Reston author's Dust Bowl novel wins three awards
by Ellyn Wexler, staff writer
During a recent school visit, Reston author Alyssa Colman met a girl who had just learned she has scoliosis, a condition in which the spine curves sideways. The student had picked up Colman’s novel “Where Only Storms Grow” because she enjoyed Lauren Tarshis’ “I Survived” series, which brings historical disasters to life through young characters.
Set during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, Colman’s novel centers on twins Joanna and Howe Stanton, whose family’s Oklahoma farm is threatened by drought and dust storms. Joanna also has scoliosis, giving the student a personal connection to the story.
The student’s teacher later told the author that the girl hoped to become an author herself. Diagnosed with scoliosis in second grade, Colman drew on her own experience to create Joanna, a character determined to prove her physical strength despite the condition. Meeting a young reader who shared that experience reinforced the personal significance of her story. “I feel proud to have scoliosis,” Colman said. “Now I get to be an ambassador for the community.”
The novel earned the American Library Association’s 2026 Schneider Family Book Award in the middle-grade category, which recognizes books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience. It received the Virginia Library Association’s 2026 Cardinal Cup Award, which honors a distinguished book in biography, historical fiction or American history for young people. Bank Street College’s Children’s Book Committee selected it for the 2026 Josette Frank Award, which recognizes fiction in which young characters face difficulties realistically and grow emotionally and morally. The novel appears on several state reading lists.
Colman did not set out to write about the Dust Bowl. In early 2020, while researching masks for her family during the COVID-19 pandemic, she came across a Johns Hopkins article that drew parallels between the Dust Bowl and the pandemic. She read about enormous dust storms that darkened skies across entire states and dust pneumonia, a lung disease that sickened and killed many people. She also learned about the masks people used to protect themselves from the dust.
At the time, Colman was developing a story about twins, one with scoliosis and one without. The two ideas merged into a novel about surviving circumstances beyond one’s control.
A school nurse first identified Colman’s scoliosis during a routine screening in second grade. Her parents initially questioned the finding, but a specialist confirmed the diagnosis. During the next five years, she spent much of her time at medical appointments, undergoing MRI scans and X-rays.
Every night, her parents strapped her into a Charleston Bending Brace that extended from her armpits to mid-thigh. The brace overcorrected her spine in the direction opposite the curve, helping to reduce it. Colman experienced frequent pain that led her to leave sports and dance, activities she had enjoyed as an active child. The pain also made her doubt her physical abilities.
She regained confidence in middle school, when a doctor helped her find the right physical therapy program.
Joanna grows up in the 1930s, when treatment options differed from those available to Colman. Unlike Joanna, whom others force to give up sports and dance, Colman made that decision herself because of pain. Her experience helped her portray the physical and emotional challenges of scoliosis in a different era.
“I hope young readers realize that disability does not define who a person is inside,” Colman said. “We are all multifaceted and find strength in different ways.”
Colman’s first two novels, “The Gilded Girl” and “The Tarnished Garden,” came out during the pandemic with little fanfare. The response to her latest book has surprised her, She has received invitations to visit schools around the country.
Although she had always wanted to write for children, Colman did not begin writing until her early 30s. She took classes through UCLA Extension and completed a first novel, which she jokes will never be published. When she tells students about that manuscript during school visits, they are often surprised to learn that authors also have to practice. She tried again, and her second novel became “The Gilded Girl,” which sold in a three-way publishing-house auction.
Colman and her family moved from Los Angeles to the Reston area in 2021 to be closer to her mother. She enjoys the area’s trails and visiting locally owned businesses such as Scrawl Books.
Colman’s next novel, “Loyalist, Patriot, Spy,” is scheduled for publication in September 2027. Set during the American Revolution, it follows a Loyalist boy and a Patriot girl as they track a real-life spy through British-occupied New York. Codes, mysteries and high-stakes horseback rides drive the story.
Colman is already researching another project and often visits the Reston library to check out history books. She welcomes school-visit requests from teachers through her website, www.alyssacolman.com/
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