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"Try a Little Tenderness" Boston Magazine
This profile of Cormier investigates his life and work, with a specific focus on his recent visit to Judge John J. Connelly Youth Service Center, a Roslindale youth lockdown for boys. Keeping his interactions with troubled youth to the fore, the…
"The Trouble with Parents" Woman's Own
This piece recounts a boy's discomfort with watching his parents argue, as told in his trademark detailed narrative style. By talking to his parents, he finds their similarities. His sister's observations also inform him of the role of nonverbal…
"The Tenderness" The Sign
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.
"The SOS Signals Not Always Noticed" John Fitch IV Column
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…
"The Sexes And The Guidelines" John Fitch IV Column
In his column, Cormier rails against the suggestions of publishers that writers be more mindful of gender-linked language - a trend he sees as ridiculous and potentially dangerous to creativity as it could trigger excessive self-censorship. While he…
"The Santa Problem" John Fitch IV Column
As with many of his Christmas columns, Cormier addresses the idea of Santa, Christmas magic, and the innocence of childhood. He admits never telling a child that Santa is not real but cannot defend his existence, just as faith or a joke cannot be…
"The Sand in the Oyster So What Really Happened?" Horn Book Magazine
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…
"The Price of Truth" The Sign
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…
"The Moustache" Scholastic VOICE
Cormier's often reprinted story "The Moustache" presents a seventeen-year-old protagonist whose mustache provokes a case of mistaken identity. When he visits his grandmother in a nursing home, she takes him for her long-deceased husband. His…
"The Last Party" John Fitch IV Column
In this John Fitch IV column, Cormier explores the growth trajectory of his daughter from childhood to adolescence, this time through the lens of her last Christmas party and her evolving views about Santa Claus. Ironically, the writer seems to be…
"The Impossible Thank-You Note"
In this column Cormier writes on the impossibility of writing a simple thank you note to a mother. He writes of the great encouragement and warmth his mother offered him as a budding writer. He recounted movie plots with her on the weekends and…
"The Hair Cut" John Fitch IV Column
In this John Fitch IV column, Cormier tells the story of his daughter's haircut experience, with all the excitement and anxiety that entails for a young girl. He touches on his own barbershop anxieties and his opinions on women's hairstyles. He is…
"The Good Word" John Fitch IV Column
In this column, Cormier discusses the new style guide released by the New York Times, particularly their recommendations related to gender-linked language. Of particular offense to him is the substitution of person for man and the use of the pronoun…
"The Days of Sweet Innocence" John Fitch IV Column
In this bi-weekly column written under the name "John Fitch IV", Cormier blends verse and prose to poke fun at our naïve innocence of the world as viewed through the lens of movie clichés. Amongst the roughly three dozen clichés are some on female…
"The Beauty That Lingers" St. Anthony's column 1177 Main St. USA
This short reflective piece is a meditation on the aging process. Cormier's observation of two groups of women at different stages of life leads him to contemplate the nature of beauty. He concludes that our real beauty is our ability to "survive and…