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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 friendshipand betrayalcan 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.