Robert Cormier author page

Robert Cormier biography

Robert Cormier (1925–2000) was an American author who wrote for young adult readers. His books include The Chocolate War, I Am the Cheese, Fade, Tenderness, After the First Death, Heroes, Frenchtown Summer and The Rag and Bone Shop.

Cormier worked full-time as a newspaper editor and columnist while writing The Chocolate War during weekday evenings and Saturday mornings in 1969, 1970 and 1971. The novel was accepted for publication in April 1973 and was published in April 1974.

The Chocolate War is a teen and young adult novel about Jerry Renault, a freshman at Trinity High School who refuses to take part in a school chocolate sale and comes into conflict with The Vigils, a secret society, and Brother Leon, the acting headmaster. The book was a 1974 ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a 1974 ALA Best of the Best Book for Young Adults, a 1974 New York Times Notable Book and a 1974 School Library Journal Best Book of the Year.

I Am the Cheese is a teen and young adult novel about a boy searching for his father and trying to unlock a hidden past. It was an ALA Notable Children’s Book, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a Horn Book Fanfare title, a Library of Congress Children’s Book of the Year and a 1985 Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award nominee.

In 1991, Cormier received the Margaret A. Edwards Award for his lifetime contribution to writing for teens.