Browse Items (18 total)
Sort by:
Scholastic Scope Stories by Robert Cormier including "President Cleveland, Where Are You?" and "Protestants Cry, Too"
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…
"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 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…
"That Summer"
In this short story, 15-year-old Jean-Paul visits his uncle in Canda to recover from an extended illness. During his stay, he develops a crush for an older woman from Montreal, as does his uncle. While Jean-Paul comes of age through this unrequited…
"Readers Responding Creative Writing and YA Literature" English Journal
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…
"Pretend, A Verb: To Make Believe"
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…
"My First Negro" The Sign
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…
"My Father's Gamble" The Sign
The young protagonist of this story witnesses the consequences of his father's alcoholism and poor money management skills for his entire family. The father takes out a loan to pay his debts in a time of uncertain employment. He loses the money,…
"Mine on Thursdays" Woman's Day
This story recounts a father's visit with his daughter Holly, who is "his on Thursdays." The father realizes that he has been bribing his daughter for her love rather than having a meaningful role in her life.
"In the Heat" in Sixteen Short Stories by Outstanding Writers for Young Adults
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…
"Goodbye Little Girl" Woman's Own
In Cormier's short story "Goodbye Little Girl" a father comes to grips with his daughter encountering her first love. The father is skeptical of the boy and expresses sadness in the idea of being replaced by a boy who can make her happy when he…
"Charlie Mitchell, You Rat, Be Kind to My Little Girl" McCall's
This short story features a father coming to grips with his daughter falling in love for the first time. It is difficult not to read this story as autobiographical or to overlook the gender bias regarding a woman's ability to think logically. This…
"Bunny Berigan-Wasn't He a Musician or Something?" Redbook Magazine
In this story, two middle-aged men meet at a restaurant, where Walt tells Jerry he's leaving his wife for another woman. The situation becomes even more awkward when said other woman, Jennifer, arrives on the scene. Walt tries to normalize…