Developing Empathy

Robby's letter to Robert Cormier 19 December 2000

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In this one-page typed letter to Cormier, Robby shares his positive experience with reading the novel Heroes. The novel helped Robby deal with some intense emotions, especially anger, and made him grateful to have a caring family and a home to come back to. He connects with the story on a personal level, making comparisons between Francis in Heroes and his own uncle, who was in the Marines. It was also the first novel that Robby read all the way through, by choice. The front of the letter's envelope is also included.

Tenderness Grade Level Defense

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This piece presents a detailed rationale for teaching Cormier's Tenderness at or above the sixth-grade level. The defense includes a summary of the novel, a biography of Cormier, teaching objectives, suggested teaching methods, potential essay questions, and suitable alternative books. The rationale for the book's value cites its potential to teach students about antisocial behavior and life's perils, and of thinking critically about their own identity formation, and of the adolescent experience given "inadequate parenting". Attention to using literature to help teen readers develop empathy with people in different circumstances than they feature in this rationale.

"The SOS Signals Not Always Noticed" John Fitch IV Column

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Robert Cormier's adopted persona, John Fitch IV, articulates in this bi-weekly column, how closely related specific positive or neutral qualities are to those that are destructive. He claims that we misunderstand distress signals that reveal depression or potential suicide because people work to hide their feelings.

RELATED LINKS:

To Live With Meaning, Shed Your Masks. In this brief online post by Elaine Dundon (2018 May 17) in Psychology Today, the author discusses the importance of not hiding behind metaphorical masks.

Appropriate Literature. In this online article by Elana K. Arnold (2015 Mar. 25) for the blog, Stacked Books, the guest author (who is a YA author) tells her own story of responding to parents who are fearful about the power of a book to influence their children. 

Developing Empathy