About The Author
CORMIER, ROBERT (1925- )
Robert Cormier was born and has always lived in Leominster, Massachusetts. He grew up there, went to school there, courted and married there, and raised four children in the house where he and his wife, Connie, still live. He never intends to live anywhere else claiming there are lots of untold stories right there on Main Street.
Cormier was a newspaper reporter and columnist for thirty years. He is inspired by news events, and in some cases, by circumstances in his own life, as the basis of his plots. He is known for his outstanding ability to create stories which capture human interest. He has an uncanny talent to make the reader see what motivates behavior which is often called evil, but becomes understandable when seen through the eyes of his characters. "I take real people and put them in extraordinary situations," he said in an interview in SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL. Most often his themes involve intimidation and the way people manipulate other people, as well as the obvious abuse of power.
He began writing in the seventh grade. He says he can not remember a time when he wasn't trying to get something down on paper. He has been awarded many prizes for his controversial novels for young adults, including the Margaret A. Edwards Award of the Young Adult Services Division of the American Library Association. This award is presented in recognition of those authors who provide young adults with a window through which they can view the world and which will help them to grow and understand themselves and their roles in society. He was especially thrilled with this award saying, "I've always hoped my novels could show adolescents the bigness of what's out there and that happy endings are not our birthright. You have to do something to make them happen."
Cormier loves to travel and has been to almost every state in the U.S. He also loves jazz, movies, and staying up late.
Some other books written by this author include:
Novels
A Little Raw on Monday Mornings (1963)
Take Me Where the Good Times Are (1965)
The Chocolate War (1974)
I Am the Cheese (1977)
After the First Death (1979)
The Bumblebee Flies Anyway (1983)
Beyond The Chocolate War (1985)
Fade (1988)
Other Bells for Us to Ring (1990)
We All Fall Down (1991)
Tunes for Bears to Dance to (1992)
In The Middle Of The Night (1995)
Tenderness (1998)
Heroes(1998)
Now and At the Hour (2000)
The Rag and Bone Shop (2001)
Collections
Eight Plus One (1980)
Frenchtown Summer (1999)
Nonfiction
I Have Words to Spend (1991)
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