From: Sheila Welch <sheilawelch>
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 12:58:10 -0500

Hello!

I'd like to make a few comments before we move on to another topic. I've found this month's discussion of Cormier's work intellectually stimulating. It would have been even better if some of the points being made on the list were addressed more directly. For example, I thought the comment about whether Jerry, in The Chocolate War, made an arbitrary decision not to sell the candy was a good one and worthy of further debate. In the book itself, Jerry ponders this question. When should one make a stand? Does the cause always have to be large and important? Should one rebel simply to show that the powers that be aren't totally in control? Personally, I agree with Neil, I think this book is perfect for high schools. There's so much in it to talk about! Issues of power, corruption, rebellion, honor, etc.! While I never ran into a real life situation such as Jerry's when I was a child, our own children certainly had an "interesting" time in a small, rural high school where the seniors were permitted and encouraged by some of the teachers and administration to "teach" the freshman how to be tough. One of our sons ended up being smashed through a plate glass window. After the Columbine High School shootings, surely a book like The Chocolate War could be used effectively to help kids understand the feelings of the underdogs. So what if Jerry did not triumph in the end. (I have not read the sequel.) Cormier made many serious points that can be pondered and that might even encourage some people to change their behavior--the bleak ending notwithstanding

I just reread The Chocolate War and read Tenderness for the first time recently. Interesting that one of the characters in CW talks about handling his victims "tenderly." Cormier uses multiple points of view quite effectively. It'd be fun to talk more about his skill as a writer--his use of foreshadowing, metaphor, dialog, etc. The scene in CW where Brother Leon humiliates one boy and then castigates the whole class for not defending him foreshadows Jerry's stand and situation. One of many vivid images in CW was when Jerry sees the sun "bleeding" and
"spurting its veins." In 8 Plus 1 Cormier has an introduction to each story, as someone else on this list already mentioned. In the one for
"President Cleveland, Where Are You?" he talks about how he came up with a simile that fit the thinking of a character--how the building he described looked like a "big white birthday cake of a house." Cormier is the master of small, telling details. He reveals so much about his characters in the tiny details of their lives.

A note about the bleakness of Cormier's work. Of course, it's not all raw, ugly, hopeless, and disturbing, but there is certainly that strain .
. . Even his books for younger children have bleak situations--suicides, I think I recall, in both Frenchtown Summer and Other Bells for Us to Ring. I read Fade when it was first published and found it so disturbing
(though I can't really remember why now, years later) that I didn't pick up another Cormier for quite some time. This is not to say I didn't appreciate his writing or realize that he was excellent. Reading is often for escape and entertainment. But sometimes it serves quite different purposes. I recall hearing that kids with cancer often refuse to read books about others with similar problems, yet perfectly healthy teens devour tearjerkers. I read somewhere that a teen said he reads the nonfiction books such as A Boy Called It because these books make him realize how well off he is.

I wonder why putting realistic, horrible events into a fictional book makes people think the words have such power, yet we hear and see (on TV, etc. and in our own lives) awful things happening constantly. (The same is true of putting "bad" language in a book for kids. They hear those words on the playground constantly, but put them in a book, OH, NO!) Where is the hope in a young singer's death in a plane crash? Where is the hope in learning that children in Africa are dying of AIDS? At least with a fictional book, readers can discuss, argue and come up with alternatives. Maybe the "hope" in Cormier, if there needs to be any, is in how the characters handle the horror of their lives. The boy in Tunes for Bears to Dance To makes a monument to his dead brother. The girl in Tenderness finds peace in her love for Eric, even though he's a serial killer. Readers are drawn to his characters because he makes us care about them. I remember feeling SO much for the girl in After the First Death, who wanted to be brave and doubted herself, yet, as a reader, I knew she was incredibly brave.

When I read a novel, I want an emotional connection to the characters plus I want to appreciate the story and how the author told it. I agree with Nancy Werlin. An author should help readers understand and have empathy for his characters and tell the story very, very well. In his books that I've read, Cormier does both.

Sorry for writing so much! Sheila Welch Children's Author
Received on Fri 31 Aug 2001 12:58:10 PM CDT