Books with author Robert Cormier

Meet seventeen-year-old Mike, who visits his grandmother's bedside and learns a family secret.A divorced father who discovers only love, not bribes, can keep his daughter 'his' on Thursdays.And Jerry, a young boy desperately looking for the missing Grover Cleveland card to complete his set of president cards.Here are nine stories by Robert Cormier, one of the most gifted writers of young adult fiction today; stories that are warm, touching, and intensely personal--to be savored by readers of all ages.

In the tradition of those by William Allen White and Russell Baker, Robert Cormier’s essays, originally written as newspaper columns, offering touching, humorous, and intensely personal observations and anecdotes about small-town life in America. Cormier explores those things that interest and excite him—from current events to the movies—as well as things that touch his heart—a daughter’s wedding, the shape of his mother’s hands. “I have words to spend, and I do not always spend them wisely.” Cormier writes—a surprising confession from a novelist hailed as a master craftsman and noted for his spare and controlled prose. It is also the confession of a writer unafraid to submit to the rigors of writing under deadline and of an observer who sees with his heart as well as with his eyes. I Have Words to Spend is a splendid collection of pieces about the small-town visions and values that have particular poignancy in a time of turmoil. This is a volume to treasure and to return to over and over again. “Cormier’s economical style of writing stories with a twist is evident in this collection of eighty-five short essays that were originally written as newspaper columns.”—The Book Report

Eugene is remembering the summer of 1938 in Frenchtown, a time when he began to wonder “what I was doing here on the planet Earth.” Here in vibrant, exquisite detail are his lovely mother, his aunts and uncles, cousins and friends, and especially his beloved, enigmatic father. Here, too, is the world of a mill town: the boys swimming in a brook that is red or purple or green, depending on the dyes dumped that day by the comb shop; the visit of the ice man; and the boys’ trips to the cemetery or the forbidden railroad tracks. And here also is a darker world–the mystery of a girl murdered years before. Robert Cormier’s touching, funny, melancholy chronicle of a vanished world celebrates a son’s connection to his father and human relationships that are timeless.From the Paperback edition.

Before there was Lois Lowry s "The Giver" or M. T. Anderson s" Feed," there was Robert Cormier s "I Am the Cheese," a subversive classic that broke new ground for YA literature. A boy s search for his father becomes a desperate journey to unlock a secret past. But the past must not be remembered if the boy is to survive. As he searches for the truth that hovers at the edge of his mind, the boy and readers arrive at a shattering conclusion. An absorbing, even brilliant job. The book is assembled in mosaic fashion: a tiny chip here, a chip there. . . . Everything is related to something else; everything builds and builds to a fearsome climax. . . . [Cormier] has the knack of making horror out of the ordinary, as the masters of suspense know how to do. "The New York Times Book Review" "" A horrifying tale of government corruption, espionage, and counter espionage told by an innocent young victim. . . . The buildup of suspense is terrific. "School Library Journal," starred review An ALA Notable Children s Book A "School Library Journal" Best Book of the Year A "Horn Book" Fanfare A Library of Congress Children s Book of the Year A Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award Nominee"