"Eight Plus One" is a collection of nine short stories by young adult author Robert Cormier. The stories in the book are: "The Moustache," "Mine on Thursdays," "Another of Mike's Girls," "President Cleveland, Where Are You," "A Bad Time for Fathers," "Protestants Cry, Too," "Guess What? I Almost Kissed My Father Goodnight," "My First Negro," and "Bunny Berigan - Wasn't He a Musician or Something?"

I will now review each short story separately:

The Moustache

Seventeen-year-old Mike has never really seen his grandmother as a person. He's never seen her as more than a grandmother figure. When he grows a moustache and visits his grandmother's bedside in the nursing home, she mistakes him for someone else, and as a result, Mike learns that not only is she a person with real feelings and experiences, but also a family secret.

Mine on Thursdays

A divorced father discovers love alone (and not bribes) can keep his only daughter, Holly, "his" on Thursdays.

Another of Mike's Girls

In a sentence: This is a story about how being dumped hurts.

President Cleveland, Where Are You?

Jerry is looking with the utmost desperation for a Grover Cleveland card to complete his set of president cards, because if you collected the complete set, you won an autographed baseball glove.

A Bad Time for Fathers

A story about a farewell party for a girl going off to college.

Protestants Cry, Too

Armand is a Catholic boy who is dating an affluent Protestant in Depression-era Massachusetts. His father disapproves highly since she is Protestant, and her father is rich, doesn't work at the comb shop like himself. He's quite prejudiced, even says that Protestants are so evil that they can't cry. Armand's little brother must discover that "Protestants cry, too."

Guess What? I Almost Kissed My Father Goodnight

Little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice, but what are fathers made of? What do they think of while at work, and what are their dreams? Do they feel fufilled with their life, or let down?

A sixteen-year-old boy is on a mission to "investigate" his father. He learns his shoe and shirt sizes and a lot of other things, but yet, he still feels that he's really searching for something altogether different . . .

My First Negro

A young French-Canadian boy befriends a black boy in Depression-era New England.

Bunny Berigan - Wasn't He a Musician or Something?

A man who likes music is getting a divorce.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of 8 Plus 1   from Amazon.Com!

Created Aug 10, 2002 at 4:50pm • Submit your own review...