Description
This Reader's Companion includes a biography of Cormier, an interview with him, a summary of Tenderness, and suggested discussion questions. Included with the companion is a promotional letter from the editor, Craig Virden, who talks about the monstrous protagonist that still garner compassion and the gritty, mature content and accompanying "sophisticated" design of the book. In his interview, Cormier talks about the importance of characters for achieving realism in his writing and mentions a writer's need to be able to write from all perspectives regardless of gender or ethnicity. He also reveals a fear of indifference. Discussion questions focus on character motives, reader response, social and cultural phenomena, and written craft (plot structure, point-of-view, setting, irony).