Most Popular Books by Robert Cormier

After joining the army at fifteen and having his face blown away by a grenade in a battle in France, Francis returns home to Frenchtown hoping to find--and kill--the former childhood hero he feels betrayed him.

Who will be the next to die? They''ve taken the children. And the son of a general. But that isn''t enough. More horrors must come...

Before there was Lois Lowry’s The Giver or M. T. Anderson’s Feed, there was Robert Cormier’s I Am the Cheese, a subversive classic that broke new ground for YA literature. A boy’s search for his father becomes a desperate journey to unlock a secret past. But the past must not be remembered if the boy is to survive. As he searches for the truth that hovers at the edge of his mind, the boy—and readers—arrive at a shattering conclusion. “An absorbing, even brilliant job. The book is assembled in mosaic fashion: a tiny chip here, a chip there. . . . Everything is related to something else; everything builds and builds to a fearsome climax. . . . [Cormier] has the knack of making horror out of the ordinary, as the masters of suspense know how to do.”—The New York Times Book Review “A horrifying tale of government corruption, espionage, and counter espionage told by an innocent young victim. . . . The buildup of suspense is terrific.”—School Library Journal, starred review An ALA Notable Children’s Book A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year A Horn Book Fanfare A Library of Congress Children’s Book of the Year A Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award Nominee

Buddy Walker is troubled by his parent’s recent divorce, and when Harry Flowers suggests a prank, he goes along, just for opportunity to do something different. He doesn’t realize that someone is watching. When Jane Jerome’s house is trashed, and sister brutally injured in a home invasion, she struggles to continue with her life as her family falls apart. The Avenger has witnessed reckless evil. He has killed before and knows that he just needs to wait until the time is right before he can take his revenge. Robert Cormier once again sheds light on the conflict between good and evil and the dark side of human nature. In his classic style, each character’s point of view is revealed invoking both sympathy and horror while showing the complexities of the psyche.

Seventeen-year-old Mike visits his grandmother’s bedside and learns a family secret. A divorced father discovers that only love, not bribes, can keep his daughter “his” on Thursdays. A young white boy finds that friendship—and betrayal—can cross racial boundaries. Robert Cormier is one of America’s most acclaimed writers for young adults. Here are nine touching and intensely personal stories, that confirm that these accolades are deserved. Each story features a brief introduction that explains how the story came to be, or something about the writing. Perhaps not as dark as some of Cormier’s novels, these tales still have his classically haunting themes, which will be savored by readers of all ages.

Twelve-year old Jason is accused of the brutal murder of a young girl. Is he innocent or guilty? The shocked town calls on an interrogator with a stellar reputation: he always gets a confession. The confrontation between Jason and his interrogator forms the chilling climax of this terrifying look at what can happen when the pursuit of justice becomes a personal crusade for victory at any cost.

The school year is almost at an end, and the chocolate sale is ancient history. But no one at Trinity School can forget the Chocolate War. Devious Archie Costello, commander of the secret school organization called the Vigils, still has some torturous assignments to hand out before he graduates. In spite of this pleasure, Archie is troubled that his right-hand man, Obie, has started to move away from the Vigils. Luckily Archie knows his stooges will fix that. But Obie has some plans of his own.

Denny answered the phone. He was forbidden to ever answer the phone, but at 16, he figured his dad’s rule was just stupid. And Denny is soon plunged into a terrifying ordeal of revenge and madness for a horrific incident that happened 25 years before.

EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD ERIC HAS just been released from juvenile detention for murdering his mother and stepfather. Now he’s looking for some tenderness—tenderness he finds in caressing and killing beautiful girls. Fifteen-year-old Lori has run away from home again. Emotionally naive but sexually precocious, she is also looking for tenderness—tenderness she finds in Eric. Will Lori and Eric be each other’s salvation or destruction? “Cormier is in top form in this chilling portrait of a serial murderer. . . . Gripping.”—School Library Journal, Starred An ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults

A masterful portrayal of hatred, prejudice and manipulation that challenges readers to examine how they would behave in the face of evil. Henry meets and befriends Mr. Levine, an elderly Holocaust survivor, who is carving a replica of the village where he lived and which was destroyed in the war. Henry''s friendship with Mr. Levine is put to the test when his prejudiced boss, Mr. Hairston, asks Henry to destroy Mr. Levine''s village.

A series of vignettes in free verse in which the writer reminisces about his life as a twelve-year-old boy living in a small town during the hot summer of 1938.

They are all going to die. All of the patients at the Complex are terminal, with no hope of reprieve. But they’ve volunteered to come here, to this experimental clinic to allow themselves to be test subjects. Still, they’re all going to die. All except Barney. Barney cannot remember much about his life before the Complex, but he knows that he’s there as a control. To see how the drugs being tested will affect a nonterminal patient. And then they start testing a new drug on him . . . one that will affect his memory. And Barney starts to remember things he doesn’t want to remember.

A seventy-year-old man learns that life can still hold many surprises.

A collection of pieces, originally written as newspaper columns, that offer touching, humorous and intensely personal observations and anecdotes about small-town life in America.

When her father is transferred to an army camp in Massachusetts during the Second World War, Darcy feels isolated in her French-Canadian neighborhood until she meets the vivacious Kathleen Mary O''Hara and learns about Catholicism.

The new Bible on mayflies explains everything about the major species and is enhanced by numerous drawings, photos, charts, graphs, and an attractive layout.

A novel for secondary school English classes with great writing and important themes.

Paul Moreaux, the thirteen-year-old son of French Canadian immigrants, inherits the ability to become invisible, but this power soon leads to death and destruction.