best books for younger or struggling readers.

Jerry Flack is the hero of several Gorman novels, including Dork in Disguise, Dork on the Run, and A Midsummer Night's Dork. Jerry wears glasses and loves science. Can he survive in middle school, or should he try to change his image? In Dork in Disguise, Jerry tries looking and acting "cool" in hopes of winning the interest of the popular crowd in general and a girl named Cinnamon in particular. Instead he discovers the friendship of Brenda, a female dork who recognizes one of her own. In Dork on the Run, Jerry decides to run for class president even though his opponent is a popular kid who will stop at nothing to scare, embarrass, and humiliate Jerry. Success comes when Jerry uses his own dorkiness as a selling strategy for the campaign. "If there was ever a quintessential book on dealing with bullies, this is it," wrote Tina Zubak in her School Library Journal review of Dork on the Run. Zubak also called the book "a thoughtful read and a discussion starter." Horn Book reviewer Peter D. Sieruta praised Dork on the Run as a "fast-paced story that will appeal to the dork in us all."

Lizard Flanagan got her nickname when her brother couldn't pronounce "Elizabeth." As the heroine of two books, The Miraculous Makeover of Lizard Flanagan and Lizard Flanagan, Supermodel? she struggles with the transition from a rough-and-tumble tomboy to an adolescent sportswoman who is also interested in makeup and boys. Helping Lizard make this transition

Jerry Flack risks exhuming his past image as a dork when he runs for sixth-grade class president in Carol Gorman's humorous novel for young readers. (Cover art by Michael Koelsch.)

is Zach, an old friend who becomes a boyfriend over the course of the two novels, and Lizard's twin brother, Sam, who helps to keep her grounded. In her Booklist review of The Miraculous Makeover of Lizard Flanagan, Kay Weisman concluded that Gorman covers adolescent issues "with a refreshing sense and good humor that will appeal to middle-grade readers everywhere." Reviewing Lizard Flanagan, Supermodel? in the School Library Journal, Connie Tyrrell Burns wrote: "In the face of those stereotypical dual preoccupations of sixth-grade girls—boys and bodies—Lizard is a refreshing character."

Sometimes during her school visits, Gorman will be asked if she ever knew a dork like Jerry Flack. Then she admits it: She was once a dork herself. More to the point, she thinks most preteens suffer moments when they feel like dorks or are convinced that they look like a dork. "I think everyone can identify with how Jerry Flack feels," she said in an interview with the Des Moines Register. Gorman has endowed Jerry and his sidekick Brenda with believable personalities and moments of quiet triumph and self-satisfaction.