Robert Cormier was born in 1925 in French Hill, a French-Canadian neighborhood of Leominster, Massachusetts, and has lived in Leominster all his life. The second of eight children, Robert enjoyed a happy childhood in the nest of his close-knit family and community. His family provided him a haven from the outer world. Cormier didn't fare well in the streets of his neighborhood, where ballplaying ability counted for more than his love of books. He attended St. Celia's Parochial Grammar School, where some of the nuns gave him a terrible time. Wh ....