Cormier, Robert

(US, 1925–2000)

Robert Cormier was a moralist. He was also a stylist, the master of pared-down, direct, and muscular prose, which packs a tremendous narrative punch. His protagonists often find themselves on the horns of extremely painful dilemmas, and the different ways they resolve these problems make for novels which are hard to put down. Start with The Chocolate War (1974) and I am the Cheese (1977) and go on to harrowing but elegant novellas such as Fade (1988) and Heroes (1998) People in Cormier's books are always pulled in two directions, but they are also often touched by deep feelings of love. He is never sentimental, even when (as in Tunes for Bears to Dance to, 1993) he is dealing—however indirectly—with a subject like the Holocaust. There is violence in some of his books, and he does not always provide his readers with a happy ending. He was without doubt one of the most important authors who wrote for young adult readers.

Raymond Carver, Margaret Mahy, Ernest Hemingway. See TEEN  AG