Browse Items (133 total)

%22My First Negro%22 The Sign.jpeg
This story, set in Frenchtown, recounts the protagonist's brief friendship with an African American kid from the disadvantaged neighborhood, Alphabet Soup. The story deals with issues of race and poverty (including blackface and government…

%22The Price of Truth%22 The Sign.jpeg
This story in The Sign tells how 11-year-old Jerome takes up painting in an effort to impress his teacher, the nun Marie-Thérèse, whose later departure from the convent serves as the story's subplot. The story takes place in Frenchtown, the setting…

%22The Tenderness%22 The Sign.jpeg
This story recounts the efforts of thirteen-year-old Phillip as he tries to impress his piano teacher Sister Angela and win a spot in the orchestra for the Christmas recital.

%22Her Caterpillar Summer%22 Parents.jpeg
This published version of "Her Caterpillar Summer", Cormier tells of the summer when his daughter turned six, of her caterpillar state. He talks of her awkward movements, her dwindling number of teeth, and her sudden fear of the water. Yet he sees…

%22Her Caterpillar Summer%22 typescript.jpeg
In the typescript of "Her Caterpillar Summer", Cormier tells of the summer when his daughter turned six, where she is still a caterpillar waiting to become a butterfly. He talks of her awkward movements, her dwindling number of teeth, and her sudden…

%22Advent and the Family%22 Visitor.jpeg
Though this story by "Bob" Cormier is written in the third person, about a girl and her father, it reads as autobiographical. He recounts the daughter's last Christmas party and her father coming to grips with her growing up.

Heroes cut and pasted typescript pieces.jpeg
Twelve strips of cut sections of Heroes show Cormier's active revision process where he literally cut then pasted sections as he worked on the Heroes manuscript. Scenes on the Wreck Center sexual assault, Francis's meeting with Nicole after the war,…

Heroes marked typescript miscellaneous pages .jpeg
Thirty pages of Heroes manuscript, most of which show hand-written revisions and markings. Pages show pasted strips of salvaged sections from earlier drafts. Repeated versions of war scenes sliced with scenes of playing soldiers as children in the…

Heroes marked typescript.jpeg
In these eight typewritten pages of a Heroes draft, Cormier has added handwritten notes for revision. Scenes of Francis crushing on Nicole (called Dominique Cavalier in this draft) feature heavily as do the nuns and Catholic school. Also included are…

Heroes handwritten notes.jpeg
In these two handwritten pages of thumbnail sketches, Cormier lays out his conceptions of sections of Heroes. The outline is particularly concerned with when characters are introduced and when their backstories are revealed. The collaboration between…

%22Readers Responding Creative Writing and YA Literature%22 English Journal.jpeg
This article explores ways in which creative writers can craft better, more engaging Young Adult fiction. The author proposes the use of the YA short story collection Sixteen: Short Stories by Outstanding Writers for Young Adults, edited by Donald…

%22The Sand in the Oyster So What Really Happened?%22 Horn Book Magazine.jpeg
This article explores the increased presence of ambivalence and ambiguity in young adult novels. While the article discusses Cormier's work heavily, Patty Campbell also references YA authors Walter Dean Myers, Lois Lowry, Terry Trueman, and David…

%22Sex, Serial Killers, And Suicide%22 Brill's Content.jpeg
Kimberly Conniff's article situates Cormier's novel Tenderness in the changing landscape of teen fiction. She uses the adjectives "gritty, immediate, and brazenly hardcore" to describe Melvin Burgess's Smack, but they could just as easily pertain to…

Tenderness catalog copy.jpeg
The Bulletin's review of Cormier's novel Tenderness sticks mostly to the novel's plot and is positive overall, though it criticizes the novel's "clichèd action and stock characterization." The review also mentions the influence of thrillers and…

Tenderness Grade Level Defense.jpeg
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…
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