In this letter to a student, Robert Cormier describes how his own emotions fuel his writing and how he must be emotionally invested in his characters. He also discusses World War II and his fictional town of Monument.
This article praises Cormier's work compiling a history of his home parish St. Cecilia's. Notably, this article presents a more circumspect account of Cormier's house burning when he was in the eighth grade, his use of St. Cecilia's for Monument's…
This 1997 article in the Telegram chronicles Cormier's early life growing up in Leominster, from his father's work in the plastic factory and his untimely death, to his beginnings as a writer, through his ultimate success of The Chocolate War and I…
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…
This article explores how Cormier's upbringing in the postwar French Hill district of Leominster influenced the setting for many of his novels. "I'm sentimental about French Hill," proclaims Cormier. The article references a free-verse book about his…
In this short story, Jerry's father receives a questionnaire attached to a letter from New York about an inheritance. The family spends the summer dreaming of the amount they would receive and that optimism carries them through a summer layoff and…
This complete Scholastic Scope booklet includes two stories by Robert Cormier along with fill-in-the-blank word puzzles, a word search, a crossword puzzle, jokes, a comic strip, and queries and advice from readers. Furthermore, readers will find a…
In this story, the narrator and his 15-year-old son Richy go to his wife's funeral. The narrator struggles to cope with his wife's death, especially unexpected reminders of her. While driving to and from the funeral, the narrator also recounts…