Born in Chicago, Illinois, Carolyn Coman was a member of the first graduating class of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. After graduation, she worked for several years as a book binder, and then as an editor at an educational publishing house where she developed professional materials for children. She also taught writing at Harvard Extension. While her daughter, Anna, attended school, Coman worked as a volunteer writing teacher in her daughter's classroom. There she met the boys and girls that appear in her novels, particularly Jamie, the child who has more problems than a young boy should have. Today, Coman lives in Newburyport, Massachusetts, with her two children, Anna and David. She is a full time writer.

Coman was awarded a Newbery Honor Award in 1995 for What Jamie Saw, as well as chosen a National Book Award Finalist by the National Book Foundation for...