Robert Cormi­er (1925–2000) played a piv­otal role in shap­ing young adult lit­er­a­ture through­out his dis­tin­guished career. His notable works include *The Choco­late War*, *Beyond the Choco­late War*, *I Am the Cheese*, *Fade*, *Ten­der­ness*, *After the First Death*, *Heroes*, *French­town Sum­mer*, and *The Rag and Bone Shop*. Cormier’s influ­ence is rec­og­nized in the lit­er­ary com­mu­ni­ty, cul­mi­nat­ing in the recep­tion of the Mar­garet A. Edwards Award in 1991, which acknowl­edges his sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tions to writ­ing for teenagers.