I Am the Cheese - Softcover

Cormier, Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0440940605 ISBN 13: 9780440940609

Publisher: Laurel Leaf, 1991

Synopsis

Before there was Lois Lowry’s The Giver or M. T. Anderson’s Feed, there was Robert Cormier’s I Am the Cheese, a subversive classic that broke new ground for YA literature.

A boy’s search for his father becomes a desperate journey to unlock a secret past. But the past must not be remembered if the boy is to survive. As he searches for the truth that hovers at the edge of his mind, the boy—and readers—arrive at a shattering conclusion.

“An absorbing, even brilliant job. The book is assembled in mosaic fashion: a tiny chip here, a chip there. . . . Everything is related to something else; everything builds and builds to a fearsome climax. . . . [Cormier] has the knack of making horror out of the ordinary, as the masters of suspense know how to do.”—The New York Times Book Review

“A horrifying tale of government corruption, espionage, and counter espionage told by an innocent young victim. . . . The buildup of suspense is terrific.”—School Library Journal, starred review

An ALA Notable Children’s Book
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Horn Book Fanfare
A Library of Congress Children’s Book of the Year
A Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award Nominee
From the Trade Paperback edition.

About this title

Review:

Robert Cormier's dark, psychological thriller, I Am The Cheese, is one of the most chilling and disturbing books of its kind. As Adam Farmer begins to reveal his darkest fears to a faceless and nameless psychiatrist, he is forced to look deep into his memory to discover why he made such a treacherous journey to get to this point. As the events and suspicions that led Adam to the physchiatrist's chair begin to form more clearly in his mind, he is obliged to face the undeniable truth about the fearful secrets and nightmares that his mind has chosen to erase.

Cormier is in dangerously fine form in this excellent book. His uncompromising and sometimes traumatic prose makes for a thriller that is at once terrifying and compulsive as it races towards its shocking climax, leaving as many questions unanswered at the end of the book as at the beginning. --Susan Harrison

Review:

" A horrifying tale . . . the buildup of suspense is terrific." "- School Library Journal, "Starred
" AN ABSORBING, EVEN brilliant job. The book is assembled in mosaic fashion: a tiny chip here, a chip there. . . . Everything is related to something else; everything builds and builds to a fearsome climax. . . . Cormier . . . has the knack of making horror out of the ordinary, as the masters of suspense know how to do." - "The New York Times Book Review"

"A horrifying tale . . . the buildup of suspense is terrific." "- School Library Journal, "Starred"AN ABSORBING, EVEN brilliant job. The book is assembled in mosaic fashion: a tiny chip here, a chip there. . . . Everything is related to something else; everything builds and builds to a fearsome climax. . . . Cormier . . . has the knack of making horror out of the ordinary, as the masters of suspense know how to do." - "The New York Times Book Review"

About this edition

• Publisher: Laurel Leaf
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0440940605
• ISBN 13: 9780440940609
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback