Carol Gorman

Career Gorman began writing when her husband read letters that she had sent to her siblings and suggested she would make a good writer. As he was already a published writer, Carol took his suggestion and began writing. She turned to books to teach her how to do so effectively, and wrote two books before getting published. There are now has at least 22 books published either under her own name, or the pseudonym, Jane Ballard. She has also worked as a ghost writer for other authors.

One of the many authors who have contributed to the Nancy Drew mystery series under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene (three published 1989/90), Gorman has devoted much of her writing to mystery and suspense novels for children. She conducts writers' workshops at elementary and middle schools, and teaches part-time at Coe College in Iowa.

While most of her books are fiction, "America’s Farm Crisis", a nonfiction book aimed at sixth-grade students has been praised for doing “a commendable job at describing the farm crisis” in America.

Chelsey and the Green-Haired Kid was cited as an outstanding book for the reluctant reader by the American Library Association, earned the Ethical Culture Book Award, was nominated for four state young readers' awards, and was recommended in a Ladies' Home Journal article "How to Get Your Kids to Love Books."

Dork in Disguise won the 2002—South Carolina Association of School Librarians (SCASL) Junior Book Award.

The Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights announced its 2005 Outstanding Book Awards and issued an honorable mention to Carol Gorman & Ron Findley for Stumptown Kid.

Books America's Farm Crisis - Franklin Watts (New York, NY), 1987 Chelsey and the Green-Haired Kid - Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1987 T. J. and the Pirate Who Wouldn't Go Home - Scholastic (New York, NY), 1990 It's Not Fair - Concordia Publishing House (St. Louis, MO), 1992 (illustrated by Rudy Nappi) The Biggest Bully in Brookdale - Concordia, 1990 Die for Me - Avon Books (New York, NY), 1992 Graveyard Moon - Avon Books, 1993 The Great Director - Concordia Publishing House, 1993 (illustrated by Rudy Nappi) Skin Deep - Concordia Publishing House, 1993 (illustrated by Rudy Nappi) Nobody's Friend - Concordia Publishing House, 1993 (illustrated by Rudy Nappi) The Richest Kid in the World - Concordia Publishing House, 1993 (illustrated by Rudy Nappi) Brian's Footsteps - Concordia Publishing House, 1994 (illustrated by Ed Koehler) The Taming of Roberta Parsley - Concordia Publishing House, 1994 (illustrated by Ed Koehler) Million Dollar Winner - Concordia Publishing House, 1994 (illustrated by Ed Koehler) The Rumor - Concordia Publishing House, 1994 (illustrated by Ed Koehler) 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 Vrai Ou Faux - Hachette, 1996 The Bugman Lives! - 1996 (with R. L. Stine) Lizard Flanagan, Supermodel? - HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1998 Dork In Disguise - HarperCollins, 1999: Children's Choice Award (2001–02) Mark Twain Readers Award (2002), Sequoyah Children's Book Award (2002) Sasquatch Reading Award (2002) Honor Book - Massachusetts Children's Book Award (2003-2004) Felonious Felines - Five Star Press (Unity, ME), 2000 (editor with Ed Gorman) L'Homme Insecte - 2000 Dork on the Run - HarperCollins, 2002 A Midsummer Night's Dork - HarperCollins, 2004 Games - HarperCollins, 2007 Stumptown Kid - 2005 (co-author with Ron J. Findley): Paterson Prize for Books for Young People (2006)